Vacation, Part 1

For the first leg of our vacation, we went to Dallas to spend Memorial Day weekend with my parents and older brother, sister-in-law, and niece. It was a fun, relaxing weekend. Our outings were limited to the occasional shopping trip, church, and a meal out. Church was interesting, what with entertaining two babies and a toddler the whole time. Nathan ended up sleeping, and by some miracle Nana kept Patrick content through the whole service. I've got to give her credit for even trying, much less accomplishing the task.

Shortly after we arrived Friday afternoon, Nana enlisted Patrick's help in cooking dinner. He was more than happy to oblige.
This is how we discovered that Patrick is a huge fan of tomatoes. I don't get it; Matt and I both hate it. He couldn't get enough of it and kept sneaking bites while preparing dinner. We also discovered during the weekend that he likes raw onion (yuck!), and he even tried steak and other meats that he always turns up his nose at.

The first night, the babies had story time with Nana before bed. While they were interested in the book, I think they were just as interested in each other.

This piano was the favorite toy for both our boys. I'd like to be able to say this duet was sweet and melodic, but I suspect Grandpa (Be-paw, as Patrick called him) was in the other room covering his ears about now.

And here's Nathan showing off his musical talent alone. I was actually a little surprised at how much he enjoyed playing the piano and how capable he was of hitting the keys.

One of the highlights of the trip for me was watching the babies together. You may remember that Abby and Nathan are almost exactly the same age; Nathan is older by only ten days. It was interesting watching them interact, especially Nathan's reaction to Abby since he doesn't see babies his age very often.

They played together for a long time this day, posing for endless pictures by both me and Steve.

They even "shared" their toys so nicely. Really, they just took turns stealing favorite toys from each other, but neither seemed to mind this system too much.

Then Patrick woke up from his afternoon nap, starving for a snack. As soon as Nana had poured him a bowl of crackers (or something), he dragged her by the hand to the couch, insisting that she sit with him while he ate. Daphne (Steve and Ginny's dog) came of her own accord. I think it was the bowl of food that was the main attraction for her.

After our traditional Memorial Day cookout, the boys took a dip in the baby-sized backyard swimming pool Steve and Ginny had picked up for the occasion. This was Nathan's first time ever to swim, and it was the first time Patrick ever swam in a pool that was more his size. Both boys had tons of fun splashing. Patrick was quite reluctant to get out. (And yes, they are this pasty white. They take after me.)

This was about when our camera ran out of battery, so I didn't get pictures of Abby and Patrick swimming a few minutes later.

Monday evening I made an attempt to get pictures of the boys with their grandparents. It suddenly hit me after Steve and Ginny and Abby left that I hadn't gotten any good pictures of the three of them, or the aunt and uncle with their nephews. I was trying to make up for some lost time by getting grandparent pictures anyway.

Obviously Nathan was quite cooperative, posing perfectly and flashing the perfect smile.

Patrick, however? He was the usual Patrick. This is the best family shot I got of all four of them. Always the ham, that one.

Don't forget...tomorrow you'll get the second leg of our vacation, the time in Big Spring.