Nelson-Family Weekend

When I was just a few months old, my dad was called onto staff at Pennway Church of God as the Youth Pastor in Lansing, Michigan. We were there for three short years, but our family has a lot of history in Pennway and it has always been a church close to our hearts--many of my dad's family are still regular attenders, as well as several people who have been dear to our family since we lived there years ago. With that said, this past weekend Pennway had its centennial celebration; they asked Dad to come out and preach on Sunday morning--which of course he was honored to do. Brian and I drove up to Lansing on Friday night and spent as much time with our family as we could--prior engagements kept us from staying through Sunday morning, but we were able to spend quite a bit of time with tons of Nelsons at Uncle Mark and Aunt Martha's home. Jason and Anne came over with their family Saturday morning, as did my cousin Nicole with her family. Dad and Mom stayed at Grandpa's apartment but the three of them spent much of their time at Uncle Mark's house, as well. Dad, Mom and I dragged Brian, Nicholas and Paige to the church for a luncheon on Saturday, but it was our only time away from the group ... the rest of the time was spent laughing and enjoying one another's company!

One important thing to note about Uncle Mark and Aunt Martha's house is that they have two birds: Nicky and Ricky. We LOVE these birds ... we get them out every time we go over and love on them and talk to them and fight over who gets to hold them. Apparently I'm not the only one--Aunt Martha told me that Jason does the same thing I do when they visit--I guess it's obvious that we share a few genes! =)

Nicholas with one of the birds ... I don't know which is which, but this is the nicer of the two!

Paige with her Monna and Pa-pop all the herself!

Paige and Pa-pop and also with her baby cousin, Lydia Lee

Pa-pop with his girls ...

... and his boys!

The first family picture with Lydia

Tia Marta and Tio Mark with their great-nieces and nephews

Although Jon isn't the youngest, he definitely demands all the attention like he is. He honestly could have entertained us for hours--just him and the hose. What I didn't capture on film is how, just after he'd take a drink, he'd spray himself in the face with the hose. Warped as we are, Dad, Jason and I would just die laughing ... why would we offer to help the kid when he was bringing us such entertainment!?!? He could have cared less--just kept on going--I can't even count how many times he did it ... we were just about in tears by the time Aunt Martha brought out popsicles and saved him from himself!

popsicle time ... the end!