the one about cousins

the cousin bond is such a wonderful thing to behold.  it seems there is no "old" or "young" no "boy" or "girl" when it comes to cousins.  the older ones invite the younger ones into their games, the younger ones look up to and imitate the older ones.  there is a love that is there naturally because they share the same grandparents and "aunt erin is daddy's sister!?!" and watching them all play together fills my heart to the brimful and makes me so grateful for all of the cousin memories made in my own childhood.  

we bonded over calling grandma "granny", over making fun of how much our family sings (truly), over how grandpa wants his pie now and later, over who swims fastest and who can stay on the tube behind the boat longest, we bonded over back alley tournaments and christmas mornings, churning butter and our grandpa's funerals.  

you can always find a friend and confidant in a cousin.  no matter how long it's been since you've seen them, no matter how far away they are.  

we were blessed with some sweet cousin time in may. 

dave read from the green ember lots of evenings to all of them.  

we have to bring it down to the lake to finish it.

highly recommend.  

5 out of 8 of them had swimming lessons so we spent loads of time at donna's dolphins.

whit's end is perfect for a rainy day.

ian's first major league baseball game with daddy, grandpa, uncle don and toby.

doing the incline on dave's birthday.  it hailed on us.  but i always feel sort of rock starish when we get to the top.

girls date to the movies!

ian learns to ride a two wheeler!

sonic!

erin got the girls books about a little girl growing up in africa.  they gobbled those things up!

we had a star wars party for our cousins.  they all love star wars.  we all love them!

so thankful for their relationship with each other! 

watching the thunderbirds.

they are in iowa now visiting other family, but we'll get to spend more time with them at the best lake on the planet here in a couple weeks.  if cousin bonding is beautiful, cousin bonding at the lake is GORGEOUS. :)