Visit with Great Aunt Gen

Today we had the pleasure of taking the family to see my Great Aunt Gen in Seattle. We have been trying to get together for some time, but due to illness and various other circumstances have been unable do it. Thankfully, we were all well (except David who stayed home) and were able to accept Aunt Gen's invitation to come and have a meal with her. Patty was also there to help her serve (the wife of my mom's cousin) the lunch. It has been a while since I have had such a treat to sit down to a table set with china and fine things! I even had my own little tea set as you see pictured here, which was fun. I would also like to note that Caleb is in his portable high chair AWAY from the pretty table. He is our messy eater and I figured he would be the one who would need that tray to be his messy self. Daniel sat in a high chair that my parents brought and we just put a placemat down on the table to protect the table cloth. I should have done the same for Josiah though because as you see on the right he got some of the lasagna sauce on the tablecloth. Hopefully it will come out!!

After lunch, we went into Aunt Gen's backyard and let the kiddos explore a little. She has these couch/swings that they enjoyed playing on and found many other things to look at. Josiah even found a snail on the stairs at some point and we saw a squirrel picking up acorns and taking them up into the large tree in her yard. I was able to get a nice picture of my parents with the boys as you see here too. Can we say, "Christmas card?" That would be a nice one I think!

I once again TRIED to get a nice shot of just ME and the boys, but my plan always seems to fail. Here, the picture isn't too bad, but the sun is shining just on my mouth and almost all of Josiah's face. Shucks...so close, yet so far away! I tried moving us elsewhere, but those pictures are funnier yet with the twins wriggling out of my arms, not enough light, hands in people's faces, etc. I guess this is what I get for trying to pose 3 boys and myself?

Josiah is talking to Aunt Gen here, though I can't remember what he was saying. I was very pleased though that he ate the meal that was given to him at the table without complaining or asking for something else and that afterward when I told him to say, "Thank you," to Aunt Gen that he did so. He was very polite and sweet! Yeah! When I asked him what his favorite part about the visit was later he said, "The ice cream and cookies!"

Caleb put on a little show for Aunt Gen playing with this homemade clown that she had there. He was making the clown dance and he even danced himself at one point too. He was running from one chair to the next and when he got in the swing he made a little "swinging noise" at it went back and forth. He is quite the little entertainer!

Daniel had a grand time exploring many of the rooms upstairs and he espeically liked the room with the TV. Here there is a picture of Aunt Gen and some other people, and he sat there talking to the picture for a while and pointing at the people in it. He also spun the globe that was sitting behind the picture and at one point grabbed her TV remote and walked over to the TV pushing the buttons and I suppose was hoping to turn the TV on, but was unsuccessful.

Overall, it was a pleasant time and though I spent most of it chasing after little ones and their curious hands, I did also get to chat with Aunt Gen here and there and enjoyed a wonderful meal also. Thank you Aunt Gen and Patty for hosting us and we hope to do it again sometime!