We've had quite a summer - lots has gone on, and not much of it has been blog posting. We're going to start with the two notable family visits to get back in the groove. The first is the time Christina's mom, Grandma, came to visit us from New York. We were sandwiched between her visit to California and Japan, and we were so glad she came to see us. (All pictures with a time stamp on them are credited to Grandma).
We spent a fair bit of time at the new donut shop in town - the girls liked showing Grandma how to order, and they liked it a LOT when she bought them donuts!
We even re-created a donut in cake form for our dinner one night!
Grandma also brought a big book full of fun things to do. This was supposed to be a fun bath paint, but Christina balked a bit when the color the girls chose and the sheer VIBRANCY of it seemed like a bit much for the white bath tub. We decided to paint the street instead.
Grandma also took us all to the local splash park. We had a great time where the girls showed off their new swimming/underwater/log-walking abilities.
But that was not our only water experience. We decided to show Grandma a thing or two, and took her camping for the first time in her recent memory. We chose this wonderful lake spot that we were lucky to snag for a night.
Clara and Elena took the opportunity to R-E-L-A-X.
Elena begged to be able to share a tent with her Grandma by herself - and Grandma obliged.
Elena and Clara scouted butterflies by the lake - there were so many there.
Elena was careful to make sure her dad got all the sunscreen he needed before heading in to the lake.
Grandma bought Elena an early birthday present of fashion stickers. She had fun putting them on her ears instead of the ears of the pad that came with the stickers.
It cracked Clara right up!
But not nearly so much as when Steve put them on - then everyone got the giggles.
Relaxing lakeside.
As evening wore on the girls made frequent trips down to the lake with innertubes that our friend Linda let us use.
Christina did frequent checks to make sure the girls were warming up after their lake time - tickling seemed like a good way to go about it.
She also made sure they were warm inside with S'mores.
Messy, delicious, wonderous things, those s'mores.
Credit to Linda for taking this one - three generations, even if one was slightly an afterthought in the background!
Elena slept the whole night with Grandma, and Clara stayed in the big tent with Christina and Steve. The morning dawned a bit chilly, and the girls took advantage of a little of the comforts of home by snuggling in to their blanket and requesting their tea to be brought to them.
Steve went out of town for part of Grandma's trip, and as usual when Steve goes out of town, Christina and the girls went to Jaker's. It was fun to bring Grandma along on this adventure.
It was also very fun to have popsicle dates with her!
We have participated in the Kids Bowl Free program this summer for the second year running, and highly recommend it. We took Grandma with us one day to our local bowling alley. Clara and Elena made up a dance that they did every time their score was the same.
Grandma had a very interesting bowling strategy. She would either bowl slightly down the side with a bit of a hook at the end (granting her many a spare or strike!) or she would bowl slightly down the side and end in the gutter. In the end, one of the girls may or may not have beaten the pants off of her.
It is a wonderful thing to have an indulgent Grandma - she said yes to SO many exciting things! One of which was being a personal driver to two girls reclining on their scooters.
Another is having a Grandma who will help you make egg bombs (and a big mess!).
For our part, we took Grandma to the salon where we all get our hair cut. Clara and Elena made themselves right at home.
And Grandma got a very hip haircut!
So much snuggling...
So much sharing...
Such a wonderful visit. We are so very lucky that she came to be with us for the week. Hooray for Grandma!
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