proof of life

Uncle Chris is alive! Oh how we love Uncle Chris. Chris is Ritchey's younger brother by 7 years. He is such not a Cable and in a world of his own, in a good way. After college he knew what he wanted in life and up and moved to California. He got a job at Disneyland with the desire of working his way up the foodchain in order to get into corporate Disney. And we haven't seen him since! Sort of. See Chris works at the actual park and they don't get major holidays off. So when all the family is together, he is missing. Ritchey even photoshopped him into last year's christmas photo. And because he lives in California, we somehow find it hard to get our family of 5 out there for less than a bazillion dollars. So our big family hangup was that Chris had never met Sophie, and she is over 2 years old and a full fledged human being now. The boys got to see Chris at Scott's wedding out in CA last year, but sophie didn't make the trip with us. (my sis came to the rescue). At that trip he got us into Disney free, hallah! And he did a great job and was so excited to do so, we got Fast passes, got to skip lines, behind the scenes greatness, for free! Ritchey's parents see  Chris often cuz they fly out there often. But us po Lousiana folks just don't get to do that. But lo the day has come, Chris came home, to Louisiana anyway. Chris took 2 weeks off of work and traveled to see all the people he hadn't seen in a long time and have some much deserved fun. So he drove over from TX for 24 hours and it was so great. He is such a great uncle, as is his brother. He is so great with kids, well at least those over 3. He engaged in continual sword fights, choreographed a fight scene even, played touch football, frisbee, buckled seatbelts, held hands across the road, and did all the things I never like saying yes to, like swinging kids around 100 x in a row. My kids adore him and their other uncle, despite the distance. The other great thing about both uncles, and what I learned this time with Chris, is that he is not afraid to say no, or look both ways, or say no you may not, or be careful, or ask your mom first, or your mom is calling for you, or listen to your dad. He is mature and nurturing and careful with the kids, who knew. Such a great balance of fun and responsibility. Now Sophie was a different issue. She is EXTREMELY shy/afraid of strangers. She is a lot better since her baby years. Literally if someone said hello to her, or looked at her in the grocery store she would burst into tears, no lie. This is brutal for a gorgeous baby like Sophie, cuz everyone wants to greet her and boing her curls in their hands. Anyhoo, I had prepped her, she could pick out pics of Chris, saw him in videos and could say his name. She was kind of excited about the thought of him coming to visit, just not the actual visit. She wouldn't make eye contact and refused to take a picture with Chris. When we forced her just for the sheer fact we needed proof that they had met, she freaked out. But by the end of the 24 hours she was curious about him and even allowed him to co-exist in the same room as her. I do have one pic of them together looking at a photo book, her all time favorite activity. So Chris came, he played, he conquered. We are so glad he did and we already miss him. Here is to great uncles, and aunts, the world would not be as fun w/o them.