First Day in Boston

September 10th we took a 6:30 am flight to Boston! It was a very early morning for us, but we were happy to have the full day ahead of us with Brett's family in Boston. Everyone did great on the flight. The plane wasn't very crowded so Brett and Maddi had 3 seats to themselves and they both slept most of the way. Cade, Emma and I also had 3 seats to ourselves and Emalyn slept the whole way and I napped off and on and Cade played DS the whole way.

After getting to our hotel, we ate lunch at Chick Fil A and then met Grammy at the nursing home to visit with GG (Janet's mom). I love how GG and Emalyn are checking each other out in the picture. GG has Alzheimer's and is 91! She looks great and she was more with it than we thought she would be. She had no clue who we were, but she was delighted that we were there and really enjoyed the kids. She is such a pleasant woman, even as old as she is.

GG and Emalyn will never remember meeting each other, but we have pictures of them very happy together!

Cade and Maddi last saw GG four years ago and didn't remember meeting her, but I'm pretty sure they'll always remember her now. The 3 of them enjoyed each other very much.

They all look somewhat alike, I think.

I love Maddi's face in this picture!!! Most of the residents were in the room next to us and there was a man singing some old songs to them and talking to them telling them stories. Grammy took Cade and Maddi in the room for a while so they could see what was going on. It was amazing to me that GG didn't know where she was, what she ate for lunch or who we were, but she knew the words to all of the old songs and was singing along. GG is such a joy to be around!

All the girls with GG.

Now the boys with GG!

Emalyn and GG checking each other out again.

After visiting GG, we went over to Brett's cousins house. Amy had all of us over for taco salad that night. Cade and Ryan last met when Ryan was almost 2 and Cade was almost 4. They had a blast playing together this visit. They were wearing sombreros in honor of the taco salad, mexican party theme.

Cade (8), Ryan (6), and Will (2). Cade and Will are first cousins (Brett and Joel are their dads and are brothers). Ryan is their 3rd cousin, I think. Ryan's mom, Amy, and Brett are first cousins.

All the first and third cousins together. From left to right: Maddi (9) and Grace (3), Emalyn (10 months), Aly (12) with Liam (3), Katelyn (8) with Bridget (21 months), Cade (8), Ryan (6), and Will (2).

Maddi and Grace swinging together. Grace adores Maddi and follows her every move. It will be fun to see if Emalyn shadows Grace in the same way in a few years.

The older cousins eating on the patio. The 3 on the right are Amy's kids.

The crazy kids were determined to go swimming. It was in the 60s and quite windy and the pool wasn't heated, but they jumped in and tried to pretend they weren't cold.

Grace's face shows how cold it was in the water!

Maddi and Katie trying to warm up after getting out of the pool.

Bridget was wearing the sombrero so the adults gave her the bottle of tequila to pose with for the picture. Ha ha!

Emalyn was getting very tired but once we put her in her pajamas she decided she wasn't tired anymore and she had so much fun playing with her littlest cousins.

I love this picture of sweet little Bridget loving on Emalyn! I kept telling Bryan, her dad, that Bridget needed a little sister.

Bridget, Emma, and Will had a great time crawling around together. It was so cute how Bridget and Will would just get down and start crawling to play with Emma.

Will is a wild and crazy 2 year old boy, but he knows to be gentle with the baby. So fun!

Will thinks the Barbie car makes for a nice ride. That was the end of our first fun day in Boston!