we are fam-i-ly...

...I got all my sisters and me. Or at least my one and only sister. She was here. My sister. All the way from Seattle, WA (Gig Harbor, actually). And she came with her husband, Josh, and daughter, Gabriella (aka: Gabby, Gabs, little princess).

Their visit was different this time in a few ways: Josh had an Ultimate Frisbee Tournament while he was here; their visit was almost 2 weeks, a rarity; they mostly stayed at our mom's house (Kita's was an easier home base, but the best part for them is that Gabby had her OWN room to sleep in!!); and the biggest difference about this trip was that they did not have to "schedulize" every minute of every day of their visit...you know how that is... that need to see everyone and do everything in a week or less (fun, but very stressful at times). I'm not sure if this visit was more relaxing or not...I don't think I asked, but I think more play time was involved this time around.


We still did our normal things: getting Capuano's pizza (YUM!), as well as the customary shopping trip to Eddie Bauer's Warehouse store...where they get to Eddie's so early, they have to wait in line...and she picks things out for me and I show up later just in time to try things on, pay and leave (I know I'm weird, but I don't really like shopping). I really, really value her input when picking out and trying on clothes with her...we only want the most flattering and fabulous finds for each other!! I wish we could do all of our clothes shopping together!


My mom, aka: Kita, hosted a fabulous BBQ so that all of our extended family can gather and visit with Keni, Josh and Gabby. It was a great Sunday afternoon!

Keni, Momma Kita, and myself.



Fab cousin Mallory and Keni with me.

Cousin Tyler (the new grad), Aunt Suzi Z., Blare and Mallory.


That's my brother-in-law Josh strikin' a pose for me. Funny guy!

Mallory and her fiance Blare - they are too cute...aaahh young love!



Gabby twirling and chasing some bubbles. The rest of the pics I have are of her chasing and trying to EAT the bubbles. Silly girl!

We (K, J, G as well as Gary, Michael and I) had another cookout with our Uncle Rick, Aunt Suzi R. and cousin Brannon at their house...where Gabby saw her first firefly/lightning bug.

I thought it was strange, but they don't have fireflies in Seattle. Michael enjoyed playing with the rocks in their driveway and watching golf on tv...surprise, surprise - NOT!

We also did an exciting visiting to Suzi's office at the Columbus Zoo where we got to pet baby zoo animals. Although, Michael was much more excited to see Grandma Kita than the animals. Hee, hee! Us adults got to go inside a caged area to play with 7 month old cheetahs and 7 month old dogs that were raised with the cheetahs (I forget what kind of dog, I wanna say it starts with an A??). Anyway, it was very, very cool. Remember the baby cheetahs that Carole, Michael and I held back in November?? These are the same cheetahs and my, have they grown!

We took turns going in the cage because the kids weren't allowed in...they said that the kids are starting to look like SNACKS to the cheetahs!

Keni, Josh and Kita are petting one of the cheetahs, while two of Suzi's staff educate us and keep an eye out for the other cheetah because they like to pounce (the guy walked in front of Kita as I was taking the pic - boo).

The dogs wanted in on the attention I had been giving to the cheetah. Then the cheetahs really started to get playful....

After the tour (and the love bite Keni got on her bum from one of the cheetahs), we met Suzi on zoo grounds where she was doing a live news feed for 10tv. Suzi made sure Gabby and Michael were in the background (next to Patrick Starfish, from Sponge Bob) while the tv crew was filming and Gabby had on her sparkly pink Dora sunglasses (so cute!).

After the news was over, Suzi gave us all passes to Zoombezi Bay, the cool new water park at the zoo. Brannon went with us too...which Gabby really liked. We loved having Brannon show us around and hanging with us too. :) Michael liked floating around the creek until we went under a waterfall of ice cold water and then he was all done. We also did the wave pool which he enjoyed as well. I think we could've stayed longer (in fact, Gabby "pretty pleased" Kita into just the two of them staying longer!), but that had been a long day for Michael and we were all getting tired.

On K, J and G's last day, Michael and I drove to Kita's for a quickie lunch of White Castle's (mmmm, Whitey's...they don't have those in Seattle either) and to visit with them one last time while they packed for the trip home.

G-ma Kita with her favorite grandchildren....Michael and Gabby.

Michael and HIS G-ma Kita...I think he might have been getting a little jealous...maybe???

Sigh. Good times. We miss them already.

PS: Hey Gabby, I'm going on a picnic and I'm going to bring some bananas....what are you going to bring?!?! Are you still bringing the FROGS?!?!