You may have heard either John or I say, we want four kids someday. Well, we got to enjoy having 4 children under age 8 in our home recently!
The last two days we hosted John's cousin Jamie and his lovely family. Jamie works for the military. He and his family were on a month leave before moving to their next destination. So, Jamie brought his family here to MN to meet all of us... it was great! We got to see them 4 different times this past month, including the past two days they stayed at our home.
John and Jamie (in one day!!) drove from here to St. Loius and back! (I know, a bit crazy) They dropped off Jamie's car, so it could be transfered to their new destination. Thankfully the trip was smooth. While the guys were on the road, I enjoyed getting to know Noi (Jamie's wife), Naet (their daughter), Jalen aka JJ (their son). Naet is 8. JJ is 2.
Noi and I loaded the kids into my Envoy and we went to the Como Zoo for the day! We also managed a haircut for JJ, icecream treats and playtime at home. Sadie and Lauren ("Nee Nee") really loved having cousin's to play with. Naet was a nice "big sister" to Sadie and Lauren. And JJ and Sadie ran after each other and tickled each other to pieces. ;)
I think 4 kids would be great...! I told Noi that I loved having a car full of noisy, cute kids. I enjoyed getting to know Noi... she was born in Thailand, and it was fun to learn about her home town and the Thai culture.
Day two, we ate at Olive Garden and went shopping in the Maple Grove Shoppes (had fun running into the Block's there too). It was fun to have girl time with Noi, exploring fun stores like J.Crew. Banana Republic and Anthropology. I have not set foot in a nice store browsing through clothes for myself since, well, forever! I found a fun - long - linin peach colored tank top at J.Crew and a cute scarf, both on sale! YAY! Noi found some nice summery pants at J.Crew too.
After shopping, we drove Jamie and his family back to Jamie's mom's house. His mom and step-dad live on 10 acres in the country and they have about 10 miniature horses and 3 regular ones. The have a very clean pole barn, filled with stalls that have wooden carved name plates at the end of each stall for each horse. Sadie loved feeding hay to the ponies! The kids also ran around with bubble wands that 'blowed themselves', Sadie said, from the wind!
An all around good time was had by all. This is the good stuff in life.
