Big Cousin Jake

Family is so important to Pete and I, and we are thankful that we can work it out so that the munchkins can spend quality time with their cousins a couple times a year, despite the fact that most of them live in Virginia or St. Louis.

Fortunately, their cousin Jacob lives relatively nearby. Sam looks up to his older cousin, Jacob. He loves that he "gets" to wear Jake's hand-me-downs. To a 4 year old, those racing shirts and athletic pants are the epitome of cool.

And Maddie? Well, she just loves him. He always finds a stuffed animal for her to cuddle, which is particularly endearing to me, and she is pretty content to snuggle up on his lap and watch cartoons with him. He is amazingly patient with and tolerant of both of them, and is great about reading to them at bedtime when we visit Mimi & Papa.

My brother John and Jake both race quads, you know, some quality father-son bonding time getting head-to-toe dirty. What kid wouldn't love that? On our last trip to Ottawa, I finally had a chance to watch Jake race. He kicked some serious heiney! He took first easily in this race - I was really proud of him. (And, of course, I took a million pictures.)

Doesn't he look cool?