Following the reunion we drove down to Rochester to spend some time with the Maxfield family. We figured we would take advantage of being close to their house. Unfortunately, we were all exhausted so we didn't have much energy.
The first afternoon/evening we just sat around and ate pizza for dinner while the kids played with the Maxfields toys. Other people's toys are always better than your own.
Like true Johns, we couldn't just go to bed early. We still needed to talk about life after 8 days in Wisconsin. So we stayed up late.
On Friday we struggled to get moving. The kids played around and Camille got harassed by the twins, but mostly Derek. She didn't know what to do about the pulling and hitting. She's not used to it. It made me laugh.
She wandered into their room and the twins quickly followed. You can see she put up her arm to shield herself and try to make a quick exit.
Later on we headed to downtown Rochester to check out the city center and some of the Mayo buildings. Rochester's existence is all due to the Mayo brothers and their medical practice. Downtown was small, but nice. All of the buildings are connected by a skyway so you don't have to go outside in the winter.
We happened upon some free donuts, which we happily accepted. People stared wherever we went with our group of 6 young kids.
Our last stop was the library. They have a cute children's section with some toys. Camille and the twins kept trying to get in this doll house. They worked together to stuff every toy animal they could find down the stairs. It was cute to watch.
Sadie got into the kid's mail system they had set up while Lou dug for dinosaur bones.
Cute cousin's bath! Again, Camille felt a little cornered by the twins, but she started imitating their techniques and got a few good head slaps in herself.
On Saturday we took the kids to the park for a while before naps. Meredith and I kept saying we were going to take a picture together and we got it in the nick of time.
After lunch that afternoon we drove our rental van back to Minneapolis and flew back to Utah.
It was fun to see Meredith's house so now I know what she is talking about as she describes things. It was also interesting to see how she lives. Her life is SO busy with her boys.
Again, I find myself wishing that we lived within driving distance especially for our kids' sake. Who knows the next time I will see them and the kids will have changed a lot.
Moral of the story: family is the best.
3 comments:
I hadn't seen the picture of Derek grabbing Camille's shirt or the one of her trying to get out of their room. Ha! I am raising such bullies. Sometimes it stresses me out, other times I just have to laugh.
Aw, that looks like so much fun to have all those cousins together!
I was laughing out loud at the picture of Camille defending herself. Hahaha. I think its funny when Wembley gets picked on, I just laugh at her. I think its good for her. That's so nice that you got to see a little bit of Meredith's life.
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