A Visit With the Arkansas Braggs

Here we are with my brother Don and his family earlier today-- during the brief part of our visit with them when it did NOT rain. They left our house about an hour ago, and are on their way to Mom and Dad's home in Rhinelander right now.

Don and Hope encountered rough weather on the way over. They were actually driving through La Crosse while a tornado touched down (though no one realized it at the time). Don took impressive photos of the black storm clouds they passed beneath-- hopefully he posts them on his blog later.

They made it to Colfax all right, but it rained pretty hard during the night. We woke up the next day to hear that another tornado had passed by during the night within five miles of us, in the town of Wheaton.

I'm guessing that Beth is probably asleep right now; she did a great job keeping up with older cousin Emma this weekend, but was pretty weary by the time they left. Our baby Leila "acted up" during their visit by boycotting her morning and afternoon naps.

We were amazed to see how much Stephen has grown (and how outgoing he has become) since our last visit. He's nine months old now, while Leila's only two months, but the size difference between the two of them is impressive. Compare the size of their legs in this pic!

Stephen sits up well but occasionally topples over. He moves himself around with a kind of army crawl that gets him where he wants to go; he likes roaming the carpet and thinks that electrical cords are fascinating. While Leila is our smiley baby, Stephen charms by laughing out loud, in a deep baby voice like his older brother Kenny. He also likes to growl and pretend he's a "mean baby". But despite his independence, he's a cuddler.

Michael and Emma adored him, of course. But they spent most of their time playing with "older" cousins Beth and Kenny, who are four and six.

Beth and Emma both have strong, feisty personalities and lots of energy. They played dress-up and house but also played with bugs, rocks, and shells outside.

Kenny and Mikey played board games together, but also joined the girls for dress-up and pirates.

It's always fun to watch the kids interact together (and exchange parenting notes with Don and Hope). We wish they lived closer by but appreciate their efforts to travel back to Wisconsin when they can and keep in touch. Thanks to their efforts our kids will grow up "together" with good memories of each other.

We'll see them again next weekend (along with the rest of the Bragg clan) in Rhinelander. June 15th is Mom and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary, and everyone chipped in to take them on a river cruise. It's a 3-hour cruise around a river in Rhinelander, and the whole family will be there. They'll even serve us a steak dinner on the boat. Should be fun, and very exciting for the kids (hopefully it doesn't rain!).

The kids are on summer vacation now. Tomorrow morning they'll start swimming lessons-- a school bus will actually come pick them up and then bring them home afterwards. After two weeks of swimming, summer school starts up. That'll be about the time that David comes over for the summer.