New Kid

This week the kids got a chance to meet one of their distant cousins. We picked up cousin's Dev at Lady Di's cousins home by St. Paul, MN. He is 1 year older than Number One Son and is visiting from Texas so he and N1S spent the entire drive home asking each other what kind of restaurants each state had. It turns out there are a lot more chicken chains in Texas than in Minnesota.

Dev stayed with us for three days and Lady Di packed each day with so many activities that the kids, who are used to staying up late in the summer, pretty much collapsed on their beds and were instantly sleeping each night.

We started off the activities at the zoo.

We paused a moment at the flamingos.

Here are some monkeys looking at some monkeys. Or maybe it's the other way around.
We ended our trip at the butterfly house.

The rest of Dev's stay was occupied by a trip to the beach, swimming in our backyard, going to a movie, playing basketball and eating pizza. Plus a few more outings squeezed in. I'd say a pretty good vacation.

When it was time for Dev to return to LD's cousin's house the kids were disappointed to see him go. Once we got home, LD and I were ready to just rest and have a quiet day. The kids must have gotten used to all of the special activities everyday. They quickly asked, "Well, where are we going tomorrow?"

So now they expect everyday to be a trip to somewhere exciting.

"Yes kids! Tomorrow we will visit a hands-on exhibit of the two messy rooms in Minnesota. And the best part is you will get to actually be in charge of the clean up effort! After that, you can go on a nature walk through beautiful flower gardens, immaculately mowed grass and end with a do-it-yourself artwork project involving chalk and an actual working driveway! So get to bed. You have a big day tomorrow."