Special Visitors!

My younger brother & his beautiful family visited us at the beginning of July from Alaska. It was so great to see them and meet their newest addition, who turned one year old just two weeks before they visited. Gabby had SO much fun playing with Ellie. And, Rocco spent lots of time trying to get the girl’s attention. Ellie has a very similar personality to Gabby, and their 1 year old, Maia, is an absolute doll and so easy going and mellow. The kids acted as if they had known each other forever which made it so fun watching them together. We did a lot of playing outside with the kids, catching up and roasted marshmallows at night. Gabby and Ellie tried to do a slumber party in Gabby’s room… which didn’t work out so well. (Of course, none of the parents were surprised by this).

They were only able to spend about 24 hours with us because they had lots of other people to visit and a lot more traveling to do while in the lower 48. The last time we saw them was August 2009, just a few weeks after Matteo died, and at that time I was still in a fog and not at all social. So, it was great to see them, catch up a bit and watching the cousins play together was priceless.