Cousins and Castles

Elinor sat through a Walmart car seat atrocity long enough. (She would actually complain on drives longer than 30 minutes that her back hurt!) We ordered her a replacement so comfortable, drives are now her daily nap time. 

Gabriel grows more adorable by the minute. 

But the real report is that the fun seemed never to stop this week. Justin took Elisabeth, Gwyndelin, and Elinor to the Ice Castles in Midway on Tuesday. The little girls were positively entranced. Imagine any diminutive Frozen 2 fan you know wandering about a real Ahtohallan complete with beautiful music and ever-changing colored lights and the speechless wonder may begin to take some shape. 

And yet, when asked which she liked better, visiting the Ice Castles or playing with cousins, Elinor cast her vote for the latter. Jini and her four boys came to play on Thursday so that we could meet her new baby Andrew and they could meet Gabriel. Since the two were born six and a half weeks apart, we trust they will grow up to be great friends even only seeing each other once a year. There was non-stop action with so many little people running around, though quite a different sort than when Chari stopped by with two four year old girls and 18 month old Jack the previous week. I must say I'm more used to dressing up like Elsa than throwing snow in one another's faces!!

That was only the beginning, though. That evening Justin and Abdiel hosted a virtual Boyz Night for the boys Abdiel’s age in the ward and their dads. We heard peals of laughter and primate-like grunts from behind the closed door, so we excluded females figured it must have been a success. 

Saturday morning Julia had set-build for the school musical and Justin, Elisabeth, and Katharine went along to show their support. Justin and Julia built this vanity and Julia and Elisabeth painted it. Katharine and Elisabeth painted their little hearts out on other props, too. Six months in the city of Michelangelo and Leonardo apparently had some effect.