A visit to see COUSINS!

I am WAY behind in posting on the blog.  Time just keeps moving!  I have lots of excuses, but I"m sure you would rather see pictures!

I'll start with Memorial Day.  We got up early Monday morning and jumped in the van to head to Circleville to see the "Adkins cousins".  The kids had a blast and wore themselves out!  Below are some pictures from our fun filled day!

Maddie loved Emmi's jeep.  Although we realized that it was much better if Maddie had a chauffeur.  Emmi is getting so big.  She's 6 now and quite the little lady!

The kids played ball for a little bit.  Both Emmi and Sarah (pictured below with Ronnie) are playing softball this year. 
This picture below shows 1st base (wood pile).  I think in this picture.  Ronnie was the base runner and Sarah was 1st baseman!

It was such a warm day on Monday!  We spent a lot of time outdoors, but we also had to come in for some cool down too!  It's fun to have everyone together.  6 of Ryan's 6 of ours and Grandpa and Grandma = a full fun house!

These 2 were just so cute together!

More Jeep riding! 

Just realizing as I type this that it is pretty obvious who the babies of both families are isn't it? 

Uncle Ryan grilled lunch for us, with Grandpa and Ron's help!

This was so cute. 

Maddie and Emmi just came up to snuggle with Uncle Ryan!

I've mentioned before how hard it is to get 4 kids to take a good picture.  Well it's not much easier to get 8.  The warm weather made for a nice "sweaty" look and everyone was tired by the time we got to picture number 1!

But we still tried!

From Right to Left

Casey (13), Morgan (11), Ronnie (almost 9), Sarah (8), Nathaniel (7), Emmi (6), Eli (5) and Maddie (3)

and Grandma wanted to try some more!

The girls tried, while the men just laughed at our attempts!

Don't let these 2 fool you, they are ornery!

Very Ornery!

Uncle Ryan and his "girls"

Our own sweaty family!

Grandpa and Grandma were so excited to have all 8 together, it doesn't happen often enough at all, but especially if you are a Grandparent!

Missing one uncooperative cousin, but 7 out of 8 isn't bad!

Ron with his brother and Dad!

We had a fun time, it was short, but fun!  We need to do it more often! 
So Adkins Cousins, when are you coming our way???

Summer Days

Summer days are filled with laughter, speed (especially with boys) and just fun times!

 Then there is a little bit of work thrown in too!

We have 4 days of school left around here, but we are ready for summer fun to begin!

"Efelants" and so much more

Today the boys elementary went to the Toledo Zoo for a field trip and Maddie, Eli and I were invited to go along with them!  It was opening day for their new Elephant Exhibit too!  Maddie was pretty excited to see "Baby Efelants".  I'm pretty sure she wasn't as impressed when the baby she saw was HUGE, but she still had a fun time!

Throughout the morning we stayed with the classes.  Eli was so excited this morning that he even wanted to dress in the boys uniform colors!  He is so excited to be going to school "with brothers" next year.

Here he is chatting with some other boys. 

(Ronnie in red hat, then Nathaniel and Eli)

Both Maddie and Eli were a bit surprised when this crocodile closed its mouth after a very long minute of holding it open.  I think they thought it wasn't real!

Finally some elephants

You can't really tell, but this one is a baby.

Ronnie really liked this "Bear Sloth" and wanted to take it's picture!

All 4 thought the penguins were "cool" :)

They wouldn't swim for us though, just wanted to stay in the cool!

Then we discovered a new breed of animals...The Adkins!

Eli wrestling a tiger cub!

The Artic exhibit was the favorite of Maddie and Eli and I think the older boys enjoyed it too.  They all 4 stood here in front of this window for quite some time watching the seals swim and exclaiming, "Wow" or "Did you see that?"  Also in this exhibit were the polar bears which were Maddie's favorite and in Eli's top 3.  This is the only exhibit we visited twice!

The giraffes were neat, but we couldn't get very close!

4 new penguins to add to the exhibit!

Attack of the Polar Bear!

We had a great time visiting the zoo and had perfect weather too!

No Words, just Eli

Pretty Flowers

I'm not much of a flower person, in that I know what kind they are, but I think they are so pretty!  This bush is in our yard and these flowers are really beautiful.  There is a white bush beside it (last picture), but they haven't opened yet!

Pretty Flowers

Cute Kids

Can't beat it!