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Sunday, July 27, 2008

Uncle Nuk & Auntie Roons

I'd like to introduce you to Ragen & Maggie's fairy-godparents...Chad & Ronni Collins. Chad was a Fiji with Jeremy and Ronni was a Theta (but she & I didn't meet until years later). For three years we were neighbors where "back doors are legal" meaning we could just walk thru the adjoined backyard to the other's house (poor person who's townhouse was between ours) at anytime. We spent countless hours together and have made tons of lasting memories. We got very close to their son Bailey as they didn't have other family in town and we didn't have kids yet. They ended up moving back to Spokane when Chad graduated from his residency program and we miss them tons. They are god-parents to both our kids and love and spoil them like crazy. Their boys Bailey (6) & Carter (4) are very special to us as well and to them, we're Kiki & Fifi.

So, it was time for a visit and we always have the best time. Ronni is an amazing hostess and they always make the entire visit seem effortless. We had a fabulous dinner and even better wine at home Friday night and the kids played outside in the bouncy house for hours. After putting them to bed Jeremy & I were introduced to Guitar Hero which was great (although I hated that I wasn't instantally an expert but Kiefer was a serious rock star). We spent all day Saturday on Lake Coeur d'Alene on their new party barge which was super fun (well, Maggie wasn't so sure about it but she loved playing at the beach). Ragen went tubing for the first time which was a riot (all 3 boys were on there together and the front end took a nose dive which was freaky but funny at the same time). We were amazed at how quickly Maggie warmed up to Chad & Ronni since she's pretty shy these days. All 4 kids played so well together all weekend and Ragen was devastated when we left (he cried a truly sad cry for at least 20 minutes).

We had a quick but wonderful visit and we look forward to seeing them again soon. We are so lucky to have them in our lives and we truly are better people for knowing them. Here are some pictures from the trip (and for those of you wanting to see miracles from the new camera, it was a busy weekend so I was mostly shooting in auto plus my battery died).
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Auntie Roons & Maggie
Uncle Nuk and some guitar hero action
Concentrating so hard because this just didn't come naturally to me.
The infamous "Derailer" drink on CdA. Sort of hard to tell but it comes in a bucket.
Captain Ragen drives with some help from Uncle Nuk.
This is when Carter, Bailey & Ragen (left to right) went head first while tubing.

All 4 kiddos!

Ragen on the fun island.

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