a week with G+G

David's parents came to visit a few weeks ago and the kids were in heaven. My mother-in-law just retired from teaching 2nd grade for 37 years (!!!) and they drove up from Southern California to spend the week with us. We asked David's dad to help David rip out all our carpet and put in wood floors while they were visiting. He agreed to help, cause that's who he is. For several days of their "vacation", he and David worked well into the night by putting a million screws into new sheets of plywood across the floor joists before putting down the planks. It was a lot of work and David would STILL be working on it without Bob's help. They were both pretty sore the next few days but the floors look great and I'm excited to share pictures soon!

We went to Volunteer Park one of the days they were here and it was so beautiful! I had to take this picture of them around this enormous tree we found. Someone had made a flower wreath and wrapped it around the tree. It made me so happy and it was such a quintessential PNW thing to do. Maybe it was for a wedding or something but I like to think that someone just really loved that tree... very much. And the tree was happy.

We walked around the conservatory and it was really interesting. This picture is making me laugh. Fritz kept tackling Bob (like he do), and Will was jumping into the shot while I tried to take a picture of the inside of the conservatory. I decided it was perfect.

Then Fritz touched a cactus in the Desert Plants room and flipped out. Those things hurt! He was technically fine but was screaming a lot so we left. You know, close quarters and public embarrassment and all that.

All was well again when we walked over to the park and let the kids play and run wild. It was funny for me to observe my kids at the park because their activities were so indicative of their personalities. William walked around the park climbing on the structures and imagining up stories and singing to himself, Fritz jumped to Grampa several times off this step and ended each "catch" with a big hug. He is such a lover. Meanwhile, Lulu was going down the baby slide a million times, galloping back up the steps as soon as she ended at the bottom. She has a true, abiding love for slides and swings. It's a good life.

My mother-in-law is the best at making the kids feel really special. Every time they come to visit, she sets up a treasure hunt before she leaves so the kids can have something to look forward to while they're dealing with the disappointment of them leaving. They have to find the clues around the house and figure out where the next one is and then there's always little prizes and candy at the end. They LOVE it! We're so grateful for all their help and generosity!