Bring on the Fun!

What's better than having your grandparents come and visit? Not much! Grandma Patty and Granddad Richie have come to visit for over a week, the first weekend packed with birthday events (see next post!), and the second weekend coinciding with Ian's big NYC book fair. I was worried about how we would fill the time in between, but of course - poof - it just disappeared in the blink of an eye. Uncle Ian and Aunt Suzanne stayed with us for much of the time as well, just adding to the fun, especially with lots of rolicking games on the Xbox Kinect. Suz joined us for a day at the park towards the end of the stay, an unusually beautiful early April day - see last photo!

I'm not sure Maddie really knew Grandma and Granddaddy were coming, but Ollie was SO excited for their arrival. When they finally did come, he dashed around the house showing them a multitude of exciting things -- his newest drawings from school, his favorite Tuskegee airplane, how he can hop from one end of the house to the other on one foot... all the important stuff. Then he came to me and asked to whisper something in my ear, very intent and excited. "I don't know who to play with first!!" That pretty much sums it up... just too much happiness.

After the birthday weekend, which also included a fantastic bagel brunch on Sunday (a favorite family tradition) featuring an entire side of home-smoked salmon care of Granddad Richie, it was a fairly quiet week. Ollie went to school as usual on Tuesday and Thursday, and we all went down to the pool to cheer him on during his weekly swimming lesson. Grandma Patty wasn't feeling 100%, so we didn't venture into NYC together, although Granddaddy did go in for a day to help Ian set up for the book fair. We all just had fun doing regular things together, and the big event of the week was a trip to the Liberty Science Center (first two photos from this post were taken there). Ollie loved the ball-throwing machine best of all - I think he could have played there for hours. Maddie loved the fish and the rice bin. We were all exhausted when the day was done!

Now I do have an answer to "What's better than having your grandparents come and visit?" Answer: having BOTH pairs of grandparents! For two weeks in July, Andy's parents will be visiting us up in Maine, so ALL the grandparents will be on hand! Along with cousins Aidan and Eli... too much happiness all over again.