welcome to the dumas family bed&breakfast...

***warning - this one is super long and filled with lots of pictures

so this past weekend cousin, daddy and pat-ricia all came to visit us!!!! we were so very excited for many reasons. 1-none of them had been here before. 2-we love cousin. 3-it was my father and pat's first time here for more than 24 hours in a VERY long long time...if ever...

we forgot the camera for this part so we'll have to use words...so cousin came on the train thursday after she had finished all her classes. she arrived around 6:30pm and we wandered to south station to pick her up. we didn't want to deal with traffic so ry lugged cousin's very heavy bag back to the car and then we went in search of some cupcakes...which we wandered up and down Hanover St. to find...and then we learned the place we were looking for no longer existed. don't worry, there were still cupcakes. lots of cupcakes. so we each got a cupcake and then headed back home to make cousin her fav kind of pizza...buffalo chicken pizza!! we had made it the night before and put it in the fridge on a platter and it took ryan, cousin and three spatulas to get it onto the pizza oven:

but don't worry... it may have looked rustic, but it was DELISH!!!!

Then we set up cousin in her bed on the living room floor and she snuggled with pleasure stallion...we hear pleasure stallion has replaced something else snuggly...she said something about her old snuggle bunny liking the yankees... (just kidding about the replacement...)

so i worked the next day while ry stayed home to entertain cousin...however, cousin slept until NOON...so she was practically asleep the whole time i was at work :) when i got home we had some snacks and taught cousin the tastiness of cold pizza (she had never had it...)

then we prepared dinner. buffalo salmon, baked potatoes and corn on the cob.

we then, of course had to get some ice cream since cousin hadn't had it since she'd been to school. when we got there we saw that their flag was all crooked...so ry went to work...

ALL BETTER!!!

we got our yummy ice cream and headed to the beach...and we had a little photo op:

but then we gave cousin the camera and this is what happened:

hmmm...the camera wasn't her friend...

here was the best one:

then we tried REALLY hard to get shots of the three of us...

ryan was sleeping...

i forgot to smile and ryan was still sleeping...

and then cousin fell asleep, too...

...so we gave up and tried for the lifeguard chair:

FAIL:

hmm...

it was super pretty:

then after ice cream we came home to START the white chocolate raspberry cheesecake:

and it FINALLY went in the oven at 10:33...

so the next day we woke up and played some tennis (we forgot the camera again...sorry...) and then came home to clean. cousin mopped. she's the best mopper ever. she also broomed...

then my father and pat-ricia arrived bearing TREATS!!!! most importantly wegmans cookie cake:

we ate some lunch and decided to wander to ocean lawn! they insist that you can't help but smile while skipping:

we played some bocce. it was oldies vs. goodies. i mean not so oldies. cousin concentrated VERY hard and she was our best player:

probably the most beautiful bocce court ever:

this was the time the goodies got ALL FOUR possible points. yes we were THAT good. must be because cousin and i stick our tongues out while throwing:

goodies won! no surprise there ;)

after bocce we explored the rocks:

...and pat found a treasure. it was stuck to a rock, though, so she couldn't bring it home :(

so we adventured home and made fresh mango....slushies...

and cousin taught ry how to stand:

then the surprise dinner was started!

and then the gnocchi with chili goat cheese sauce was finished!!!

...daddy told us it was as good as his grandfathers...which he has been trying to duplicate for years. don't worry, it was only our second time making them. needless to say, they didn't disappear this time :) :)

we finished off the evening with some white chocolate raspberry cheesecake:

...and some games:

then we tucked cousin into her new bed (the couch) and pleasure stallion wanted to join. again.

so we woke up sunday morning and waited for cousin to arise and my father started the "pumpkin pancakes". he had some problems, though. he couldn't quite figure out how to use the can opener...it's difficult, you know:

and then we realized we bought squash.

they were still delish!

and then it was off to boston...first stop: dunks.

we explored the public garden:

and made some friends with ducks...

...and a magician.

then we found some flowers that matched cousins shirt and we were very excited!!!

so we made her climb in :)

don't worry, i followed.

:)

then it was off to the north end for lunch!

we giggled at this sight:

and cousin found a shirt she was VERY tempted to buy...

...and then i forgot to take more pictures when we got home from boston. but we had a relaxing meal and sat around chatting and enjoying ourselves. the weekend absolutely flew by...but i guess that's what happens when you're having lots of fun!!

so dad and pat left this morning at 7:30. they woke us up to say bye. they tried waking cousin...but she rolled over. not for long, though, since we had to deliver her to the train station this morning. so we packed her a lunch:

and sadly sent her on her way...

it was quite a wonderful weekend and we loved every second of it. we love being able to have family come to visit us. it was the perfect mix of adventuring and relaxing. we can't wait for more visitors!!!