What a week!

Last Monday Kymberli and Stephanie came to visit. Stephanie was really just the "courier," if you will, but we had a great two days while she was here. She was bringing Kymberli for her 13 year old trip. For some if you who don't know, my parents give our nieces and nephews a trip out to Texas for their 13th birthday. It started with Mark back in the summer of 2003. That same year Geoffrey turned 13, but he went to DC instead of coming to Texas...we love him all the same (and we probably would have chosen the same thing!). Jakob was next, he visited in December 2005, Scott in December 2006 and now Kymberli. To think that visiting us is a gift, well, it makes us feel pretty special!

We have been going a million miles an hour since the arrived. Kymberli got some pretty special things while she was here, themost noteworthy being riding lessons. She got to spend all day Wednesday, and all morning Thursday and Friday riding. She loved every minute of it. We have also gone shopping, seen Evan Almighty, gone to Six Flags Over Texas, gone to the Rodeo, and had pedicures. I'm telling you, we have done it all and we still have two days before we head back to California!!!

It has been so fun for Kevin and I to spend time with each of these kiddos. We have virtually no rules when they are here, and we rarely say no to their requests! It has been fun to look back over all the trips and see how each one was unique to each kid. A HUGE thank you to my parents who provide the funding for these trips, their grandkids LOVE it (which is the purpose) but their kids LOVE it too, which is just an added bonus.

Yesterday on the way back from Six Flags we were thinking about how long it will be until the next one. Cari will turn 10 in the fall, so she will not be out here until the end of 2011. And by the time Josh is 13 Kevin will be 41!!! By the time the next one can visit we will be parents and our title of "Professional Aunt and Uncle" will be gone! It makes us sad, but of course happy that we will finally be parents. Then we realized that after we have our child our nieces and nephews may still want to come visit, only this time to visit their cousin, not their OLD Aunt and Uncle...we're OK with that!