Fun Cousin Time

I don't really remember close relationships with my cousins. We had fun together when we had family functions, and I remember that my cousin Vanessa went to New Kids on the Block with me, but we were never very close. However, the relationship between my nieces and nephews was super close when they were growing up and I always loved that. I have tons of amazingly great memories of them spending time together. Sadly, since my sisters are both WAY older than me (that's for you Tiff) and I had Zoey a little later in my life, there is a pretty significant age gap between Zoey and my nieces and nephews (plus the majority of them live in Utah). So I am always super happy when Zoey gets to spend some quality time with her cousins on Scott's side. This past week was one of those times.

On Saturday the Poe side of the family had a get together to celebrate the July birthdays in the family (Grandma Poe, Scott, and me). We had a very enjoyable cookout at Scott's cousin's house. Zoey got to hang out and play with her cousin Jack, who is two years older than her. She had a good time playing in his water table, which basically meant dumping water all over her head. She also enjoyed derailing his trains (Jack wasn't a huge fan of that). They worked out a system where he would send her carrots via one of his trains. Jack even taught her how to climb rocks.

You can tell she's all wet from dumping water on her

On Sunday we had the Moran side of the family over to our house for my birthday. Scott's mom had his sister's kids, Neko and Robbie, for the week so Zoey got in some more good cousin time. We started with lunch at Red Robin and then back to our house, where Zoey and Robbie took naps, while Bev took Neko to the park.

Birthday lunch - Zoey is sporting the awesome mouse ears Aunt Phyl gave her

Once the little ones had all gotten up from nap, we spent some fun time enjoying the pool in the backyard. We had filled it up earlier in the day, so it was a nice temperature. Scott was the only adult brave enough to join in on the fun, but the rest of us enjoyed sitting around watching the crazy fun. It reminded me so much of Shay, Brynden, and Trey when they were that age, as well as my dad sitting in the pool with them. I think we even had a pool very similar to the one we have now.

Zoey tested the pool out prior to everyone coming over

High Fives for Neko

Once the kiddos had tuckered themselves out swimming, we set them up with Kung Fu Panda while Scott finished making the burgers and dogs.

The kids ate dinner at Zoey's table, which was a little small for the three of them. Zoey kept making them pay what Scott called the "cousin toll" which basically meant that she kept stealing the chips off of their plates. LOL!

The day ended with some extremely tired kids. I know at least Zoey slept like a log.

In addition to our weekend fun, we got together one more time before Neko and Robbie had to go back to Kentucky. We met up at the zoo for the afternoon. It was super hot, so we only made it through part of the zoo, but we saw most of North America and Asia. We got to see the polar bears, as well as the brown bears. The langurs were also acting crazy that day, which was a delight for Zoey.

Following our day at the zoo, we headed over to Chuck E Cheese for an evening of craziness. This was Zoey's second trip to Chuck E Cheese and while I think she had a good time, I think she needs to be just a little bit older to really enjoy herself. Neko and Robbie had a great time as well.