To Raleigh and Back

Well, actually it was Apex, but nonetheless we roadtripped this weekend to hang w/ Emma and Ava and the rest of the small Milligan clan.

The kids busied themselves with each other, at times disappearing for interrupted blocks of time, only to see Ri pop her head up from the basement to 'check in.'

That in and of itself was quite nice.

Emma is a 6th grader now. Hello- I met Todd a mere few weeks before she was born. In fact, I'll never forget opening my apartment door, eagerly anticipating Todd's arrival from the beach, seeing him with a huge grin on his face proclaiming: "I'm an Uncle!" He was one proud guy. Where has the time gone?

Now look at her:

She's so patient and kind with our oh-so-high-maintenance daughter. Last night I went upstairs to put Ri to bed and Ri and Emma were cozied up on Em's bed and she was reading to Ri. Priceless. I think those two have a special bond for life.

I snapped a few pics of Lacey playing outside. She's so photogenic.

Jack squeezed in a little catch w/ Todd before we headed out.

We spent the afternoon at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Not the inside of the museum though- the outside.

The kids biked:

And at times ditching those bikes in favor of running:

And posed for photo ops:

And we checked out the abstract sculptures along our walk:

And posed for MORE photo ops:

And we entered this interesting building, looking for light patterns on the walls:

Riley ditched her bike a mere seconds into our walk and spent lots of time perched on her Dad's shoulders:

Once in a while popping down to find neat leaves:

After our walk we headed back to the house and cooked LOTS of food while the kids played in the treehouse that handy-dandy Uncle Jeff built.

And played on the play set.

We had a great time hangin' together and can't wait to do it again.

Until next time...