family time, part IV

Before returning to England we have about a week with Jacob's parents and 3 brothers and their families. It's been a great time, and I love seeing Gavin with his grandparents, cousins and aunts and uncles. These cousins are, from left to right in the above photo, Brinly (2), Emily (5) and Jacob (nearly 8).In addition to wrestling with Uncle Jake, we've done some really fun things, including a train ride, swimming, 2 carousels, a slip-and-slide and just playing around.

family time, part III

We're really hoping while we're in the USA that we'll get to see ALL of our siblings, and that Gavin will get to meet all of his cousins. We've had success on my side, so now we're on to Jacob's side. We had a super-fun afternoon in Phoenix with Jacob's sister Jennie and her sweet kids Adam, Addison, Alex and Amelia. Adam and Addison were really cute with Gavin, and it was just a fantastic day! We played on the splash pad at the zoo, which was really fun.

Gavin and Amelia didn't interact much, but here they are meeting for the first time, stroller to stroller. You can see the big smile on Gavin's face, which is cute. Amelia looks like she's not too sure about Gavin yet.

The below photo is probably my favorite from the day. Gavin is enjoying time with his oldest cousin, Adam, who is 8. Such a caring guy!

I also really loved Addison carrying Gavin around. So cute and funny.This post is really supposed to be about the fun we had with Jennie's family, but I can't resist posting this photo of Gavin, which I think it super-cute. :)

family time, part II

We enjoyed some time in Arizona with my Aunt Nancy and Uncle Don (who visited us in England last year) and cousins Jordan (and his wife Casey --you'll remember we saw them last weekend too), Landon, Dalton and Caleb. Gavin LOVED those boys, and I'm pretty sure the feelings were mutual. Here are some fun photos.

with Jordan

with Dalton

with Nancy

and in the massive sink, which was delivered, along with the new granite, while we were there

Nickel arcade

We had a fun visit with my cousin Jordan and his wife Casey (whom we met for the first time this weekend). Among our activities was playing games at the nickel arcade. It was lots of fun! The air hockey tournament was very competitive. Everyone was really good except me. I'm pretty sure I didn't score a single point. But the match between Casey and Jordan lasted forever--they were both really good.Casey destroyed me at Dance Dance Revolution, but it was fun.With our winnings we got some fun little toys for Gavin; Casey got a cute blue monkey stuffed animal; and Jacob got 121 tootsie rolls. :)

[Jordan didn't end up getting these glasses.]

Family time, part I

We basically had a big family reunion with my side of the family in Albuquerque--it was great! Gavin got to meet his great-grandparents on my Mom's side and all of his aunts, uncles and cousins on my side. Here are some photos.

sport

This weekend we went bowling and saw an Isotopes game (Albuquerque's minor league baseball team). Here are some photos of the fun. I love the next two photos: my Dad and younger brothers Bob and Nick (the tongue man); and my older brother Mike and his wife Melissa.

Before the game we ate frozen custard. Here I am with my brownie sundae.
Here we are with our bowling shoes, followed by photos of Jacob, Melissa and Mike bowling.