Our visit with Andrea, Raquel, Natalya, and Marcus

We were so excited when Andrea called Natalie and told her that she would be flying with her little family to see her parents in Phoenix. Natalie called us and we put together a short trip to visit with them. We had not been able to see Marcus and had only seen Natalya when they came in May to visit. So this was so great. We had dropped Michelle and Tom at the airport, went to Disneyland, and the next morning packed. Natalie worked until the afternoon, and we were off to Arizona to visit

You can imagine how excited we were to see the little kids. Of course the little girls just wanted to be tickled by Grandpa. We just wanted to enjoy laughing with them. Oh Marcus is such a darling little baby. Just smiled and stuck his little tongue out.

We spent the night with Judy and Kenny. They live in Peoria just five miles from Margaret and Steve, Andrea's parents. Margaret fixed a wonderful breakfast for us. The little kids were so grown up eating up to the table. Margaret has her home fixed so nice for the kids. She had toys all around, so when they come, they have a home away from home. They love being there.

Steve spent time with Raquel and Natalya putting together puzzles. You could tell they had enjoyed doing that often. Wow, who wouldn't love flying to visit grandparents in Arizona. They had all the toys little girls could think to play with.

It was fun to see Raquel and Natalya play with Grandpa. They loved to tease him and get his attention. He played hide and seek in their beautiful home.

We had so much fun just laughing with the girls and just watching them. We
wanted to be with them as long as we could. They live so far away. As Grandpa played with the girls, Margaret made the comment that now she knew where Michael got his play habits from. She said that Michael tickles and plays with the girls just like Mike did. Yes, the apple does not fall too far from the tree.

We took turns reading a good-night story to the girls. They loved hearing Natalie, you know she is a teacher don't you and she makes everything come to life. Yes and Grandpa does not ever want to be left out.

Marcus is the happiest little baby. He had just found his tongue, and so we were able to get great pictures of him. He was so good to let us hold him whenever we want. Michael and Andrea are such good parents and have very well-mannered children. I bet he misses his little kids while they are in Arizona.

We all loved holding Marcus. He is so fun, just sticking his cute little tongue out and smiling. These little kids have such big dark brown eyes. Natalie held Marcus as much as she could, but the girls wanted her to play with them. She is like a big buddy for them.

The girls took Natalie into their bedroom with a closet full of toys and played "hide and seek". They sure have a great life coming to Arizona to play in the sunshine. But it was record cold while we were there. Wouldn't you know it, but we didn't go for the sunshine, just wanted to hang out with the Virginia Kennedy's.

This is a picture at Cabela's. It was on our way back to California. So Andrea, Margaret and the kids followed us there and we took fun pictures. I should say we followed them. Judy and Kenny had been there, so we just extended our visit. It was like going to a stuffed zoo.

Natalya was there to help Andrea with Marcus. She will be a great big sister to him and a good help to Andrea. Andrea called Michael on her Iphone. We could talk with him and see him on the phone, and he could see us. What will they think of next? The kids don't even need to be homesick for him. He is just a phone call away to see and here him.

Raquel is on the swim team in Virginia. It was just too cold to use the pool, but we sure wanted to watch her swim. If we would have been all Senior Citizens we could have used the indoor pool. But the kids did not pass for Seniors. It would have been fun to watch her. It was too cold, but think she would have even braved the cold to show us her swim moves. Proud of her for being on the swim team.

Such a good picture of Andrea and Marcus. She looks so pretty all of the time.

Mike had fun playing with the girls. They enjoyed wrestling and tickling and being noisey. That is how he would play with his own kids.

I am sitting in the closet all filled with toys. I just wanted to hug and kiss cute Marcus.

Here we are at Cabela's. Judy and Kenny are in the background. It was so good to see them also and visit with Kaylynn. We really had a great time while we were there.

No this isn't the jungles of Africa, but close. Cabela's...those little girls are pretty always in pink.

Margaret with Andrea and the little girls.

It was so much fun to take pictures of everyone. I wanted to get as many as I could. Thanks for smiling so often for us.

Thanks Judy and Kenny for letting us stay with you. Great seeing you both. It was so hard to tell Michael's family good-bye. Time just went by too fast.