Extended weekend wedding trip

 We started off the weekend visiting Squeeze's grandparents

Jamie really loved playing with his great-grandma --

He would run from her to Squeeze's grandpa and throw himself in their laps.

I was a little worried about him possibly hurting them but they seemed to love it.

We were watching a video of our nephews & niece playing the piano --

They hadn't been able to figure out the DVD player up to that point.

 We stayed in a hotel, which the boys LOVED --

Truen declared, "I want to live here forever!" on the first night.

And here they are: mesmerized by the kids' channel on the TV.

Their #1 favorite activity was swimming in the hotel pool.

I took pictures, but every single one was blurry --

Picture huge smiles and constant motion.

 LSJFF's wedding --

'Twas lovely and intimate.  I was so happy I cried.

My favorite part was seeing Aaron's face radiate such happiness and joy --

As he looked around he appeared to be totally floored by the scene,

surrounded by so many people who love them.  It was great.

We brought the boys, so unfortunately didn't get much of a chance to enjoy things.

Such a bummer, but we didn't predict the level of insanity --

At the reception, Jamie was literally RUNNING the entire time.

Tripping old men, weaving through crowds, climbing the railing, that kind of thing.

On our last day we took a trip to Como Park. 

Here we are, crowded around one of our favorite exhibits --

The leaf-cutter ants.  Awesome.

We also tried to visit our former neighbor Wilburn that day,

but his senior housing was in the throes of an influenza outbreak --

We were strongly advised at the reception desk not to enter.

SUCH a bummer.

 All the boys fell asleep on the way home after such a busy weekend --

Diego somehow produced this sleeping position,

the best fell-asleep-in-the-van picture ever.

LOLOLOL

 We came back on Monday night, but took a 4-day weekend --
Giving us time to recuperate on Tuesday. 

It was so nice for Blaine to not have to go back to work ASAP.

We bought cross-country skis for the boys while we were in "the Cities".

 We have been scheming on this for a number of years and finally did it this weekend.

We skied yesterday afternoon and they LOVED it.  Yessssss.

We were so pleased.

 We skied up the driveway and back (probably a half-mile total).

I pulled Jamie in the sled while Blaine skied at a snail's pace with the boys.

They both did very well and seemed to really enjoy it.

In addition to the actual skiing,

I think they really liked having gear "just their size".

Truen didn't fall as often as Diego --

But he is generally a lot more careful and deliberate.

Aren't those tiny little poles just the cutest?

We went out again today and Diego was actually going pretty fast.

I think I would have been like that too --

'Forget all this learning-stuff . . . let's get adventurous ASAP!!'

All in all, a very good weekend.

I should also say . . . Jamie is fully potty-trained!  He accidentally peed his pants twice this past weekend but said, "Pee!" as he was doing it both times.  Otherwise everything else went into the potty chair completely on his own prompting, even in the van on the way there and back.  Wow.  Awesome.