Cousins: Part 2

Life with three kids 5 and under is utterly crazy but so much fun! Raf really loves his cousins and, in fact, likely is far more into Rory than Rory is in to him! Poor Rafi. Mind you, it is a real challenge for Raf to share his space, toys, and mama.. and actually even the dogs with his cousins at times. Despite the sharing issues it's an absolute delight to have them all together. Freya remains my little shadow and it's so much fun having a little girl in the house who is a complete chatterbox!

We've had a very busy few days. I don't honestly remember everything we've done but here are some highlights:

Monday, we began the day with a doggy walk on the beach. I'd gone to the gym very early and returned home to run down to the beach with Melissa while Rich brought all the kids and dogs in the car. As soon as we got on the beach Rory suddenly stripped off and Raf soon followed suit. I have to say that this has been the highlight of the trip... watching two starkers three year olds running down a sandy beach first thing in the morning, running after two crazy Westies. We managed to snap a few pics on my IPhone but I wish we had had our proper camera with us.

On Tuesday we visited with one of my friends who I met when I was pregnant with Rafi. They don't live in Maine but they were holidaying in the area so we got to visit them at a beautiful hotel and the kids were so happy to play in the pool. It was a bit nightmarish, though, as the hotel is very nice and thus our very loud kids stood out like very sore thumbs. I think our friends might have been happy to see us leave... as did the other hotel guests. Raf had an absolute ball, though, and was in the water before I could even get undressed. He used his little green rubber ring and was so confident swimming around as though he were a competent swimmer! Imagine my horror when he suddenly jumped in to the water with just a noodle! I played life saver and unwrapped myself from my towel, threw off my sun glasses and jumped in and pulled him from underneath the water. He was completely unphased by any of it and tried to do it again later...

Sadly I didn't get any photos as it was mostly a matter of crowd control. We did visit a nearby little food place along the coast afterward, though, and I snapped the kids waiting for their veggie burgers and chips. 

Unfortunately a storm rolled in just as we were sitting down to eat our lunch and so we rushed inside to eat and then made a mad dash to the car in the crazy wind and rain as Rors and Freya were a little scared of the thunder. Rory absolutely loved running through the driving rain, though!

That evening Rich and Melissa took the kids to the beach with the dogs while I had a little rest. I wished I'd been there as there was more streaking...

A very tiring day for the kids, but Freya and Raf had a nice little snuggle on the bed before everyone fell asleep.

Wednesday was jam packed with a trip to the beach for a picnic lunch.

The beach was pretty tiring...

But thankfully after a long nap in the car they were all ready for gym class. Rory and Freya had a super time with Coach Dan, who they thought was an absolute scream.

Afterward the kids went for an ice-cream.

Thursday was full of plans... and none of it came to fruition. The weather put stay to our plans to go on a boat trip in Portland as well as our dinner plans with the friends we visited with on Tuesday, so we made the mistake of going to Chuck e Cheese (is that how you spell it?), which was just a horrifying experience, though the kids were much more enthusiastic. Thank goodness we managed to get in a nice doggy walk on the beach which, as you might imagine, included more streaking. We had lots of people comment on how funny the boys were!