A Month With Grandpa!

Grandpa Neal (my Dad) came out to visit for a month and I loved it!  I was already behind on my blogging but I fell way behind just hanging out with my dad.  It was so great to have him there!

Tuesday, October 18th

The first day my dad was here the kids begged us to go the zoo.  The weather was perfect and the animals were out playing!  We packed lunches and the kids were eating in the first hour - we made it through the whole zoo enjoying the animals!  Maxwell fell asleep before we got back to our car - we all took naps that afternoon!

The week was going to be crazy and I knew it!  We had a lot of rain, a Young Woman field trip to the pumpkin patch - which was very rainy and dark!  Then it was PTO, PTO, and PTO stuff!  My dad got thrust into that mess full force!

Saturday, October 21st

We started the morning with a ward service project at Wildwood Park and a ward luncheon.  The kids were fabulous - working so hard.  Grandpa ended up hanging out at Walmart fixing a flat tire - thanks Grandpa.

After nap time, we headed up for a long wandering drive to Cabela's - thanks Morgan!  We had a yummy dinner at Applebees before heading to Cabela's.  As usual the kids love to climb on the fighting bears.  The pop guns became a new favorite on this trip - we could not pass a bucket of those without everyone having to play with them! 

 

Monday, October 24th

Another trip to Fleitz Pumpkin Patch - this time with my Girl Scout troop - Grandpa was so patient!  All these adventures with tons of kids!  It was fun - all the girls came and we loved every minute of it!  It was super muddy on the corn maze but that made it so fun!  If you look close at the picture on the bottom right you see me leaning way out to see Maxwell who is at the very top of the platform climbing on the edge.  I swear, that child!!

Wednesday, October 26th

Big fun at Fairgreen Preschool with the Family Pumpkin Night - we all brought pumpkins and decorated them!  The kids love it!     Grandpa got the easy job of helping Manhattan - best job ever - she does it all herself!  Marin loves to stick everything in her pumpkin and Maxwell was still figuring this whole thing out! Marin made a porcupine pumpkin - holding that in the car was my pleasure!

Thursday, October 27th

Thursday night we had surprised the kids with a trip to the circus - it was SO fun!  They had no idea until we got right to the door!  I have not been to a circus since I went with my dad for my 16th birthday!  We got there early so we could wander the floor - Marin was terrified at first but warmed up after a little bit.  We got Manhattan out on the floor to have the performers juggle around her - so cool!  The elephant tricks were great - the one elephant inhaled a whole loaf of bread - so funny!  I love that they handed out free red rubber noses - so funny!  Marin & Maxwell are still wearing them around the house!  Everyone loved the circus as well as the yummy and expensive popcorn - yum!!

 Somewhere in the middle of all this - Morgan and my dad started remodeling the kitchen - it all started with a simple request to have a new cupboard - then it was a top and bottom cupboard, new countertops, new sink, and faucet.  The tile backsplash will  be done soon and then I will post pictures - it will be titled - "I love my kitchen"  because everyday I walk in there I love it!

Anyways - back to my dad's visit! - - -

Friday, October 28th

We went swimming at the YMCA and then stayed for Pumpkins in the Pool - that was absolutely crazy - 200 kids, 200 pumpkins all with adults watching - it was crazy!  We were grateful that we came early to swim and then when "Pumpkins in the Pool" started - we swam for a minute, grabbed the pumpkins, went and decorated them, eat some pizza, and ran out of there.  It was so crazy but it was fun - next year we will buy some of our own pumpkins and throw them in the bathtub!  :)

Saturday, October 29th

The weather was getting colder and it was almost Halloween - we did a marathon fall trip.  We went to a cool apple orchard for apples & apple cider donuts at MacQueen's Apple Orchard.  Then we jumped in the car and drove to Michigan to hit our favorite pumpkin patch - Gust Brothers Pumpkin Patch.  It was really fun - perfect weather just a little chilly and great fun!

After a little nap - we ran over to the Empie's for a playgroup Halloween Party!  We had so much yummy food, fun games, and perfect weather!  It was a lot of fun!  Thanks to Lindsey for pulling it all off! 

Sunday, October 30th

 After dinner we finally got to carve our pumpkins - we had waited so long!!  All the kids helped with the gutting and even some of the carving!  Manhattan completely carved her pumpkin with a little bit of encouragement from all of us!  Marin could not decide what to carve so she had two sides - a normal face and an Ariel cut-out! I picked a green pumpkin for Maxwell and he loved the scooping of the guts but lost patience with the carving when we would not let him have the knife!  Augh - us mean adults!

Monday, October 31st
Happy Halloween!!

We were so excited for Halloween to arrive! Marin had a Halloween parade at her school - due to rain it was inside!  Manhattan's parade was cancelled due to the rain - blah!  Luckily the rain stopped in time for Halloween!    Aunt MJ came over for a fancy dinner of Mummy dogs, french fries, and corn!   Maxwell discovered the suckers in our bucket to hand out and we could not get it away from him again!  He was sticky immediately.  We joined up with the Tschernes and Empies for some trick or treating!  It was fun to be with everyone!  What were the costumes:  Manhattan - Artemis the Goddess of Hunt, Lauren - 50's waitress, Marin - Rapunzel, Nathan - Cars 2 Pit Crew.  Notice Maxwell - the big bad wolf and Felicity - little red riding hood are so cute together!  They really got the whole trick or treating thing and were off and running!  It was pretty fun!  Maxwell made it for an hour and then it was time for him to head home - the girls needed to empty their bags and start again.  Normally when the bags are full we are done but their bags were full in one hour so we empty and started again!  It was a nice night - easy to spend two hours wandering the streets with my kids!

After Halloween - Morgan and my dad were working on house stuff!   Grandpa watched the kids so we could do dinner out on Friday - that was nice and Grandpa survived! 

Saturday, November 5th

The next morning we headed up to Frankenmuth for some crazy Christmas joy!  It was so fun but very crazy!  On our way home we stopped at Ikea and picked up stuff to finish the kitchen.   We were down to the last week of Grandpa's visit so the jobs had to get done and they did it!

I have to admit that I was not sure how it would go having my dad here for a week - would he go crazy, would the kids drive him crazy - I know he was ready to go home to my mom and his own bed but we sure loved having him here.  He became part of our family routine.  He has been gone for almost two weeks and Maxwell wanted to set a spot for him at the table last night.  Thanks for coming dad - we loved having you here!  I so appreciate all the work you did but mostly I really appreciated you just being here!  I love you!

Looking forward to seeing both our families in the spring again - it is always too long!  Just like this post - sorry!!