Stanford with Cousins

Jim had to go back to work on Friday, so that left the kids and me to fend for ourselves. Luckily, my cousin Meagan came up with a great plan to occupy us. She invited us to join her and her children at the Stanford Mall (super fancy) and then journey over to Stanford University and let the kids run around the beautiful grounds. Tralee was more than happy to hear she would be seeing her second cousins again (I think that's what they are). As soon as I said, "We're going to see Brooklyn today!" Tralee jumped out of bed, rushed to the drawer her clothes were in, and said, "I need my green tights on Mommy!"

Side (long) note: I took Tralee to Target a few weeks ago to pick out some new tights. I told her she could pick out a pair all by herself. She usually is all about pink, so I figured she would pick a nice shade of pink. Not even close. Tralee picked out a bright turquoise pair of tights. A shade that matched absolutely nothing in her closet. I tried to persuade her into picking a few other tights, but to no avail. She loved the green ones and thought they were the bees knees. After this, whenever we went anywhere worth going she asked to wear her green tights. Unfortunately she fell while running around Stanford with her cousins and the green tights got a big hole in the knee. Oh well (secretly exhaling a big sigh of relief). Jump to a few days ago when we were at Target again picking out some new unmentionables for Tralee in the girls department. What did she see just a few feet away? Another pair of GREEN tights! She excitedly ran up to them, took them off the wrack, and asked if we could get them. How could I say no when they were marked down to .97 cents (gee, I wonder why)? So, Tralee is now the proud owner of another pair of bright green tights that match nothing she wears.

Now back to Friday: Meagan and I met up at the mall, did a little shopping, ate some lunch, bought some pastries at a french bakery (YUM), and then drove over to Stanford University to let the kidletts run around the grounds. It was a really fun day.

Here are some super cute pics of all the cousins running around:

Hunter and Emma taking each other in while their strollers were parked.

Tralee and Brooklyn reaching for the moola in the fountain.

Pretty architecture at Stanford

Cutie patooties

The big girls were running around this bench area, so of course Hunter and Emma thought they should run around too.

So, the next two photos are kinda funny. A group of Asian people walked out of a building and began taking pictures of Tralee. Tralee immediately dashed away and continued to run away every time a camera was pointed in her direction as if taking a picture of her would bring utter ruin and humiliation. Cut to Brooklyn. She sat, posed, smiled, and was the delight of all the Asian paparazzi. The picture below is me taking a picture of a guy taking a picture of Brooklyn while a lady is taking a picture of me taking a picture. Did you catch that? We were photo happy at Stanford.

Brooklyn posing nicely, Tralee nowhere to be seen. Meagan and I laughing behind our cameras.

Can you find the two cute little girls holding hands while running in the picture below?

More cute pictures of the little girls:

The one below is my favorite.

Meagan and I decided we better get a picture of ourselves to prove that we actually did see each other.

I thought it was funny to see this van full of babies. Tralee kept asking me, "Why does Brooklyn have two babies and we only have one baby?" Brooklyn has two younger siblings, and I guess Tralee thought she needed to be the same.

I snapped this picture of little Jake, cause he didn't get much camera action during the day, being an infant and all. Maybe on our next visit to California this cute little guy will be running around with the rest!

Even without Jim's company, we had a great time in sunny California, thanks to my cousin and her children.