Family Barbeque

We had a family barbeque today as a prelude to Monday's annual MacKenzie Family Labor Day Golf Tournament. Five of our kids and their spouses were there, and 12 of our grandkids. The other two kids/spouses and 5 grandsons will put in an appearance on Monday.

I went around taking candid pictures of the kids and groups during the evening.



Kenzie and Max played hide and seek with Layla, Sydney and Brooklyn.


Anson found a good perch on the roof of the play house.

Alex played with the toys in the house, pushing the doll stroller around as practice for his baby sibling that'll be here in April.

Max showed his girl cousins how to play his favorite Wii 'punching' game.

Layla and Sydney played with Kenzie and Max in the toy room.

I heard water running and went around the corner of the house and found 2-year old Aidan playing with the hose. He dropped the hose as soon as he saw me because he's not supposed to play with it, but he looked so cute that I had to tell him to pick it up again. He was so happy to have permission to do it - he couldn't keep the grin off his face. He thought he should try to get his Grammie wet though!

Baron ate some watermelon and got it all over his white shirt then went out back to sit and watch the bigger kids play.

Kenny and Elly enjoyed playing on the swings and slides.

Brooklyn took her turn on the swing when she wasn't playing with her cousins.

And Charlie was so tired from being up most of the night visiting with Layla that she slept through the whole thing until about half an hour before we left. Poor baby.

In the meantime the men sat in the diningroom discussing strategy for Monday's golf tournament and solving all the problems in the hockey and football leagues.

And the women sat in the kitchen discussing kids, clothes, health, diets, hair, and other important things.

It's so interesting to watch the cousins when they get together. They seem to pair up according to size, rather than age these days and the ones they played with today may not be the ones they played with last time. The oldest (Kenzie) will be 7 in December, the next two (Charlie and Brooklyn) will be six in November, Layla is 5, Syd is 4, and Elly is almost 2. Most of them are the oldest and/or only girl in their families so are 'princesses' and used to taking the lead. I must admit it leads to conflict when they play, especially among the older 4. They're gradually learning to resolve their difficulties and take turns and share in the leadership. The boys aren't near the trouble. Life is never dull when they're all together.