We are hosting a family gathering in our backyard. The family gathering includes extended family…Erica and Anne. Our family knows our house is a mess “in-transition”. There is nothing to “hide” from them. With Terri and Andy living in our house, they have their “stuff” stacked in various rooms in the house. However, with Erica and Anne coming over, I needed to spend the time clearing out and making the house a bit more presentable – if possible. There are benefits of my cleaning. I dug out all the toys that were shoved in the bathroom downstairs. Since there is only a toilet in the room, it has become a storage/dump zone. I moved the toy kitchen upstairs and clean out part of the toy room to actually make room to play. Now, Eleri has half the room to play in the toy room. Terri and Andy’s stuff is in the other half of the room. One day when we host, we can just host and not spend two days cleaning!

Anne and family came early. The girls had fun playing in the backyard. They added the slide to make the slip-n-slide more adventures.

The water volcano was a hit with Asha.

We were so busy talking and enjoying the night, I don’t have many photos. The only family photo of the Gin family.

I don’t have a family photo with Erica. I always think about the photos I need after the fact when I am blogging. Collin is from New Zealand while Anne is from Malaysia. Collin and Erica had fun getting to know each other and talking about their home country. It was a fun evening spent with friends and family.