Monopoly

The last day we were in California, Nana played games with the girls while they were waiting for everyone to wake up and get going. My camera found them deep in the midst of a game of Monopoly. Simpson's Monopoly actually. And only Nana and Nora were playing. Sara was the banker. And Caleb was still asleep when the game got started. But by the time I went over to take pictures, he'd woken up and joined them. Apparently, he also beat me to the punch as far as documenting the moment.






Not the most gorgeous photos, but well, I don't do mornings.

Hotel Swimming Fun

All the cousins swimming at our hotel in California. I think Laura might have been the only mom who ventured in.

So Many Cousins

The one thing my mom wanted to do while we were in California was to get a picture of all her grandkids together. We're not all together very often, but with this many little kids, it seemed like a disastrous idea. I volunteered to be the photographer rather than taking them somewhere to get their photo done.


When we moved to a new spot, as quickly as possible since we had other things to get to that day, Caleb picked a spot right next to Agnes. For whatever reason, Agnes got moved and Caleb started bawling. He apparently really wanted to sit next to Agnes. So even after we moved him next to her again, he was still upset. Nana hurried through and gave all the kids a kiss on the top of their heads. Which magically cheered Caleb up.




I took at least a dozen shots of each pose, in hopes of getting them all to look good in one. I don't know that we quite achieved that. But at least we now how a few photos of all of them together.

After we finished, we let them go off and play. I grabbed one quick shot of each of them (except for Claire, since my mom was standing next to me and thought she could get her to smile, which she somewhat managed).









Poor little Olive. I think she was under the impression that nobody was going to feed her ever again. Or maybe she wanted a nap. Who knows. She was pretty cranky most the trip actually, which is very un-Olive-like.

And a few more random ones from while we were at the park:

A Little Off-Roading

After Samuel got home from work, we ordered pizza. The kids wanted to ride bikes and such while we waited for the pizza to arrive. But first they had to clean up the playroom. I think Caleb's biggest cry of Thursday came when Samuel told him to go back downstairs when Caleb really wanted to stay and help the girls clean up. I'm sure there's more to the story, but that's all I could get out of Caleb in between his sobs.

Soon the playroom was clean and we all headed out front. Caleb chose to ride Sara's princess scooter. It does not in any way phase him to ride something so girly. In fact, it doesn't even cross his mind that is should phase him in any way.


Sara and Agnes rode in the Jeep, taking turns driving:


Nana helped Nora get started on her bike:



The battery on the car was already low when the girls started riding, and quickly ran completely out of steam. Eliot hurried over to help out and push the Jeep for them.


Once it was the boys' turn to go for a ride, Agnes kindly repaid the favor by giving them a push. Soon Sara joined in pushing the Jeep around so Caleb and Eliot could experience the fun, even with a dead battery.



After the pizza came, I put my camera down and didn't take any more pictures that night. Which is such a shame since I missed out on Olive getting to eat pizza (and she really went to town on it) for the first time. We also had a fun, impromptu spelling bee that started out just between Nora and Nick and soon had all the older kids involved. In an effort to make sure Nora won, I suggested the word soliloquy for Nick, which he didn't know how to spell. Laura and I confessed to him later that we didn't know how to spell it either and anything he said we would have just gone with. Eventually Danny and his family got to the house and we got to see them briefly, and meet Claire for the first time. Such a cutie, but no pictures that night, as the camera was inside the house. More to come though, don't you worry.

Backyard Fun

After Laura's family got to California, the cousins all enjoyed playing with one another, especially out in the backyard. Though I hear they did quite a number on the playroom upstairs. (I didn't actually see the mess.)

Agnes (5) and Sara (4)

Mia (2)

Eliot (3)

And because we all need a little more Olive in our lives:





My apologies to Nora for the lack of her cute face in this blog post -- the only pictures I got of her (besides as a background person) were swinging and completely blurry or with her hair covering her entire face so you can't actually see her. No worries, I took well over 700 photos while we were in California (for five days), so I'm sure she'll turn up somewhere.