Mom and Tink's Busy Week

Tink and Mommy had a really fun few days with Daddy's side of the family. Daddy's aunt and cousin stayed at Daddy's mom's, and his sister and her three girl's took Mommy and Tink up to visit. Our aunt had never met Tink before but it didn't take long for all of the girls to feel very comfortable around their aunt and cousin. The girls are 6, 3, 22 months (Tink) and 2 months. during the 3 1/2 hour drive up they were all amazingly good. Mommy loved spending time just visiting with her sister-in-law and loved feeling closer to her. I felt like even though my sisters all live in different states right now that I have a sister close by again. Everyone got to Grandma E's house on Wed. night and just settled in. Thursday Aunt T started spoiling the girls. She brought each of them gift bags and the girls loved all of their new toys! They played bubbles and dress up and REALLY loved putting on their lip gloss. Later they made salt dough and mixed in orange kool-aid to turn it colors (they were hoping it would smell orangey too but it still smelled mostly like play dough). They all enjoyed playing with the play dough and so did the adults. Mommy had a hard time leaving Tink but I tried my best to let her do something without me. I was amazed at how quickly she was comfortable with these new family members and didn't need me with her at all times. She even let me go with Grandma E and Aunt M and grandma's friend to look at a possible new home for Grandma E while she stayed with Aunt T and her son. She only cried when she hit her head on the couch but when her 6-year-old cousin spanked the couch for hurting her Tink laughed and was fine after that. Friday Aunt T helped the girls make butterfly wings. Each girl got to decorate her own set of wings with markers, paint and stickers. Later that night after Aunt T put some yarn on them they wore their wings and "flew" around the back yard. They loved their wings and we were sure to bring them home so Tink can show Daddy what a god butterfly she is. We also went to the park where they have a splash area. Tink loves wearing her bathing suit but still hates getting splashed. She would play on the edge of the splash area and stomp in the puddles but if she ended up accidentally getting splashed she would not be happy! She loved playing on the rest of the regular playground equipment and some older girls at the park kept watching her and asked if they could play with her too. It would have made me a little nervous but with Aunt T and Grandma E and Aunt T's son keeping an eye on her as well as myself I wasn't too concerned.

Then on Saturday Aunt T and her son gave Tink and myself a ride to the family reunion where we caught up with Daddy. The reunion was fun. It was great to see a lot of people we haven't been able to see for a while and to meet new family members. One of Daddy's cousins wasn't able to make it but his wife and their two children came and we loved meeting them for the first time. Their oldest is a littl girl who is one month younger than Tink and their second is a little boy who was born in January. Tink and their girl ended up playing decently together with a few disagreements as to who should have a turn playing with some of the toys. At the park their was a little zoo that we were able to enjoy. It was fairly small but our family had a blast! Aunt T let us borrow her extra camera during the reunion and as soon as we get those pictures we will post them on the blog. We will also be getting pictures from everyone else of the rest of the week that we will post as soon as possible. Their was a playground next to the pavilion the reunion was taking place in and Tink loved the tunnel slide there. The first time she went up Mommy followed to make sure she was alright getting up and Mommy got a little week in the knees from climbing up so high. Tink got nervous before going down the slide and so Mommy had to climb back up the ladder (knees knocking again). When I got just u\about to the top Tink sat in the slide and said "No Mommy" and waved me away and then in the same movement pushed herslef down the slide and came out smiling from ear to ear. After that she didn't need anyone's help again. I can't believe how much she loves slides and how fearless she is.

After the reunion Tink fell asleep at the very end of the zoo tour and right before one of Daddy's high school friends and her family stopped by. We had a quick visit with them and then headed home with his cousin's wife and kids following behind us. They stayed at our place last night and Daddy took them to the airport EARLY this morning. Last night Tink had a hard time sharing her toys with the other little girl. She was especially jealous of this airplane made for toddlers to ride or push. She did a god job not taking it away from her when she was on it but it didn't mean she was happy that the other girl was on it. One time Tink watched her new friend fall off the airplane and headed right over. Daddy was watching and thought Tink was going over to help. Instead she "helped" her finish getting off the plane and started trying to get on it herself. When she saw the girl get back up she was in an even bigger hurry to get on it and ended up falling face first over the front of the plane followed by the plane landing right on top of her. Daddy couldn't help but laugh and think how ironic, and what justice, it was. It was a busy time but it was a fun time.