Packed House, Packed Days, Priceless

We had a super fun visit from dear friends this week.  Eric, Doug's best bud from college (and best man), his wife, Emily, and their two girls, Rita and Frankie.  Rita and Tav are about the same age and Frankie is about 8 months younger than Penn.  They arrived on Wednesday evening close to bedtime.  We got all the kiddos bunked down relatively on time and then enjoyed a simple, grilled meal around the dining room table while catching up.  On Thursday, the kids all got re-introduced and we had a big breakfast because we were heading out to the zoo!  It was an overcast day with even some on and off showers, which made it a great day for the zoo.  Not too hot, not too crowded and the animals were out and about.  Here's the pictures...Penn was somewhat of a good sharer and Frankie got to ride in the wagon with him part of the time.  They were both a tad off at times.  Hence the sucking thumb and sucking fingers.  Pretty cute 2 year olds.

Looks like Janse was picking up on the sucking fingers habit while he rode along.  He was enthralled by the elephants.  Absolutely staring at the huge beasts!!

The gorillas were so fun to watch.  I was having so much fun watching them (especially the super silly baby) that I didn't take many pictures.  Here's a nice couple model poses from the big guy though.

E & Em had been checking out the giraffes, so I stepped back to let them watch the funny gorillas.  So special to be hanging out as two families with these friends we've known since we were pretty much "just kids."  

The zoo has made some improvements and the giraffe and zebra exhibit is so approachable now.  It's crazy.  The giraffe is so close it looks as if it could bend its neck down and touch you!

We saw many more animals, but with 6 little ones and great adult company, taking pictures of the animals wasn't as high of a priority as other visits.  Getting a group shot of our kiddos was definitely on my list of to-do's though.  Here are all the attempts.  There was just too much cuteness to just pick one.  

Note how Tavin and Rita are totally buddies.  

After the mini photo shoot (and lunch) we watched the sea lions eat their lunch and put on a little show.  It was great.  The kids loved it!  (Again, I dropped the ball and didn't take any pictures).  After the sea lion show it was time to head out for naps.  When we got home, Emily and I took the little ones inside and Eric and Doug took Koen, Tav and Rita on a walk to get some ice cream.  Look how cute (especially Tav and Rita sharing a chair!).

When the big kids got home, they all had some downtime and then later on headed out to the backyard to play.  Tav and Rita had a blast playing, "garden," in our teeny sandbox.  It was so nice to have a different playmate with fresh, imaginative ideas for Tav.  He just thrived on it and the two of them had so much fun and kept each other entertained literally for hours!

Unfortunately, the rain eventually moved us inside, but Doug had the great idea of playing floor hockey with the big kids (and Penn was the Zamboni as usual).  It was a lot of fun!

The kids ate dinner while the rain cleared.  Then we headed back out into the yard for cookies, a campfire and more play.  I didn't get any good pictures except this gem...Penn likes to stay as far away from the fire as possible.  So, he brought a little chair under the tree in the corner of the yard, grabbed a cookie and his helicopter toy, folded his legs and hung out.  Hilarious.

Soon after we got our kids up through the bath and down for bed.  Then we adults enjoyed our dinner (ate outside, it was glorious and we got to watch another thunderstorm come in).  We had such a nice time continuing to catch up, discuss life and kids and ministry and some stuff in between.  The next morning Eric, Em and the girls had to leave early.  We had a quick goodbye and hugs (even Tav got to send Rita off with a tight squeeze).  It was a great visit.  Thanks, E and Em, for stopping here on your roadtrip.  We are so grateful for your friendship over the years and loved the opportunity to reconnect (and watch our kids get to know each other too!).  It was a packed house and packed days, but the time was priceless!