The Richards Family Visit

Abbey and Maggie arrived Saturday with Mom and Dad so they were here for the Baptism fun. The rest of the crew ( Brent and Brendan ) didn't arrive until Thursday evening so Abbey and Maggie were here keeping me company all week. We ran errands, Abbey cooked, I cuddled with my baby and my sweet loving niece. Maggie is the most loving, smiley, dimpled, little girl. She was a great distraction from everything that is going on and handed out cuddles and pats to Zane and I all week. We loved it!

Brent and Brendan arrived Thursday evening. Brendan seemed to have enjoyed his plane ride on "the blue plane." Thursday evening was filled with the unwelcome news that Able had had a bicycle accident and was in the hospital with a concussion and unable to remember a lot of things. Abbey and I were on the phone with him, his roommate, his girlfriend, and I had to call Mom and Dad, yet again and tell them Able was in the ER (no this isn't the first time, Able lives a crazy life). My has a great post about it on her blog here. It was very scary and stressful to everyone involved but he seems to be doing much better, though he still can't remember how he fell of his bicycle. His girlfriend flew in on Friday night and has been taking care of him so we could all rest a little easier. Thanks Katie! Friday we all got our minds off everything with a fun adventure to the Magic House. We had tried to take Brendan there when he came to visit in October, but between having a new baby sister and having to stand in line for 20 minutes we didn't make it in the door. This time went much much better. Brendan had a complete blast and stayed there for four hours ( hanging strong even through nap time). Abbey and I left a little early with the babies to go to the farmers market and Christopher's in Kirkwood. Maggie had a fantastic time in the "Baby and Me" which is an area full of things just Maggie's size for her to play with and on. I wish I could have been there to see Brendan enjoy the rest of the day but I guess that is just part of being a Mommy, now I can't spend as much time being Aunt Audra ( bit of a sad face).
Saturday we went to the Transportation Museum in the morning before it got to hot. It was actually rather nice outside. It was a little cloudy with a nice breeze. This is the best you could hope for during a STL July. It was a little tough for little boys since he could only get on a couple trains, but I think he enjoyed seeing them all and going for a train ride. But nap time definitely made itself known so we headed home for a relaxing afternoon at the house.

We finished off their trip with our last adventure to the Science Center to see the Pirate Exhibit. The exhibit was more historical than I had originally thought. There was a lot of reading and things that little boys couldn't touch or play with. Brendan went through the exhibit very quickly but later that evening was still very excited about seeing a pirate ship so I guess he had a good time. He did get an awesome eye patch so it was all worth while.

Overall it was a great visit. Abbey cooked an unbelievable amount of tasty food, most of which we are freezing for later. See the entire list of food she prepare here on her blog. Abbey is a great cook and cooks quickly. Where I am a not that great of a cook and it takes me forever so I welcomed her making me tons of food so I don't have to. It was great to spend time with Maggie and Brendan as well. I hate that I don't know when I will see them again, but Zane won't be able to fly home for quite sometime. Thanks so much to Abbey and Brent for braving flying with a 3 year old and a 1 year old in order to come meet little Zane. We really enjoyed having you. Zane loves you and so do I.