Colorado Cousins

We stopped off at Dairy Queen and look what we picked up at the Drive Thru?!?!

What a wonderful week it was. We not only celebrated our nation's birthday, but we did it in style with the presence of our favorite Coloradians (sans Uncle J). Auntie Amy, and cousins Keira and Audra visited for almost a week during their month-long Midwestern Summer Tour.  They rolled up to our house in a giant Ford Excursion.  Bryce was almost speechless at first and then quietly asked Aunt Amy, "Is that a monster truck?"  From there forward he could not get enough of riding around town in style in the Monster Truck.

We were fortunate enough to book their first stops. It was an emotional past week for the Williams crew after being forced to evacuate their home with the wild fires in Colorado Springs. Thankfully the act of many brave firefighters helped save not only their home, but their entire neighborhood.

Amy was able to share first-hand the scary and often horrific truths that accompanied this rotten fire. As if they didn't leave behind enough hot air with the out-of-control inferno, they were re-introduced to the lovely Indiana summer weather. However, this was week three of no rain, high humidity and temperatures above 90.

In fact, this past Saturday, it topped out at 108 degrees. Yes, this entailed multiple trips to the pool, frequent scoops of ice cream and even running through a fountain at Purdue to try and stay cool. The kids truly loved spending time together.

Obviously Keira and Kari are close in age and enjoyed each other's company, but it was especially cute to see Bryce and Keira connect. They often were seen tickling each other and making goofy noises. Audra was super sweet and much more talkative than the last time we were with her.

The kids also got to go to the 4th of July celebration at the Elks. There was swimming, games, face painting and a terrific fireworks show. This was the first set of fireworks they got to see this week, as our county is under a mandatory burn ban because of the drought conditions.

This past weekend was spent in Indianapolis at the Wubbena (Gran's side) Family reunion. It takes place every five years and we had a very nice time catching up with lots of relatives we rarely get to see. The kids literally took countless rides up and down the glass hotel elevators that look down on the atrium at the Embassy Suites.  When they weren't doing that, they were trying out new crafts, eating something or other, swimming or simply spending more quality time together.

The long-lost curly haired cousins were stuck together like glue for much of the reunion.  Kevin's cousin Karl from PA and Bryce absolutely hit it off.