Last weekend, Troy had a meeting in Norfolk on Friday morning. We went with him, and after the meeting headed to North Carolina to visit Troy’s sister Dana, her husband Paul, and their sons Brett & Leo. Annalie doesn’t get to see her cousins that often, and she was soooo excited about going to their house. As soon as Troy’s meeting was over Friday morning and we had loaded up the van and started off, Annalie asked, “Are we almost to Brett & Leo’s house?” She repeated her question every ten minutes or so until she fell asleep. After her short nap, one of the first things she asked was, “Are we almost to Brett and Leo’s NOW?”

Eventually, we did get to Brett & Leo’s. At first, the boys weren’t quite sure what to make of this girl running around their house, playing with all their stuff. But they warmed up quickly. We put puzzles together, built towers, had a big pretend picnic in the living room (it rained all weekend), chased the cat, ate aebleskiver, and laughed a lot.

Annalie spent a lot of time bouncing around on this green hopper ball thing, and wiped out a half-dozen times. But each time she quickly announced, “I’m okay!” and jumped back onto the hopper ball, lest Brett or Leo try to take it from her. For the most part, they seemed content to let her have it. Thank goodness.

And of course, we took a lot of pictures. This one of Leo is probably my favorite of the whole weekend.

Annalie even got in on the act, with Aunt Dana’s camera.

Of course, we had to take a group shot of the three cousins.

And we were reminded that trying to get a decent picture of three preschoolers is like trying to herd cats.

Boo Boo Kitty is not amused, kids.

Hmm, that’s a little better. Maybe it’d be easier if the moms were in the picture too?

Maybe not. But it was a good visit. We left wishing we could have stayed a little bit longer, listening to Annalie chatter as we drove away, “Maybe tomorrow, Brett and Leo can come to MY house and they can sleep on the floor in my bedroom and…”

See the rest of the photos in Visiting the cousins! — a photoset on Flickr