Taking the Scenic Route

#192: Happy Birthday Zach! (take two). This is the first time my whole family and Zandra got together. It was also the first time Steve and Zandra met each other. The kids seemed amazed and very excited to see everybody together, and the two Grandmas had a ball, laughing heartily and giving each other the giggles. These are the only grandchildren for both of them. They agreed that they were the best grandkids in the entire world. (they are ya know). lol. It was absolutely wonderful. A day I dreamed would happen, but didn’t ever think would actually come to pass.

There are a crazy number of photos of supper. The first one was taken by the waitress and is annoyingly blurry, but I think I got enough to make up for it.

Then, we went back to our place for birthday cake….to be continued.

#192: Happy Birthday Zach! Zach was excited to spend his birthday with his mom for the first time in years. It was a lot of fun. In the evening we went to Carrabbas.

Naturally, I couldn’t stop with one picture. lol.

#191: Ready to go Shopping. Every day she was here, Zach, Zora and Zandra would head to the store, partly to shop for food, but mostly to get a “walk” in. It is entirely too hot to walk outside and so they would do laps in Walmart or Dillons, depending on what they were going shopping for that day. (and every day yeilded great food…we all enjoy food way too much. lol). Before they left to go out, I grabbed the camera and Zane to get some photos of the four of them.

And a real hug from Zane, arms wrapped around Grandma and everything, before they take off for the store.

And, the evenings feast is laid out. Everything from ribs, chicken, and catfish to sushi, how appropriate for us.

#190: Book Love. Both kids love to be read to, and through out the stay, Zandra obliged them with animated reading of stacks of books. This is one of the Todd Parr books Zane loves…about underwear. lol.

After reading the book “Muncha Muncha Muncha”, Grandma Zandra and Zane went outside to give our suburban (wild) rabbit a carrot to munch on. The rabbit hangs out by the fence door in the shade these days.

Takes “Muncha Muncha Muncha” outside to read again.

A family that reads together…

#189: A couch, a few pillows, and a lot of fun. These two sat on the couch for a good while tonight just playing. It was really wonderful.

Something not pictured, but just as special was this morning when Zane crawled into Zandra’s bed and just snuggled with her for a while before they got up for the day. It was very sweet.

#188: Grandma Returns. Although we we glad to see her, it was a sad trip for her. Her friend’s cancer had metasticized to her brain and the situation was not a good one, so after a short visit, she turned around to come back. It was upsetting. She got back here in time for supper and we, once again, found ourselves enjoying conversation over savory smells of food. This time homemade red sauce with pasta and homemade meatballs. This time they used onions, so I had my own without sauce. Zora just had to be in the middle of the action, of course.

And, naturally, we had more music at the end of the day.

#187: Grandma leaves, summer wardrobe arrives. We were sad to see Grandma go, but she needed to go visit some friends, a couple who both have cancer. She left early to drive to Dallas/Fort Worth. After she left, the wardrobe that I ordered from Children’s Place (a major sale, plus another online coupon, plus a free shipping coupon. SCORE!). Now she has clothes that both fit and match.

The last of the firework fun, charcoal snakes.

Enjoying the “turn to dust” aspect of charcoal snakes.

Summer debris. Chalk, poppers, and snakes. Somebody needs to get out the broom. lol.

We had leftover watermelon from Grandma’s visit, we threw it in the freezer and used it with a banana in the vitamix to make watermelon “ice cream”. Yum. (healthy too)

#186: Grandmas are such good influences.

Daddy shows the kids how to throw “poppers” (those little things you throw that pop upon impact)

Zora gets Grandma to play cars with her. Her current favorite is the fire truck she got as a potty reward.

#185: Cooking with Grandma Zandra. While the rest of the country had hot dogs and hamburgers, we were making Salmon. Zora was excited to help prep the side dishes.

And some sprinkler time to cool off…

In the evening, none of us were up for big crowds, so we just went out our front door and watched the neighboorhood fireworks display. The neighbors at the beginning of the cul-de-sac apparently dropped a pretty penny on fireworks because they had some awesome big ones. We had some little ones left from last year and put those off in the street to add to the show. It was nice and managable and I am glad we didn’t go to the big downtown show. It was the first Independence Day celebration not spent with my parents since having kids, but it was good to spend it with Grandma Zandra.

#183: ‘mates

We had fun. Yesterday she brought a selection of Italian meats and cheeses, and today we had Lox and Bagels with all the fixin’s. YUMMY! We spend most of the day going between talking, looking at pictures and videos and playing with the kids.