Meet Anders

After my last post, I thought it was absolutely necessary to show you, now that my little sis is all grown up, which one of her flock absorbed the largest part of her childhood looks and then some. Minus the red hair, Anders wins the blue ribbon, hands down. Isn't he a handsome five year old? And he is one of the most thinkinest kids I've met. Creative, in every way, which brings me to the following pictures.

But let me back up a minute by saying, I'm sure you have noticed how Lara and I love to mingle our plans together, allowing the cousins to play and allowing us to catch up or slow down, depending on the time of day we meet. So last week it was decided that in the heat of this summer, some sort of water play was necessary. And all were happy for the most part. But after a while, the fountains and waterfalls provided less than enough entertainment for Mr. Anders, just as he spied the pools of water in which the waterfalls spilled. And yes, I have to admit, the day was blazin', and he had a very inviting idea. But, we had an agenda that really needed to stay in place to ensure the most fun for everyone. And our time in the fountains was not quite over because although all the little children were wet and frolicking, we were dry and hot, only saved by an occasional mist and the shade from some ornamental Pistachio trees. The plan was to eventually move down to the bigger and wetter land at the end of our adventure because where the water was deep, the shade was not.

Now we obviously didn't give this lenghthy explanation to the kids, therefore the pleading began...





and continued...



See how influential he is with the hand gestures trying to convincing us of his suggestion?



But we weren't caving.




We were hot and had lost all abliity to hear a soggy child's plea.



So he kicked it up a notch,



And then finally, he gave us the cry of defeat.

And yes, we were moved, so after he took a bow, we headed for the deeper water.

See, smart, I tell you, this son of my sister's is smart, but you know what they say...apples don't fall far from the tree.