Visitors Week

Anticipation.

We have been enjoying a few visitors interspersed between our everyday life this week! Its hard to believe we had these special people here all in such a short time!

Nana - Mom flew to Florida to visit my grandma a few days after the 4th. When she returned from her trip, she got to have supper with us before heading out with me to watch Makin's soccer practice, and then hung out for a day of fun before heading home the following day.

The kids were dying for her to swim with them. :)

Lots of smiles!

Then we made dirt, took a trip to 5 Below, and Nana worked with Makin on his car set.

Thanks for a fun day Nana!

Luke and Annette - My longtime friend Luke and his wife Annette, who teach full-time in Japan, are here in the states for the summer. We hadn't seen them in about three years so were excited when the mentioned they were headed to this area for the weekend. Annette has a cousin here, so they stayed with her but stopped in for a lunch visit before they headed back to Oklahoma.

It was great catching up. Both of them built with Magna Tiles while visiting, and Luke also built a turtle out of the giant legos. We wish we got to see them more often, but we are so glad we were able to sneak in a quick visit.

A pic on the turtle before it gets turned into the next creation. :)

Amanda - I was so excited to see my dear friend before she took off on her amazing vacation. Amanda gets to visit Hawaii! A friend of hers invited her to go along, all expenses paid. Now who can turn that down!?! While she had a hard time leaving John and Sydney behind, she knew it was a special chance. After the years of hardship she has had lately, I think it will be so good for her. It feels like a story right out of our favorite book series we read together as teenagers. :)

We were delighted to have Amanda join us for an afternoon and evening before flying out. She played with the kiddos and watched Makin's soccer practice. Then we visited before heading to the airport for her crazy flight time. :) Can't wait to hear about her fun adventures when she returns!

Summer Fun - Bungee Bouncing, Games, Grilling In The Rain, Rainforest Animals, Outdoor Tent, Aspiring Artists, Dinosaurs

When we went to Legoland the kids saw this trampoline "thing" in the middle of the mall. I told them it needed to wait for another day. We took Nana to the airport for her to fly to Florida, so I decided a 45 minute drive to the airport (and mom gets a bit scary trying to find the right place for drop off at THAT airport!) warranted a fun activity...so bungee bouncing it was! I was skeptical that Lor would like it with her fear of heights, but she felt plenty secure all strapped in and said she is ready for a roller coaster now. ;)

I had to chuckle about how many games we have been playing in the afternoons around here.

Summer hibernation at its finest!

(And yes I'd still choose it over below 0 any day!!!)

Grilling In The Rain

When you decide to grill because there is only a 10% chance of rain...

Rainforest Animals

We loved getting a chance to learn more about rainforest animals at the library.

Critterman helped us learn some new facts (I feel like we have read every book about every animal in the world by this point...but I always learn something new!) about rainforest animals and see a few up close. He also had a cute little pitch with the macaw about recycling to save the rainforests so that was also a new concept for the kiddos to hear. And to top off the event, they got to go up front and pet a python. I was a little too close for comfort just for picture purposes!

Outdoor Tent

There was a rainstorm in the morning, so the temps were temporarily down to bearable.

Inspired by Fancy Nancy's outdoor tent, Lorelei asked that I help them make one. I think we will do this again in the fall and have school outdoors. :)

Aspiring Artists

She also wanted to do some splatter paint artwork. 

(Also inspired by her recently checked-out Fancy Nancy book.)

Dinosaurs

Brief nice morning weather had the kids enjoying dinosaurs in the backyard.

Love his concentration. :)

Fourth Of July

Our July 4th started out special with a breakfast picnic in the pasture.

Mom wanted to do this with us as kids, but had always put it off, 

so decided she should take the grand-kids out. 

It was such a hit it has been requested to be something we do every time we visit. :)

Taking a venture up the hill.

Then we...

Dolled up Lorelei's hair

Added flags along the sidewalk.

Had our photo shoot. ;)

Got some harvesting done.

Makin loved riding along with Papa on the combine 

and then watching the wheat go into the grain truck. :)

Made fruit kbobs.

Lorelei had sparkling grape juice to drink while she worked. :)

Grilled supper. :)

Headed to the fireworks for the evening.

What better thing to do while you are waiting around for the fireworks to start than take a few more pictures!? :)

As mom was taking the family picture another group was setting off fireworks in the parking lot so was a bit distracting! :)

Fun with Sparklers!

Both kids loved 'em!

We enjoyed the fireworks show and it was one of the kid's highlights of the trip!

Summer Trip To The Panhandle

We were armed with an awesome history "class" to take on the drive to Nana and Papa's house. What better time to learn more about the Civil War that a Fourth of July visit!?







What I love about visiting both of our parent's farms, is that our kids get a taste of what we both had as our everyday life as children. Its great these two "city kids" get a good bit of country in them a couple times a year.





When we arrived they loved seeing the grasshoppers and trying to catch them. They did get to look at some up-close in a bug catcher that Nana had as well. We could not believe the size of the in the top right picture. It was the biggest I have ever seen by far!

Then we also found a walking stick! Lorelei had no fear of it and had it crawling all over her. Makin liked to observe it more than it crawling on him. :)

I couldn't believe it when it rained enough for the gigantic puddle to appear. This is one of their favorite things to do at Nana and Papa's house. Play in the giant puddle out front. They made mud pies and L coated herself with dirt again this year.

Ringing the bell. The view of the pasture reminds me to note that they did get to see the cattle out back once as well as a huge rainbow, but that picture didn't turn out!

Mix of fun. Clockwise from top, Nana is always in charge of bedtime books (although this picture looks like a mid-day read!) and she got a few from the library that were a hit. Makin loved the new floors in the south room for racing cars. The kids tried out the new Jacuzzi tub like it was a hot tub. :) Papa served us a yummy fish fry one evening!

Wheat Pictures

(Harvest was supposed to be done before our visit, 

but between the combine breaking down and rain, we ended up being their right during bits of harvest...as you know from the puddle pictures, it was still too wet some days.)

Alfalfa Crop

My parents still have the piano we will have from my grandma's house...so the kids didn't even have to share a piano. ;)

One day we headed into town for the afternoon. Nana treated us to lunch, then the kids played a bit at her school playground before heading to Finding Dory. (Brad and I had a date while they were at the movies.) Then we all headed to the park to get a ride on the Lion's Club train.

Loving the swing set!

July 4th Prep

Fireworks Craft Fun

(all by Nana, no work for me!)

Star Shaped Watermelon and Jello! Festive and Yummy!

July 4th Post Will Follow Soon!