Lots of Fun When Annie Comes

My sister Annie came to town the last week in July for a family reunion the next week. So we tried to get together to catch up and do a few fun things while she was here! I love my sister, it is only a couple of times a year we see each other because she lives in the Bay Area in California. So one day we went to one of my favorite places: Gardner Village. We caught some cute pictures of the kids as we meandered around the fun little shops there. Here are my three with Annie's cute little Ella.
Lexie loves her baby cousin! She is going to be such a good big sister to her own little sister soon. She got some good practice with Ella!
And I brought some bread to feed the ducks, which was fun for the kids after they went to all the little shops for me!
My kids enjoying the day.
We enjoyed a nice lunch there, too, and snapped a picture of all of us together.
While Annie was here, my mom took a day off work to do a little outing to the Treehouse Children's Museum. There were lots of fun activities for the kids and places to play.
The whole museum is centered around storybook themes, so there were lots of fun little spots to read and learn.
Lexie and Gavin enjoyed trying to milk a cow and learning about farms.
And practiced riding a horse!
Cole even tried his hand at Bronco riding...
There were countries and cultural places, here Annie and Ella are in Africa.
And a giant chessboard was a fun obstacle course for Cole.
Gavin got to dress up and step into the Japanese fairy tale we read.
And I enjoyed little Ella!
The music room was one of my favorites, there was something for everyone in there. We also made some cool Egyptian scarab beetle art, which was very messy and hands on, but very fun!
Grandma had lots of fun spending time with her grand kids and daughters.
This was a huge interactive map of the USA, a good spot for our group shot! We had a fun, full day, and also enjoyed a fabulous Mexican restaurant for lunch. It is wonderful to spend time with the family!
And afterward, the kids loved climbing on and playing with Uncle Nelson back at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
What a fun uncle! We are so lucky to have our family here!