When Tracie comes to Play

This past week my amazing sister Tracie and her little girl Paige came to stay with us and to say hello to Nora. We had so much fun with them!

We took the kids to Apollo Park one day and had a wonderful time -- until Peter fell off one of the playground toys and got a huge wood chip stuck in his leg about an inch deep. Poor kid. He really was convinced he was going to need a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

This time of year is also when the California poppies are in bloom and Travis decided we needed to do a little off-roading to go see them.

Mainly we went on a long drive so the kids would take a nap. It worked.

Then Tracie and I took the big kids to the Poppy Festival - and despite the 30-40 mph winds, we had a great time.

They especially loved the petting zoo.

 And then Peter and Paige both got to ride a camel which they thought was the best ever. Benji was very much against the idea however and stayed safely on the ground by mommy.

Of course we had to stop at the Boeing tent for the boys to try on these fighter pilot helmets (For your own enjoyment, you should really click on this picture and zoom in to see Benji's face under the visor... we may be raising a crazy person!)

Then, as we were leaving, we caught Paige and Peter walking together like this. For some reason, this picture looks to me like they are a cute little celebrity couple. Ridiculously adorable.

Peter and Paige played so well together while they were here; the morning they had to leave he actually broke down crying saying "I wish this day had never come!"

It was so much fun to have my sister visit - it was hard for me to say goodbye too!

 This little lady was so happy to have her here, she even started smiling. 

I sure wish my family didn't live quite so far away.

And because no post is complete without gratuitous pictures of Nora, here's one of the sleeping beauty. I laid her down for some tummy time and she sacked right out - despite her two crazy brothers running all around her.