Texas Trip 2015, Part 3

Before actually arriving in Austin to meet up with Aunt Abbie, Uncle Zac and our three older boys, we received a few pictures of their morning together.  Abbie and Zac had resorted to the "divide and conquer" strategy we so often have to use these days to stay sane (it's just so hard between Koen and Tavin sometimes!).  Aunt Abbie took Tav and Penn to a local spray park.  They had a blast, can't you tell?

Uncle Zac took Koen on a "man hike."  They ended up in the river, which was refreshingly chilly.  They threw stones, splashed around and built a huge dam (that was Koen's favorite).

After lunch, they didn't have time to run out to an ice cream place, so Aunt Abbie gave them an ice cream treat at home.  They look pretty happy about it (and oh my goodness, Penn's smiles for the camera are ridiculous!!).

All packed up and ready to head on to the next part of the adventure back with Mommy and Daddy!

Thanks again to Abbie and Zac!  We hope we haven't scared you off from parenthood.  You are both so gifted at it and we thank you for taking such good care of K, T and P!!

Next stop was all meeting up in Austin at the house of a friend of Abbie's who is out of town, but has a dog and our visit coincided perfectly with their time away, so we are happily "dog sitting" and they are generously allowing us to stay here.  AMAZING is the body of Christ and these people are so gracious to have us in their beautiful home.  The rest of the day we got acclimated, played in the pool, had a family cookout and after the boys were all bedded down for the night, the adults enjoyed the pool and hot tub for a few hours.  Ahhhh....

This morning (Monday), we had family breakfast and then headed back out into the yard and pool for the majority of the morning.  Here's a quick glance...

We had special lunch plans to meet up at Rudy's BBQ with my cousin Val, her son Jarod, husband, Jim, and my Aunt Glennie and Uncle Vic.  Such a treat to work in some extended family time on this Texas trip.  Here's half my boys with Aunt Glennie and Uncle Vic...

Jansen took a nap while we ate (amazing baby!), but as soon as he was awake I let Val get her hands on him and she was more than happy to!

Aunt Glennie also got a chance to snuggle the littlest Melder.  So sweet!

As we wrapped up lunch, Koen helped me out by taking some pictures of the girls (and Penn and Jansen because Penn was being Mommy crazy, and look, Uncle Vic made it into the picture too!).  Penn's faces vary, so I'm sharing them all.  Mostly to laugh at my hilarious Penn.

Thanks to Val and Abbie for coordinating our lunch outing.  Family is so important to me and I love any opportunity for the boys to see this network of love we have surrounding us (even if they act weird and nervous the whole time).  And I was thrilled to see you all!  We headed back home to get Jansen fed and Penn down for nap.  After that was all over with, I suited Janse up in a comfy onesie Abbie had gifted him (pre-birth) at Christmas.  Photo opportunity of course.  He's doing his funny teething lip-sucking thing, so here are a few attempts (and Abbie looks beautiful in all of them)...

That's it for now.  Had to get these pics up ASAP for my mom back in NH since I got this special time with her side of the family.  We missed you today, Mommy!!