Cousins!

Levi got a good dose of time with his cousins Xander (who's only 6 months older) and Lily who's 1 1/2.

Xander and Levi hanging out

Levi was smitten with his little cousin Lily

Monkey-see-monkey-do made it much easier when getting Levi to sit and eat

Grandad Billy filled this old tire w/ sand, which provided hours of entertainment. Of note, this exact tractor tire served as John's sandbox when he was a toddler in the 70's as well as was his father's sandbox when he was a toddler in the 40's!

It will be so fun to watch these two grow up together over the years

The RO Ranch

7 years later, I finally made it to the Texas Panhandle to see the RO Ranch, John's family's ranch. We spent 6 days at the ranch. It was 100+ F heat with no humidity. We explored, hung out w/ family, and ate a lot of BBQ! It was absolute heaven for little Levi and particularly special for me, as I was able to see where John spent part of his childhood and learn all about the history of the RO.

This is the main house that is actually not located on the Ranch. It was built in the late 1800's and can easily sleep 15+ people. Complete with a farm sink perfect for bathing Felix!


We slept in the bunk house. JWG, Levi, and I each had a bunk, while Felix slept in his pack n' Play. It was a bit like camping, only we had electricity :-)

This is the side of the house, where we'd sit under the trees and do nothing! It was lovely.

Ahhh...the RO. Thousands of acres of land, filled with cows, horses, snakes, and spiders (I saw three tarantulas)!

Uncle Jimmy (who Levi LOVED)

There are several small houses scattered about the Ranch, and this is one of them.

This house is known as the 'Butt Hut.' All though I'm calling it Rattlesnake cove, as last year they discovered a major rattlesnake problem, due to a den of rats living beneath it. I've been told this is no longer an issue, but you won't catch me spending the night there!

Inside the 'Hut'

Spade Flat is one of the highest peaks in the ranch

Despite no rain since the Fall of the previous year (!!) (everything was brown), the expansiveness and uninhibited land is beautiful.

Brothers

Levi and Felix are now starting to take baths together and it's a riot. Particularly because Levi has a new squirt gun and loves to aim it at Felix :-)

Felix at 7 weeks old and starting to coo and smile!

Here's Levi at 10 weeks old. Although a bit older, I definitely see the family resemblance. I wonder if Felix will be as smiley as Levi was and is?!

Felix's 1st friend

Laura, one of my dearest and oldest childhood friends from high school, had her 2nd baby also on May 9th (but delivered in Seattle). We finally were able to introduce our new baby boys to each other!

Both Calvin and Felix are BIG boys, and I can't wait to watch them grow up together

They both were cooing and smiling away

Felix 7 weeks old. We feel so blessed to have a healthy baby!

Felix meets his Grandmommy and Granddaddy

Felix finally got to meet his Grandmommy and Granddaddy! It was a short visit, but he nestled right in for some cuddles.

Felix and his GGMA

GGMA, who's turning 94 in Aug, w/ her great grandson Felix

Fun in the Hawaii sun and rain!

Majority of our week in Hawaii was spent outside, either swimming at the beach or pool or lounging about. Heavenly!

We spent several days at the huge Hyatt pool, complete with water slides, water basketball, and a lazy river!

Kevi and Hazel conquered the water slide

We spent 1 day exploring the island and found the most beautiful, secluded beach. It had a sand bar the kids could walk out to and swim forever.

Cousin Jamie modeling his size 15 flippers! Headed out to snorkel at the secluded beach

Laura and Hazel taking five from the sun. It was HOT!

Buggy was a fish all week and couldn't get enough time w/ his Dada and Mama

Sadie relaxing at the beach. She and Levi were inseparable the entire week!

We also spent several days at Baby Beach, which was just 5 minutes from our house and offered a cove for children to swim in and snorkel

Levi really got into building sand castles and learned the art of being buried in the sand!

SoCal Holmes do Hawaii

Baby Felix joined in on all the festivities, but mostly took in the shade and napped

Typical Hawaii, we did experience a few rain showers that would come and go in a matter of seconds

This one was particularly stormy, but passed in 5 minutes!

We had to take cover

The highlight aside from the wedding, was definitely watching the little cuzzies play

The last night we spent watching the surfers at GGMA's condo

The crew

MK snuggled Felix most of the week and was incredibly helpful and adoring to him!

Levi is definitely becoming a little boy and has a wonderful sense of humor and always makes us laugh

We were sad to leave Hawaii as it was so special to spend an entire week w/ our family. As everyone starts to move around and get married these trips are becoming harder and harder to do!