Cousins are your first friends.

It’s true.  Cousins really are your first friends… As my sister so nicely said in her blog, our three girls have just hit a milestone of development and cousin love, actually interactively playing with each other. Last weekend we were all at my stepmom, Joanna’s, and when Bailey saw an undiscovered room she wanted Charlotte to explore it with her and Netta.  Then they kicked Emily and me out and squealed and played and jumped in there. This is the first time I’ve seen my girls actually play with another kid, other than their brothers.  And it’s their cousin!  This is a picture of my girls plus their cousin, Charlotte, eating snacks at The Children’s Museum today. They had such a great time together! 

A couple recent videos

We had an especially great block party this year with extra funding from a arts grant in the neighborhood. Here are neighborhood kids, incluyding two of ours, dancing during a band led by our neighbor Jeff:

and more sailing with Josh on Monday. Watch as he jumps in to get Arthur.

Photos from our big July family vacation

A couple weeks ago we returned from a big fat 18 day vacation. We drove from Minneapolis to Myrtle Beach, SC to Fayetteville, Arkansas and back home. And points in between. Our time wasn’t as idealic as these photos make it look. It’s true, I take photos of things that are wonderful and pretty. Not when our kids scream uncontrollably in the car or shit their pants or hit each other or when Jessica and I argue or when we’re being attacked by swarms of mosquitoes or enduring the 8th night in a hotel. All that said, we did have some really wonderful and super awesome times on this trip. That is true. And now that I can look back I tend to think of those times. Especially when I look at all these super beautiful photos. Enjoy.