Weekend with the Willards

Last weekend Casey's brother Jeff, Nicole, and their kids came to California for a visit. They are the only cousins on the Willard side so it's a real treat to see them. Uncle Brady also came to town from Tucson. And with Chad and Lauren here in town, we had a full family reunion. We loved it! We spent a few days with these fun people...

Nicole and Jeff:

Chad and Lauren, with Jeff/Nicole's kids Jillian, Harrison, and Jacqueline (Me and Casey with their kids too):

Uncle Brady and Harrison:

Grandma and Grandpa:

What did we do first? The Skirball and the Noah's Ark exhibit, of course! (don't get excited, I'm not done with that place yet. Still going there this week with Rachael and Laura).
Waiting to enter the exhibit, embossing letters on to papyri (or cheap paper):

Uncle Chad and Jacqueline:

I thought I'd take a pic of me and Casey. Didn't realize the camera was totally zoomed in. Enjoy the extreme close-up.
Much better:
Grandma and the kids checking out a "cave"
With Casey and other adults with us this time (to watch after kids), I was able enjoy many of the Ark details. How cool is this alligator violin?
And now for a bunch of pictures:
Of course the boys found these building tubes more fun than the kids did:
And totally got busted by the workers for making it too tall and causing a ruckus:
A cool thing we did this time around was a Jam Session outside. It was great! Two of the workers gathered the kids in the amphitheater....
They handed out cool African instruments....
(freaking Brady)
And then we started jamming with our instruments. And Lucy started dancing:
and dancing:
while we all watched:
and I started taking a million pics.
The other kids joined in:
Great jam session! And fun day at the Skirball. We actually checked out other exhibits there too. What a cool place.
I love this photo. Looks like Brady's a bodyguard, keeping Linda shaded from the paparatzi:
After the Skirball, we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's to hang out and have dinner. The kids had so much fun playing together. I often found Jilly and Lucy reading books together:
What sweet cousins:
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Tuesday morning we headed to The Picture People for a true adventure. Casey's mom wanted a picture of all the grandkids and bought them all matching outfits. So, we spent a couple of hours hanging out here:
And we ended up with something this (the colors on my camera are a little off). Cute:
Hooray! The kids were cooperative! (we did have a few meltdowns of course). But the picture that Linda choose for her wall is adorable.
The kids probably had more fun, however, hanging out in the store before photos:
and playing with balloons after photos:
Not sure what they're laughing at but I love this picture. Captures their smiles perfectly:
And we ended the morning with static hair:
And some playtime outside:
We had so much fun seeing you all this weekend! I hope we do it again soon.