cousins!!

We spent our second weekend of vacation in Vermont.  Richard's mom and all of his brothers and sisters were able to free up the week. Susan, Bob, Ryan and Robert drove in from Chicago, and Nancy came out from Boston, and Steve, Molly, Liza and Garrett came in from New Hampshire.  

We picked the hottest day for our annual mini-golf and go-cart trip.  A bunch of us took a canoe trip down the Battenkill and all of us lived through it- some of us a little more wet than others at the end.  Richard took good care of his mom and kept her dry.

Thomas and Kathy are working on their house, and Richard spent some time out there helping out.  We all joined them and got to check out the progress on Thomas's birthday- photo credits to Kathy for those great shots!!  We then got to celebrate Roger's birthday at his house with the annual donut-cake (a favorite for Owen and me) and swimming.

We celebrated July 4th with a swim in Lake Shaftsbury- in the rain- which was a nice break from the heat, then moved to a barbecue at Roger and Ivonne's, then fireworks in Manchester.

Owen and Robert bonded over a common love of Minecraft- the boys treated us to rousing versions of some Minecraft fan songs- who knew that was a thing! Owen and Kobe continued to have lots of common interests and had a blast together.  Ben loved playing with all his cousins- he and a very spunky Liza especially enjoyed the playground together.  Garrett grew up and is now walking and communicating and entirely awesome.  Ryan joined all the men (and most of the boys) in morning rounds of golf, and kept us updated on the World Cup status.

What a great week to get to catch up with everyone and for the boys to re-discover each other.