Bunch of Paynes

We had a great time on our family trip. We saw everyone in our immediate families (wow!) and spent time with lots of dear friends.

I failed to get a picture of the whole group, but one evening we enjoyed dinner with our friends, the Minters and the Hamiltons. It was a fun evening with seven kids there! I was taking notes, watching each family parent three kids under four!
The kids had ice cream cones for dessert. You'll notice that Rooke's cone is missing something! He didn't seem to mind once he bit into the chocolate rim.

Playing the piano with Nana

We spent one night with Tricia and Andrew, who are expecting their first baby in just a few weeks! Rooke had fun testing out their daughter's new toys for her.

It's hard to be in Oklahoma and not go back to OBU, especially since Konnor and Tana live there! Rooke and Uncle Konnor walking the campus:

A stop in Konnor's office with our friend, Michael.

Another fun stop at Cuppies & Joe to see more special friends, Callie, Megan and Elizabeth.

The weather was surprisingly cool and a morning rain left us with great puddles to play in!

Getting a running start . . .

Little Evelynn wanted in on the fun too. Look. At. Those. Thighs. I love her!!!!

Yes, we did let our kids sit and spalsh in puddles in the middle of a hotel parking lot.

It was a rare blessing for us to be with my entire family!

I haven't been posting much lately because we are on a family trip! I'll try to post pictures as we go . . .

The past few days we have been staying at my Nana's house. It's hard not to have fun when you're with Nana. Rooke has absolutely found that to be true. He loooooooooves Nana and will quickly go looking for her if she leaves the room or look at me and say, "Nana please". I'm glad Rooke already realizes how special Nana is.

Adventures in playdough

Fun in the srpinkler!

Rooke turned 18 months today! We officially have a one-and-a-half-year-old son. Wow. Has it really been that long already?! We are CRAZY about this little guy and had a great time celebrating his "half-birthday" today.

We started the morning off with pancakes and berries we bought at the Farmer's Market yesterday. What a treat!

A little morning reading . . .

After naps (meaning we all took one!), we headed to Rainier's first birthday party and had fun hanging out with friends (young and old). Seeing as how it wasn't Rooke's first birthday, I didn't see the need to let him eat the cake himself. He enjoyed it nonetheless!

"Do I have anything on my face?"

After the party, we headed to the Chinatown Summer Festival. We went last year and have decided it will be an annual family event as long as we live in Seattle. This is just one of the many sights that immediately took us back to life in China. Who else knows how to craft carrots and peppers into palm trees?!

I LOVE bubble tea, and even though I almost can't stand to pay $3 for one (that much money would buy me at least 20 at my favorite stand in our China city), I was looking forward to my treat all day!

Watching food being prepared while we waited for our bowl of noodles to share . . .

You would have thought he was Made in China the way he ate those noodles! =)

I like Rooke's man-dress better than mine.

I really don't know how he learned to count past three, but he did, and we finally caught it on video! Just to clarify, we were eating blueberry pancakes (using blueberries we picked yesterday!), not Aubyn's raspberries. Rooke was still thinking about Canada and Aunty Auby's yummy berries.

I mixed a little Caesar dressing with his yogurt for him to "dip dip" his veggies in. He worked hard to get every last drop!

Picking raspberries at Aunty Auby's house. Rooke learned quickly that the red ones taste better than the white ones!

He loved them!

Rooke is an observer. He takes in his surroundings before jumping in. This day was no different.

Unfortunately, he wasn't a fan of the pool at first, but slowly got used to it. We'll keep trying!