Happiness is...

Borrowing your neighbor's motorboat (and your other neighbor's canoe) for a week...

Rounding up your family...

Heading to a lake...

We Cooper kids continued our waterskiing lessons from last summer -
this time we could really have fun with it

My dad, by contrast, has been skiing with aplomb since high school

Cooking together...

 (using a drill to whip the egg whites, as you do when you're an engineer)

Having your ultra-talented aunt and uncle stop through in their travels from a distant land... 

Most photo credits to Uncle Joe, pictured far right with his wife Linda

Coercing your dad and uncle into helping you arrange a guitar piece for a dear friend who gave you 9 days' notice that you'd be playing in her wedding...

I could have said no, but she's worth it!

Welcoming another dear friend, from Cambodia by way of Wisconsin...

I love it when worlds collide

And most of all, watching three nephews compete for most endearing. These guys totally stole the show all week!

L to R: identical twins Carson and Evan (19 months), their "Opa" (many months), and Cole (17 months)

"Yup, there are 3 of us and life is pretty great!"

 

  

Cole was fascinated by the old-fashioned water pump by the driveway

I declare, Little Blue Truck is the wisest vehicle I know.

They've always been cute individually, but as they get older and start interacting more with each other, it's become exponentially more fun to watch them together. 

Here they are mesmerized by the construction vehicles at the house next door.

Can't you feel the brotherly love?

Evan sure can.

In exchange for Cole teaching them new sounds, Carson and Evan instructed him in their favorite workout, couch-jumping. Cole's version is a bit more cautious, but he made some good progress. 

Cole much prefers a lively conversation with them to eating his lunch. Can you blame him?

While I've always loved spending time with my family, these tiny people have really kicked it up a notch. I've come to the conclusion that aunting can be just as fun as grandparenting, minus the prerequisite of slogging through long decades of child-rearing. 

Happiness can be fleeting and frail. It pales beside the deep God-inspired joy that endures in suffering and mundane moments. But it's still a precious gift worth savoring.