Our Multi-Generational Family Get Together – What a Treat!

Last week my husband’s sister and her husband, Eileen and Ed, visited New Jersey from Florida to celebrate the first birthday of their twin granddaughters. Jay and Sean are the proud – and busy – parents of Ava and Leela. On Thursday they all piled into their SUV and drove an hour to our house. My daughter, Fran came to visit also with my 2 ½ year old grandson. Rounding out the crowd was my husband’s other sister, Clare. It isn’t even Thanksgiving yet and we had a large family get together.

It was the first time that the young cousins were meeting each other and they hit it off right away. Because our grandson lives nearby and visits often we are very set up for young children. It was a nice day so we started the visit outdoors.

Zach had been here awhile so he had already taken a bunch of outdoor toys out of the garage. What was so wonderful about this visit was that the kids really enjoyed themselves and Zach was so gracious sharing with his younger cousins.

The clincher is that these two big Little Tikes toys were hand me downs from Clare’s daughter, Clare’s twin boys – John and Michael. It was such a pleasure to see the youngest generation begin to bond as a family.

Here are all three kids enjoying the Little Tikes Classic Alligator Teeter Totter and Zach was happy to show off his power wheels truck to Ava. We haven’t “powered this up” yet as Zach is too young for that but we push it out of the garage and he enjoys sitting in it, hitting the horn and putting things in the back – whether it is an empty box or a bag of grass seed he picked up in the garage.

Ava enjoyed the swing

Zach was very gracious sharing his Little Tikes Cozy Coupe with Leela and Ava.

Finally we headed inside for snacks and more play in the living room. Leela had a great time with the Fisher price Little People garage and the Thomas Early Engineers railroad. She clearly will be interested in a wide range of toys and not just traditional toys for girls. Leela then recognized Elmo in the Elmo’s Christmas Flap Book that I’ll be reviewing soon. Like Zach – she loved the flaps.




A visit to our house is never complete without a duet - or quartet on the piano.

We were 8 adults and 3 young children –  from 3 generations - and we all had a great time.Young children have a way of making that weave happen in such a joyful way. As we approach Thanksgiving I am so grateful for family and this year I am particularly grateful for our family’s newest generation.