trip to Utah

We had a really good trip to Utah... started out at the Gooches and Zoe and Brooke started where they left off.. playing together in the doll house, or playing separately in the same room. Sometimes Brooke would school Zoe (ie limit the play), but Zoe was a good guest. She latched on to a few toys which we had to return at the end of the trip (notably a toy barbie fan). She loved the Barbie toy house. Auntie Heather taught Zoe the Barbie world song (shown via YouTube.. the Sims 2 version)... to which Zoe would wear her Barbie outfit (binkini top, short sleeve shirt).. and dance like a professional MTV dancer...
When not in her Barbie outfit, she wore ballet clothes.. I knew I didn't need to bring all those clothes.. she didn't touch anything but swim suits, her favorite short sleeve skirt and the ballet outfits.
Finn was pretty easy on the plane (thanks to iPad with vids).. but spent a bit of time playing with the window shade.. upon lift off he looked out the window and proclaimed: "Bubbles!" (the clouds)
Finn had a good time playing beside the girls.. doing what they were doing. His favorite thing at the Gooches was their white board to which he begged all the time "Color!!"
At the Gooches the kids went to their first funeral.. thankfully a closed casket.. and they didn't know what they were doing.. except having to be quiet (which other people said they did quite well.. at the time I didn't feel they were especially quiet)
The kids loved being at Nana's and Grandpa's.. Grandpa was especially entertaining.. playing the "Where is my binkie game".. to which Zoe would get involved at saving Finn's binkie.. it never got old.. but did get kind of rowdy. One of the first things the kids did was play with the bubbles Nana bought.. and then the playground.. loving every minute of it.
Both were quite spoiled, especially the birthday girl who got a fabulous cake and oh so many presents. Both kids were good with Aunts and Uncles.. especially Zoe who wasn't too shy to give hugs (except around the Great-Grandmas).. Finn kept a bit of distance, but would give snuggles if I was holding him.

Probably the best thing to come of the visit was the bonding between the two.. Zoe and Finn. Finn has been quite the parrot of Zoe, but now they play and tease each other all day. They are learning to play with one another and it is more positive than adversarial. Last night as I was putting them both to bed, Finn fell asleep during the lullabye.. Zoe was still chatty.. so we talked a little and she said; "I want you to put Finn on my otherside (her in the middle).. " I was stunned... "why?" I asked.. "So I can snuggle him".. a major turning point. (of course I didn't move him, but that the idea was hers still made me wonder if I heard correctly. )