six little cousins

A photo of all six cousins -- ranging in age from 3 months to 9 years.

One of the reasons we went to Orlando was that I found villas through our timeshare group that would allow us to have extra space for my whole family. We got two villas with the hopes that we could spend some time together on vacation. Last year we went to Tybee Island together and it worked out great. There was no beach in our resort, but plenty of other things to do together. My sister now has three children and though it is a busy time the kids all love to play together. There are moments where we have to take turns refereeing, but generally they look forward to playing hard together.


Alana and Grace (only 5 weeks apart agewise) in the first few moments after we all arrived.


Our villas had screened porches on them. We hung out there to watch the birds (cranes and other waterbirds) graze around the property. Here is Jordan and Grace admiring Baby Lydia in Granddaddy's arms. Dave and Russ (the two son in laws) loved the fact that they had multiple golf courses to escape. Each of our villas backed up onto golf courses.


The three older cousins enjoy Spy Kids 3-D with their stylish glasses.


Baby Lydia hanging out at the pool with all of us. That is her Daddy, Russ, making her smile.


We played putt-putt golf together on Thursday night. There were several hole in ones -- Drake made one with his cast, Aunt Julie made two (show-off!), and Alana and Grace made one each. Grace had no idea what she had done.


Here are the three older cousins -- William (4.5), Jordan (9), and Drake (6.5) -- at one of the resort pools. Poor Drake had broken his arm just a few weeks before our trip and didn't get to participate in the waterslides and other wet play. He was a great sport about the whole thing. It's a good thing there were game arcades nearby while we were all splashing.