We Love Cousins!

We were lucky enough to have another of Chuck's sisters visit with her family. Amy, Wayne, Darcy, Dixie, Dillon, and Denim all came for a long weekend trip from Denver. Even with Wayne in a wheel chair with a broken foot, we still managed to pack in lots of fun times. They had a rough time getting here flying standby, but at least Darcy got here when planned. It was nice to have here for a short time by herself.

Chuck took our girls and Darcy to a Lowe's Build and Grow and then to Maymont Children's Farm. While we were at Maymont Nature Center, Chuck left to pick up the rest of the family from the airport. Leland loves taking people to Maymont. She gets in her tour guide mode like her daddy and runs around showing everyone all her favorite things and telling them the rules. Amy, Darcy, and I took a tour of Maymont Mansion before heading home.

On Sunday, we walked around the Richmond National Battlefield and Tredegar Visitors Center. The kids completed a Junior Ranger activity book. We've never done one before because the youngest recommended age is 4 yrs old, but it was awesome. It helped focus the learning to a child's level and Leland really got into learning about the history. Once they finish a certain number of activities, they earn a (really cool) patch or a (not so cool) badge. Now I need to figure out some way to display them. The best thing is every National Park should have a Junior Ranger program and it's FREE.

We also took our visitors on our obligatory walk out on the walkway over the James River followed by a driving tour of Richmond including a stop by the State Capitol and Hollywood Cemetery.

We have a great museum pass from a museum in Ohio called Boonshoft Museum. It has reciprocal benefits to children's museums, science centers, aquariums and zoos all over the country. I would love to support our local museums, but it's the best bang for our buck. Luckily, Amy has the same pass, so were able to go to the children's museum and science center. We spent a few hours to the children's museum, ate lunch, then walked next door to the science center to spend a few more hours. We have never gone to the science center before and it had a lot to offer. Everyone had a blast.

Tuesday morning, Amy and I took the kids to another National Park to do a Junior Ranger program and went to Chimborazo Hospital.

I also have to toot my own horn and mention that we had some fabulous food while they were here. Our Sunday dinner of ham and potatoes was great, besides the overflowing juices from the ham that are now charred on the bottom of my oven. On Monday morning, we had scrumptious breakfast including grits. I'm not sure I won anyone over with the grits, but at least no one put honey on them like Chuck foolishly did when I first met him. Monday night was the best with pulled pork sandwiches with homemade BBQ sauce followed by apple pie (not homemade). A good'ol southern meal for those west coasters. At some point during dinner Wayne asked if I had eaten squirrel before, he has some serious misconceptions of the south (Chiggers! seriously?). I think our screened in back porch may have won some points because, he talked about wanting to come back to eat a meal on our back porch.

This is Denim and Leland while watching a movie in the Tredegar Visitors Center. Moments like these are why I absolutely love getting together with cousins. They just love each other and are best of friends. Thanks for visiting! We hope to see you again soon.