Family Reunion

About a month ago, we traveled to Warsaw, Indiana for Brad's mom's family reunion. It was a beautiful weekend... breezy and much cooler than most August weekends feel. We don't get to spend a lot of time with this side of the family, unless there's been a death in the family, so it was really great to spend time with them relaxing and enjoying our time together. Honestly, the only way it could have been better is if Ryan, Jennifer, and Rianna could have been there with us.

As you'll see from the photos below, the kids had a BLAST! Bailey quickly attached herself to her cousins, especially Noah (who is 4). The two of them hit it off almost immediately, enjoying feeding the ducks, swinging at the park, and blowing bubbles. Jake really enjoyed having the freedom to run and chase Bailey's pink bouncy ball (yes, poor James got stuck on the receiving end of the ball most of the time - THANK YOU TO JAMES FOR THE HELP!).

After the reunion, we spent some time at Brad's aunt Dawn's house. Dawn and her husband, Jesse, have horses. I was excited to see Bailey's reaction to them. She saw them earlier this summer at Dawn's house, but was very reluctant. I had hoped that she'd warm up to the idea of petting them. I have always been somewhat afraid of horses (and basically most animals), so I guess I've been hopeful that Bailey and Jake will take after Brad, who lacks fear of most any animal. Anyway, Bailey was so excited to see the horses. Jesse was feeding them some apples and tried to help her hold the apples out for the horses to take. Bailey, being her nervous little Andrea-like self, kept jerking her hand away right as the horse would get close. After about 10 attempts and a few fits of laughter from all of us, Jesse managed to hold her hand still and lift the apple into the horse's mouth, giving Bailey the idea that she had been successful. :) I guess there are some things that are just genetic... oh well... I guess it could be worse!

Here are a few pictures from the weekend!