Poppy, Nana and Keith come for a visit

For the first two weeks of July, Pete, Jill, and Keith came to visit us.  We always look forward to the times we get to spend with them.  It’s great to be able to share our lives and our amazing Texas friends with extended family.

Weeks out from their arrival the kids began making plans for a whole bunch of different adventures and special days to maximize play time with Poppy, Nana, and Uncle Keith.  From the minute they got here, it was virtual non-stop action.  

Because the timing worked out perfectly for me to travel to NY for Hannah’s wedding, I was only here for half of their visit.  In light of this we thought it would be fun for the children to dictate/narrate their perspective of the times they spent together, so without further ado, here’s (Andrew, Elijah, Lavella, or Jonah).

Elijah: "We're at the Splash Pool and Andrew was attacking me in this game and I was trying to keep the water gun!"

Lavella: "Nana is showing me how to float on my back.  Nana showed me how to hold my breath and keep my tummy up."



Jonah: "And dere's Keith!  And dere's me!  And write about me!  I am sitting with Poppy.  That's Elijah's apple."






Jonah: "I can't learn about it."






Jonah: "Keith give me that and I had a strawberry ice cream and Keith put stuff on it that is chocolate syrup."



Andrew: "We were at a lake and we were looking at bi-valves (those are two shells together), and we're looking at regular shells and fossils."


Elijah: "We had a live clam, and I even got a HUGE one that I found and it was alive! Even Jonah and Lavella got to keep some."









Elijah: "Poppy read us a lot of books!"



Elijah: "And Nana did too!"



Jonah: "That was when me and Lavella were in the 'carwash'!!"


Lavella: "Me and Jonah were turning around the thing and the blue stuff was soft and we got to feel it when no one was looking."


Jonah: "And Daddy was there!!!"

Lavella: "Daddy came to visit us for the weekend!"

Elijah: "It was really fun playing 'Clue' with everyone on the last day that Daddy was here!"












In the months since Greg left for school (January), my strength, endurance and patience have been tested as I've have faced so many challenges parenting and running our house alone.  Our friends here in Texas have been a wonderful support to our family, but it was a welcome relief to have Greg's parents take the load completely off of me for a solid two weeks and let me spend time with friends, grocery shop alone, spend time by myself, etc. Knowing that the children were safe and happy and the household was being cared for was an amazing thing.  Thank you to Pete, Jill and Keith for everything you did.  We had a lot of fun!

For even more pictures of their visit here, click through to the Flickr set.