Visiting Walhalla, Charlotte, and Seneca!

The final leg of the trip was a visit to my hometown, Walhalla. I love coming back here because I get to see family and old friends, and for the best part: Ken and Michelle were in town at the same time! We had big, family dinners every night, so Maddie got lots of time with everyone. Here is a picture of her with her Great-grandparents:



One of Maddie's most exciting times was the time she spent with her cousin Ely - finally a kid about the same size as her. Unfortunately, he is 3 months younger than her, so their "playtime" was actually mostly Maddie manhandling Ely. :) They sure were cute together though! (Maddie's on the left)



Here is Maddie with Ava, her other cousin. Ava is SO BIG now, and just adorable! She is learning to talk, and it's so cute to listen to her. She is also a little tumbleweed of energy and laughs rolling around the house!



And here is my awesome sister, Sara, with Maddie. She got lots of good, quality time with Maddie on this trip. Sara somehow has the ability to make Maddie laugh, no matter what. It was really great to see them together.



And here is Ken, my big brother, with Maddie. On first glance, Ken strikes you as a big bear of a man, with broad, muscly shoulders, thick arms, and large paws of hands. Then, Ken will swoop down on a crying baby, and before you know what happened, he is tossing the kid in the air, making funny little noises, and that crying baby is laughing! It was amazing to watch!
One of the funniest parts of seeing Ken with the babies though, was how SMALL they all looked in his arms. Ha! Here is Maddie helping Ken check his law school schedule online.


And Michelle is here with Maddie in an incredibly photogenic picture. They had a good time playing together, and doing pretty much everything together except eating. :) Maddie likes to eat by swallowing 3/4 of the food and spitting out 1/4 of the food. Then she does a big stretch and somehow manages to scrape all of the food that's around her mouth up into her hair, over her eyes, and around her neck. I think it's her babyfood version of a facial. :)


And that's the end of the pictures. There are more of Mom and Dad, but they are currently trapped inside their digital camera. Once we figure out how to free them, I'll download them and get some up here! The same goes for the pictures of Lauren and Philip with Maddie, Ely, Sara and me. Stay tuned!!! Thanks for reading!