Full house and Twenty-six!

Since last spring, Motel Rue has been open for business and in full swing! In 2 weeks alone we will have had 7 people staying here at different times. We have plenty of extra room and we love the company, so the more the merrier.

This past weekend in addition to Micah's friend Taylor who was staying with us since his return from Iraq, we had the two Pettegrew kiddos so that Edi and Travis could have a weekend alone. I was a little nervous about 3 kids since I knew Micah was working most of the weekend. It worked out great though and was much easier than I anticipated.

Skylar and Hailey were buddies all weekend and by Sunday they were fighting like sisters.
We all went to the zoo on Saturday morning and Riley was beside himself with excitement. He said he loved all the animals, he didn't have a favorite. He really got a kick out of feeding the giraffes. I asked him if he thought his parents were having a good time like we were, and he said "Yes...their probably playing tag....and maybe hide and seek".
He desperately wanted to go on this train ride, so he did...and he had the whole train to himself.

Haley and Skylar holding hands:)

There was a sprinkler in the kids play area and Skylar went nuts. She shrieked with delight and was completely soaked. Of course, I forgot to pack extra clothes so she wore a jacket and mildewed shorts from the bottom of her diaper bag after that.

They were totally pooped!

Then Nicole turned 26! We had a birthday dinner on Sunday night to celebrate. It was a fun crowd, Kristy and Andy came down, Steve, Rita and Brianne Wade, Tom and Jan Falconer, Natasha, and Nicole's friend Cathy. My camera hasn't been working well lately, I think it's on it's last legs, so most of the pictures didn't turn out. Natasha made her fabulous tirimisu for dessert. It was AMAZING.

The girls:

Nicole was giving Kristy meaningful touches. It turns out I'm not the only Austin who likes to torture her.

Yesterday was Nic's real birthday so Skylar and I took her to lunch and then we walked around downtown and had tea and dessert. Skylar has only been eating cantaloupe, grapes and mixed veggies for the last 2 weeks, but she tore into the chocolate torte....so I guess we can add that to the list of foods she'll eat.

Happy birthday Nickerdoodle!