So, where were we?

Or where are we? 


Or when will we all be home together from dinner to bed time? 


There are no answers for any of those questions. No good or definitive ones.


But we were all together for Easter weekend. The 6 of us and 30 of our closest relatives :)

I am sure you have heard me say "oh this is my favorite holiday" for nearly every holiday that includes many people, eating and drinking. Sorry. Did I actually say drinking? I meant "spending quality time together". 


But really, Easter ranks right up there in the top 5. Or 10. There are a lot to choose from and I can't be pressured to make a choice.


All my life (that I can remember) we have gone to Phoenix for Easter to my Aunt and Uncle's house where more people than you can count would play, swim, eat and spend quality time together.


A new tradition started about 11 years ago (or so...I don't have any real documentation of the first 2 years) when my cousin 'L' and I decided to spend the Saturday before Easter shopping and hanging out-before going to her parents house on Sunday for the HUGE shin-dig.


Then our cousin 'R' found out. And then word spread like wild fire to all the cousins that we did this and the accusations flew about us hoarding some great fun from the rest of them. Or that we were spending quality time together without them is probably more the case...but truth be told, we did a lot of candle shopping. It's possible we did some piercing too.


Whatever the case - 2003 became the first of the Cousins Cool Easter! We sit around, let our kids run wild and spend quality time together. In 9 years,there have been horse shoes thrown, chairs broken, people sleeping in random places, many babies born and there was once a "clothing on fire" incident. Good thing we are all family.

I don't know if we really call it Cousins Cool Easter. 'L' and I would probably call it the Cool Cousins Easter - cuz, well, we are:

Me and L 

L and I grew up together and even when we were separated by time and space and no phones that had texting capabilities, we were always close. We have unintentionally owned the same vehicle - TWICE.  We have intentionally pierced our ears together - TWICE. We have purchased matching outfits on more than one occasion as well. Sadly, that last one - well, lets just say I am pretty sure we were in our 20s. Don't judge, we are freaks and we are good with that.

Bink-O

Mini P LOVES music. A LOT. 


The one she's been singing all week is BINGO.


"There was a farmer had a dog and Bink-O was his name-O"
"Bink-I-N-G-O, Bink-I-N-G-O, Bink-I-N-G-O and Bink-O was his name-O"

The Polar Bear Dare

It's a widely known fact that A-Dog really has no feeling in his body when it comes to the water temperatures of bodies of water. I'm not saying he doesn't take HOT showers, cuz he does. I mean when it comes to a body or mass of water, he cannot help be magnetically attracted. Pool, beach, lake...all the same.


I remember one time (when he was an only child) we took a trip to Michigan. It's a long flight (2 different flights actually) then we still had to drive like 5 hours so we needed a break. We stopped at some random beach and were walking in the sand and he literally took off all his clothes (except his underwear I think, I hope...) and was in the water before we could stop him. The water was NOT warm. At All. 

A different day at the beach, with a swim suit. (ADog age 5.5)

So, last week, I double dog dared him to jump in the pool and swim across.  And with any good dare, it needed a reward.   So, for the love of his siblings and their love of ice cream...he jumped in, swam across and did it all for a trip to the Dairy Queen!

All because he loves us...

Sitting with our feet in the waterfall, hangin' at the pool!

Or, because he wanted ice cream.

Pool Finale Finally

Our backyard went from this:

To this:

Now, if we can get the water warmer....68 is not quite my temperature for water. I'm a bit of a wimp. Go ahead, gasp in disbelief..but it's true.