Fun with Cousins

Aubrey and Ashby at dinner. We had a lot of fun this Christmas since everyone was in town this year.  We love it when my sister and her family are able to come from Colorado.  We had so many fun activities planned for the cousins to do together each day.  We also had so many yummy dinners, movies, and adult game nights!  It was the best!  We did dinner at Famous Dave's Barbeque twice.  It was delish!  It was also great because we had a huge room reserved just for us.  It was perfect for all the little kiddies we have.  Another bonus was having Aubrey babysit for us practically every night so we could go out.  It was heavenly!  I can see our future with Ashby in about 4 more years.  Wow . . can't wait!!
Kristi was our activity chair person and she did a great job!  One of the best things we did was go to an indoor swimming pool with all the kids.  They loved it and the adults had some good chat time while the kids were swimming.  Me and my sisters.  I always feel so blessed to have these two in my life.

Ashby and Aubrey jumping in the pool.

Another fun thing we did was take the kids to Ballocity for Uncle Michael's birthday.  It is a great indoor play place that has balls, slides, tunnels and climbing structures.  The kids love it and always have so much fun playing there.  They also have really yummy pizza there.  The best part is the kids are so busy playing that the adults get to visit in peace! :)  I love this pic of my sisters and my Mom.  It was so much fun spending so much time together.

Ashby and Aubrey had a lot of fun together especially making crafts together.  Aubrey was the BEST babysitter.  She was always on call! We got to go to multiple movies and dinners with no kiddos.  It was awesome!

Ty and Dalton.  Ty is so good with the younger boy cousins.  He knows how to play with them and is such a good example.  We will sure miss the Park family!

Aubrey and Ryder.  Ryder and Brooks just adored Aubrey.  She could get Ryder to laugh and smile with one look.  Aubrey fed him the bottle like a pro.  Brooks was in love with Aubrey!  He would want her to go everywhere with him.  He could say her name perfectly.  After she went home to Colorado he would pull me to the front door and say, "Aubrey, Aubrey!"  He couldn't understand why she wasn't coming over anymore.  It was so sad! 

One night we had yummy dinner at Aunt Kristi's house followed by initial ornament painting. 

The finished products.

After painting the ornaments we headed over to look at a house light display. It was just a few streets over and was amazing!  They had the lights go with music when you tuned in your radio to a certain station.  There were 4 different songs.  It was soo cool!

Kristi even prepared hot chocolate or apple cider in traveling mugs for the kids to take with them while they watched the light show.  It was so fun!

Watching the light show.

The whole crew.

Another activity the kids loved was decorating Christmas treats then delivering them and caroling in the back of a pick up truck.

Dalton and Ashby's creations.

Aubrey and Ashby.

The kids had so much fun caroling to my parents neighbors in the back of the truck.  We piled blankets and pillows in the back and all squished in.  We gave the kids bells to jingle and had them sing a few songs to each neighbor.

Ashby had so much fun caroling.  They have never been before and Ashby LOVES to sing so she thought it was the best thing ever!

Of course one day we had to visit the new Discovery Children's Museum.  It was a good time as usual.  Brooks is checking out the airplane with Aubrey. 

Brooks is so busy and active.  He just runs from thing to thing the whole time we are there.  He is just crazy!

Dalton loves this magnetic building station

Another fun thing we did was go ice skating on the rink downtown.  I haven't been ice skating in a LONG time and the kids have never been.  It turned out to be a really nice day and was really kind of warm.  We had a lot of fun.  The kids were so excited to try it.  Ashby stuck with it and did really well.  Dalton did one time around and decided he wanted to eat a picnic lunch instead.

Me and Ashby having fun on the rink.

All the cousins

The sisters

The rink is right by the downtown by the Truckee River.  I rarely come downtown and I forget how beautiful the river running through the city is.  Ashby and Dalton had so much fun. They love spending time with family especially their cousins.  They also love trying new things.

Mom wanted an updated picture of our family(just the siblings).  Her wish was granted Christmas Eve!  It is crazy to think about how much has changed since we all left the house.  We are all married now and almost everyone has children of their own. Now my parents are officially empty nesters.  Crazy to thing about!  I love my family and am continually grateful for their love and support.  It is always so much fun to be around family during the Holidays.