Last Hurrah of Summer

My sis and her family came to visit us for their vacay in July, and we had a blast together just hanging out.

As if that wasn't enough, God blessed our socks off by making it possible for our dad to join us for a couple days during that time! Neither the kids nor my sis knew he was coming, so it was super fun to surprise them. Here is a pic of my dad with all 6 of his grands.
On one of the days, we went for a picnic hotdog roast to celebrate cousin Eli's birthday. However, we discovered that the heat of the day in the tropics is NOT the best time for a hotdog roast. Who knew? I don't think we actually even needed the fire to cook the food - could have just held it to the sun for a few mins. We also did s'mores and made a great discovery when our hershey bars melted to liquid in the package: it actually works better that way! Just snip the corner of the wrapper and squeeze out the chocolatey goodness onto your marshmallow.

the guy cousins - ages 4, 6, and 8

One of my fav quotes from the time was when they were headed outside, arms around each others shoulders,

"We mans are gonna go talk cuz that's what mans do"

and the girl cousins had some girly time too

playing with makeup

and painting nails

Baby Zoe was still a little too small for this girly time, but it won't be long!

Ben got to feed Zoe her bottle - a first for him!

The kids all crammed into the back fold-out bench seat

just goofing off

We spent a lot of our time at the cable wakeboarding park nearby.

Steve and Zach do this fist bump every time they go out doubles together. I love it.

Cousins Gabby and Eli got in on the action too!

They either rode with Steve or one of the kids on their boards. They tried both wakeboarding and kneeboarding and had a ball.

Love this pic of Steve with baby Zoe.

One of the days, we drove down to Legaspi to play at a playplace and ride the zipline at the base of Mt. Mayon, the most perfect cone volcano in the world.

Here is a shot of Ben on the zipline - it's a beautiful place!

Can you see Mikayla way down there?

The mountain was gorgeous that day and very cooperative (often it is covered by clouds) so we got lots of great photo opps.

All the cousins together - ages 10, 8, 6, 6, 4, and 6 months. We don't get to see each as much as we would like since we live in different countries, but so thankful that we all live in SE Asia so at least our paths cross from time to time!

Our family

Mikayla and Zoe

Ben kept posing for me. "Here, Mom, how about like this?"

Growing up way too fast!

love this shot of the cousins playing on the rock walls of the monestary ruins with the volcano in the background.

and one more shot of all the cousins together

Thank you, Father, for blessing us with this time together!