Cousin Club

As an Easter treat Grammy had Cousin Club t-shirts made for everyone 

 I'm not so sure how much "bathing" actually goes on when the cousins have bath time with Grandpa.

 Sweet Ellie reading a Berenstein Bears book to her cousins

 Abigail's 1st actual pony ride at Kiddie Acres

 Caroline and Ashley team up together for the Jeep Car Rides at Kiddie Acres

 Their favorite ride at Kiddie Acres was the Ferris Wheel

Thank you Grammy for a fun afternoon at Kiddie Acres!

A few weeks ago we went to Austin to celebrate an early Easter with my side of the family.  It had been awhile since all of the little cousins on the Peek side of the family had been together so needless to say there was a lot of excitement and anticipation that had been built up going into this weekend.  Even though there are quite a few years in between the oldest Peek cousin (Ellie-8 yrs old) and the youngest one (Caroline-19 mo old), they all love and adore one another and play extremely well together.  In fact, they get so excited when it works out for all of them to be in town together at the same time that they have nicknamed their group during these specific get togethers as the "Cousin Club".  It is ridiculously cute to watch them interact with one another.  Ellie is not only the leader of the pack but the babysitter as well.  She is always careful to include everyone and always dreaming up a variety of activities and outings that they can do together as a group.  Right now she is in the process of writing a play for the "Cousin Club" to perform for everyone.  I have been told it is a work in progress and will not be ready for another 2 years.  Even so, she was already working with Abigail on "her lines" during our last trip to Grammy's.  Thank goodness Abigail has another year or two to memorize her lines! :)  Ashley is full of life and full of adventure.  She has a huge imagination and an even bigger heart.  She loves taking care of Caroline and is content with just following her around.  She doesn't seem to mind entering into her 19 month old world of busyness and absent-mindedness as long as it means they get to spend time together.  As for Owen, he is a champ.  Up to this point he has put in 5 solid years of patience and compromise when it comes to the wonderful world of girl cousins and all of the pink, girly, princess dresses that come with it.  While he isn't afraid to stand his ground and speak up if something is a little too girly for him, he is a gentleman when it comes to looking after his girl cousins.  More times than not, he has set aside his super hero figurines in order to make the girls happy and play what they wanted to play.  Although he will almost be 5 1/2 years older than Cooper, I have a feeling there will be a pretty strong bond built up between the two of them.  Owen is looking forward to finally having a boy cousin in the club to rough-house with and get dirty with during Peek family gatherings.  As for Abigail and Caroline, they think their cousins hung the moon.  Being the youngest of the bunch they look up to them and literally hang on their every word.  If it was up to them, every weekend would be a Cousin Club weekend.

I love the fact that my kiddos are so close to their cousins.  Some of my best memories from when I was a little girl are from playing in the backyard of Gram and Grandpa's house with all of my cousins.  Although we have all grown up and gone our separate directions when it comes to careers and families we are all still extremely close and no matter what will always be connected by our strong family ties.  I pray the same will remain true for this next generation of Peek Cousins.