More Family!

This really has been a year for family re-connections. Three days after Aunt LaRue and Uncle Graham spent an evening with us, their daughter, my cousin Meredith, arrived with her husband Cristi and young son Adrian from San Antonio for a cold-weather visit! Being from Romania and living in San Antonio must really have Cristi missing the cold since they wanted to come up here in December. And what a treat! We were able to deliver on the desire for cold, and even threw in some miserable weather to boot!

Our children have never really known extended family besides their Grandparents, and having an Aunt, an Uncle, and cousins visit all within a week was so much fun! This story will be best told through the photos, so off we go!

Isaac and Adrian hit it off the first evening-
wearing similarly striped shirts may have helped...

Bekah, babysitter extraordinaire, loves cuddling her little cuz.

"Make it spin again!"

Great times happen around the table.

We went to Daniel Boone Homestead for a brisk and freezing tour.

Adrian, Cristi and Meredith

Daniel Boone's childhood home- sorta.

Cousins!

Waiting for our private tour.

Little snuggle bear.

So very adorable.

Erin introduces Adrian to Milo.

More attention- never ended, really!

Saturday morning we all pile in the van to head for Lancaster!

The Lancaster Central Market turned out to be a fascinating place.

Not many Amish folks in San Antonio...

Beautiful blooms.

Adrian loves the soft pretzles.

So much to see...

Granola dude and his amazing bread.

We are having fun- as re-defined in our adulthood.

Bekah and Isaac, hanging out.

Sweet Erin.

Finding a laugh!

The whole gang, wares in tow.

The kiddo cousins

At the National Christmas Center in Paradise, PA.

Our shrinking family.

Erin shows Adrian wind-chimes in an Amish shop
while we all peruse the quilts and goodies.

Sunday after church we went to the Goggleworks open house.
We started our tour with a gleass-blowing demo- cool!

Everyone sits transfixed.

Neat process to watch as they transform the molten glass into a work of art.

Then we toured the artist's studios.

...in progress...

Given the opportunity to add to this painting, Jim grabs the brush!

Cristi grabs the cookies...

...and Meredith paints toenails.

Erin and Isaac make cards.

focus.

"Thought Process", the illumination of the outside of the Goggleworks- too cool.

Out to dinner- Mexican style... for PA.

Meredith can't believe he's eating the whole thing.

Sly guy.

Tired little guy naps on the couch.
We stopped Milo just in time as he was preparing to join Adrian...

Cristi and Meredith

Adrian eventually got used to our sweet Milo-man.

Out on the swing.

Cristi and then Meredith got turns shooting the potato gun.

Last evening here, the girls entertain Adrian with cell phone sounds...
we don't have many little toys around anymore.

Adrian will teach Mommy how to do this someday.

We had a splendid time and these photos are merely a glimpse of all that we did. Time for me to rest up, rumor has it that Christmas is coming and last time I checked, I was not ready!