Wild times with Sonia and Erin

It still takes a long time for Erin and Sonia to drive to our house, but at least it's only 200 miles as opposed to 300 miles!  Next time, we'll be smarter about routing them around the Detroit rush hour instead of going through it.  True to form, Sonia fell asleep literally three minutes from our house.  When they pulled up, Charlotte and Peter practically leapt into the car with excitement.  Sonia slowly woke up and reached out to touch Charlotte smiling face as if to check if she was still dreaming. When she figured out it was reality, the three cousins had a gleeful reunion.  Those three really get a kick out of each other.

When they get together, there is a lot of running.

Had to put Peter in the Kyrene de la Mariposa t-shirt in honor of our beloved Tempe, Arizona elementary school!

Sonia and Charlotte had a little too much fun playing beauty parlor that morning and had insisted that Auntie Ernie put in no less than a dozen barrettes in their hair.  That's why they both looked a little like the Olympic gymnasts.

Sonia smiled even though she was not a fan of the super loud noise made at the farm across the street at the demolished an old concrete driveway.  We thought it hilarious that someone who could make nearly as much noise on her own would be so sensitive to it coming from another source!

Ring around the rosie!

Gotta watch a little Huckle (Busytown Mysteries -- a huge favorite of these three) for some downtime.

I ran down to the basement to get something and when I turned to head back upstairs I found them waiting for me like this.  All those little feet just cracked me up.

More running -- this time in their superhero capes!  Super Sillious, Captain Chaos, and Batman (Peter refuses to be called any other superhero name) harassed the kitten more than actually saving anyone, but they looked good doing it.

Charlotte also decided her name was Captain Knucklebuckle.  I'd say that's fitting.

Go, Batman, go!

We took Sonia to nearby Bear Creek Park and had a blast.

Best seesaw ever!  Charlotte actually took this picture (under Daddy's guidance).

Saturday morning, we drove out to Stony Creek Park.  The wind was a little wild, but it was nice and sunny.

Uncle Corey tried to help Sonia cross the monkey bars, but they didn't get very far.  You can see the lake in the background.

The girls are getting so big!  To bad their jackets spoiled the effect of their matching outfits.

Daredevil Charlotte is getting good at climbing all sorts of different ladders.  There are a million different fun features to this playground and each time we go we discover something new!

Goofballs!

This seesaw gets lower marks than the one at Bear Creek Park, though.  It didn't handle differences in weight very well.

Sonia spun her mommy on this goofy thing.

And then, she spun Charlotte on this crazy cup thing.

Teamwork!  We swish the kids could be together for Halloween because they would be hilarious as the Wonder Pets.  Charlotte would be perfect as Linny, Sonia would be Ming Ming, and Peter is a natural as Tuck, of course.  Alas, I think my kids are headed toward Batman and Princess as their costumes this year.  Not sure what Sonia is planning.

There's a cool elevator feature that gently lowers a kid down and then rises back up for the next rider when the kid dismounts.  The kids think it's hilarious.

That afternoon, we headed out to Berkley to see Brad and Amanda.  We watched the Michigan State game, grilled brats, and watched the kids run around like crazy in the back yard.  Declan wasn't there, but little Harry entertained us all in his absence.  I didn't get any good pictures that afternoon other than this one of Harry as he went from kid to kid, begging for bites of their frosted brownies.  They fed him like a puppy and Harry loved it.

We packed a lot of fun into those two days.  Erin has all the photos of our quick trip to the Rochester Cider Mill, so watch for those on her blog.  Thanks for coming!  Come back for a longer stay next time, and we'll show you more of Rochester and Oakland Township!!