Grimaldi Family Reunion

This past Saturday (the 25th) we had a family reunion with the Grimaldi side of the family in the Greater Chicago area. We love spending time with this family!!! Emma especially loves it because she gets to see her favorite cousins ever!! She doesn't have any girl cousins her age around us, so she just loves to see all of them. We drove down Friday evening and spent the night with some family, had the reunion Saturday and drove back Saturday night. I guess it shouldn't really be called a "reunion." Reunions seem like times when you see people who you haven't seen in years. We actually do see a lot of this family fairly frequently. We try to make more of an effort now that Emma is forming relationships with her cousins. In June I drove down (by myself) with both kids to take Emma to Six Flags Great America with her cousins. She had a great time and it was great to be able to see them. Collin didn't do as well though, so it wasn't the most run and relaxing trip I've ever taken. Probably not one I'd ever do again by myself. It's great to be able to see them more often....I just wish we were a little closer so we could see them all the time!! My cousins, Will and Fiona, have a beautiful home with lots of space for the whole Grimaldi gang to get together. They even have a nice pool and BOTH of my kids just loved it!!

This was Collin's first time in a pool. I figured he would like it because he LOVES to take baths! We forgot our baby floaty at home, so fortunately for us there was one there that we could use. He just relaxed and enjoyed floating around in the pool and watching everyone. He didn't even complain the numerous times he was splashed by his crazy bigger cousins (and their parents)!!!

Analise loved the pool too! She feels more comfortable being held in the water than being in a floaty though. She just loves to see baby Collin and was so excited that he was in the pool with her!

Ryan was nice enough to swim with both kids so I didn't have to. He wanted a picture with both of them, but it was super sunny out and I couldn't see the screen on the camera, so I didn't notice his eyes were closed. Oops, sorry Ryan!

Emma just loved these squirt guns (more like squirt cannons)!! She was easily able to fill it up in the pool and spray everyone in there. She got sprayed back plenty of times, but doesn't care. She loves to rough-house with people!

Here's my sweet baby boy lounging in the pool!!! He was so cute in there!! I just wish I could have gotten more pictures of him, but I was afraid of my camera getting ruined by all the splashing and spraying of water around me!!

My cousin Vanessa's little boy, Vincent, would NOT go in the pool!!! His grandpa even got all ready to swim and in the water and he wouldn't go in!! What a sweet papa he has!! Vincent just turned 2 in June, so I guess that could explain the STRONG opinion about not wanting to get in that pool!! Vanessa and Natalie-hope you don't mind me posting this picture of you guys!! Vincent was just too cute not to post it!

Before Collin got in the pool, he loved just dipping his feet and legs in a watching everyone play. He's really been fascinated by watching people lately!

Here's Emma spraying people again!! She moved from spraying people in the pool to getting people NOT in the pool!! Good thing she can run fast and has that cute smile to get herself out of trouble!

I had to post a picture of the cutest neice EVER going for a swim with her daddy!! She sure loves him!

Collin was worn out after swimming, so his Auntie Angela rocked him to sleep in her arms!! What a good auntie he has!

Sorry for the red eyes, Analise was at a weird light angle I guess. Analise took great naps while we were at the party, so she was in a great mood when she was up! I just have to brag on how smart she is!! She knows all the motions to "Pat-A-Cake" and can do them along with the song without even watching someone do it!! Here she's doing "roll 'em and roll 'em." She was SO cute!! She was very proud of herself and would do her big open mouth smile and sniffy nose when everyone clapped for her!!

Collin has just recently noticed that he has feet and loves to grab at them and play with them! When he sees them, he looks at them for a few seconds like "hey, where did those come from." Then he tries as hard as he can to grab them. He's starting to suck on his big toe like he does his thumb!

These next few pictures were taking on my cell phone because my camera was packed away and I didn't have time to go find it. Cousin Maty did Emma and Laney's hair for them on Friday night. It was super cute!!

After getting their hair done, they dressed up wiht funny shoes and posed for the camera. Crazy girls!! Can you tell they're cousins??!!

This picture may not seem like a big deal, but BOY it is!! For some reason Analise DOES NOT like swings!!! No one knows why, but she screams and tries to climb out when you put her in one. I thought I'd give it another try though and slowly put her into this one. I had to do one clip, then slowly the other so she didn't realize I was strapping her in (and so I could get her out quick if she cried right away). She sat in the swing for about 3 or 4 minutes and even let me push her! Jody had just gone to do something, so Aaron went to find her so she could see. Of course, as soon as she was coming out, Analise decided she was done. I took this picture as proof that she actually went in the swing because I knew she wouldn't last until Jody could see her! Way to go Analise!! What a big girl!!!