Our kids loved exploring the Baker house and playing with their toys.
Caroline loved playing with a Hokey Pokey Elmo. For some reason, Caden was scared of Elmo when he started dancing. Eventually, he warmed up to it and he liked it by the end of the trip.
Here is a picture of the kids exploring the kids chairs.
Caroline loved the stairs. The first day we were there, she climbed two thirds the way up. The next day, she easily made it to the top. It is amazing how fast she climbed the stairs. We often put Ella in charge to make sure Caroline didn't head over to the stairs. With Ella watching her, we know we didn't have to worry. Ella paid a lot of attention to Caroline.
Doesn't Caden look good in this Aggie hat. Amy and I bought this for Will years ago and now the Bakers let us take it.
Caroline also enjoyed the hat.
Here is a picture of Amy and the twins on the trail at Mount Rainier.
Ella and Caroline got along great.
Ella is so good with our kids and couldn't be sweeter to them. Here is a great example. Caroline can be a little rough pinching and pulling faces. However, this did not phase Ella. She let Caroline do whatever she wanted. Amy and I know this can hurt.
Another nice thing Ella did for our kids was read books to them. She would read baby books sounding just like her mom. She made sure both twins saw the pictures and would even point out items mentioned in the book. For example, the book would say "can you find your knees" and Ella would ask them to find their knees and then she would point to them. Sadly, we did not get a picture of this. But here is another girl cousin picture.
Will was also good with the twins but his specialty was definitely Caden. They were buds. We didn't get as many pictures of the boys. The girls enjoyed getting their picture take way more than the guys did.
Cal has definitely warmed up to our kids but not to the level of his older siblings. Like Will, Cal also preferred Caden mainly because Caroline was a girl and Cal doesn't like girls. :) Here is a picture of Cal pushing both twins around at the dock. He was pretty excited to do this.
It was definitely cooler in Seattle than in Austin. Our little girl would be sweating if she wore this in a Texas September.
Caroline was very excited about getting her picture taken.
Caroline and her Aunt Amy. You might notice that Amy is keeping her distance. Caroline had made a huge mess in her diaper just minutes before. :)
The Baker boys hanging out at the locks.
The Baker kids playing outside of Michael's work.
Cal taking a break.
Will has become a tree hunger since he moved to Seattle.
This is at a dock near one of the places we had lunch. Caden loved it there. If I wasn't careful, he might have jumped out of my arms into the water.
We wore the kids out almost everyday. And with all the driving, they got plenty of time to sleep in their car seats.
And I'll wrap it up with a little story.One night, Amy and I stayed home with the five kids so Michael and Amy could celebrate their anniversary. While they were out, their kids could not have been any better! They played a computer game together giving everyone a chance to interact with it.
When I told them it was time for bed, there was not arguing and they brushed their teeth and headed up stairs. Amy and I tucked them in, filled up Will's water (Will said he was planning to call us back in a little while to fill it up so we just did it right away), and turned on the radio. I was pretty sure the the radio was not set to the correct station but the kids insisted it was. At first, there was only talking and commercials but it eventually moved on to playing some Stone Temple Pilots, Ozzy Osbourne, and then Pink Floyd. Finally, the kids admitted this was not the Christian station they listen to every night and let me change the station.
Those Baker kids are pretty sweet!
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