So long..but not for too long..

Last summer my kids said good-bye to the Coombs grandparents who moved to New Mexico to retire and they said good-bye to Scott and Shelbi who moved to Chicago. We got through that, although it was tough, because there were lots of visits. Then this week, they had to say good-bye again to Kristin, Steve, Nadia and baby Marcus. It was not easy.

The Sunday before they left we celebrated Nadia's 8th birthday. It's awesome to be eight and be baptized. I just wish we were going to be there to see her big day. Their house was all packed up so we gave her a little key chain with pictures on it of all of us. Anja gave her a heart necklace with their pictures in it.

This group of cousins is closer than most. They've been though a lot together and grown so much.

Nadia had to wait four years until there was another girl around. It was good timing because we got to keep all of the wonderful hand-me-downs.

Little Marcus is just getting to the point that he's fun and can interact with us. Anja had him giggling so hard.

We said our quick good-byes on Sunday knowing we would get one more day of fun before the "real" tears.

It seemed so strange to think this would be the last Sunday we'd all spend together for a while. Sitting out on the back deck, feeding the fish and jumping on the tramp. Grandpa taught all the kids to jump rope on Sunday afternoons. We have wonderful memories of these lazy summer nights together.