A Week with my Nephew

We got to have my nephew Brendan come and stay with us for a week last week. We tried and tried to think of activities a 9 year old would enjoy so he wouldn't be completely bored while he was here. We were able to go for bike rides, visit the zoo, we went out for pizza and the kids got balloon animals which were a BIG hit (who knew?) We put him to work extending the width of our driveway, with a wonderful neighbor's help. He read A LOT, boy does that kid know how to read! We went rock-climbing, grocery shopping (yay), and of course we went camping. Luckily the weather cooperated and we had our first sunny weekend in.... well I'm not sure how long. Summer may finally be here though :)

The downfall to camping is Jaedyn didn't sleep a whole lot. She went to bed late and got up early. But even with the lack of sleep she had a great time and behaved.

Brendan showing off his treasure. He found a lighter! Don't worry Shawn and Kellie, we quickly confiscated it.

How can a family look so cute camping? These are our friends Jenn, Rich and Saydee Oldham looking picture perfect. It really isn't fair.

This kid LOOOOOOOOVES babies! Here she is mauling poor Saydee! She was just so cute Jaedyn couldn't keep her hands off of her!

This is how I found him late one night during his stay. The flash didn't even phase him. I wanna be able to sleep like that !

Lovin cousin Brendan!

Brendan got a Parrot that he named "Polly" and Jaedyn got a giraffe that she named "Parrot" haha. Cute.

Our friends, the Allreds, took us rock climbing which was exciting for Brendan "ON REAL ROCK!" he exclaimed. They even had a child harness!

Brendan was amazing in his tennis shoes! He scaled half way up the rock face.

Chad, of course, was a monkey and put us all to shame. He didn't even have the grace to break a sweat to at least make it look like it took a tiny bit of effort.

I got to go too, though the pictures don't prove it. I guess you just get to see how excited I was to do it.

Yup. The child harness. Even Jaedyn got to go! She even enjoyed it... til she got above my eye level. That was about all she had in her. But good job kiddo! Not bad for a first-timer!

So... even though we were up rock-climbing we were actually able to get a few of these...

Nice pose! No one, I repeat, NO ONE put her up to this. Where was this a week ago when we were doing our family photos??? Little stinker!

I love the little dimples she has under her eyes!