Before we left to head to HomeTown, my Dad mentioned to me that we didn't need to bring any of Peanut's toys. I should have known something was up at that time. I kind of thought so, but then I brushed it off and didn't give it another thought. When we arrived on Friday afternoon, Peanut was greeted by Grandma and Grandpa and a whole new swing set of her very own at Grandma and Grandpa's.
As if their big yard to play in at a moments notice wasn't enough. But we appreciated their generosity nonetheless.
It was good for Peanut to be able to stretch and play after the L-O-N-G car ride. She's such a good traveler.
Grandma taught her to smell the flowders {flowers}...
And she got to play blocks with Grandpa, which her tongue still seems to be an amazing lightning rod for concentration.
Can anyone say Michael Jordan on that last one?!?!!?! Too funny.
We had some maintenance to do at our rental house, which we took care of Saturday morning. It ended up taking quite a bit longer than we had originally planned, because our renters are not taking care of the yard as well as we would have liked. :( We can't complain about the house itself, as everything seems to be in really good condition, however spending five hours doing yard work on our vacation was not something we had planned on. At least the yard looks better than before, but anyhow, I digress...
Saturday night, we were able to spend some time with DH's Aunt, Uncle, and cousins. It was so good to be able to see them and catch up. We had dinner together, where Peanut enjoyed eating her first slice of watermelon...
and then we took the Peanut in her first wagon ride down to the park just a few blocks from their house.
Peanut had fun with Auntie on the playground...
...and DH played volleyball with the rest of family while I played the part of paparazzi, taking advantage of all that natural light.
Lovies with Peanut's cousin (who may I mention was the flower girl at our wedding and now she's starting high school in September...seriously? Where does it go?)
It was typical Northwest weather on the 4th...cloudy and a bit cool to my liking, so I was in jeans.
But hey, at least it didn't rain. Peanut got to use sidewalk chalk on Grandma and Grandpa's newly poured concrete....
and I didn't even panic about the chalk mess. But I did wash her hands afterward.
She got to play with her cousin and toss the ball around with my parents lab....
and Mommy got to practice with her other lens, a smaller size telephoto. I am loving the depth of field it provides. See this blurry background? I have been trying so hard to achieve that and all I needed to do was pull out the other lens. Silly me.
We even had the chance to take some family pictures...one without me as I am behind the camera...
and one with me, with my Aunt taking the picture. Thanks, Auntie!
My mom graciously took some photos of our little family...thank you, Mama.
Can't believe how fast a year flies by.
Peanut got lots of special times with Grandma and Grandpa....many thanks to DH, who took these excellent photos...
Peanut had such a good time on the Fourth. Taking two naps--which she hasn't done for at least six months. But between a tuckered out little girl and two tired parents and two tired grandparents, we didn't even light off any fireworks. We watched a little bit of my parents neighbors display, which puts many to shame, but in the end, we were all asleep by 11 pm. I know. How very un-American of me.
But despite the fireworks-less-ness, we had a great time and we got to wake up to this:
Grandpa and Peanut waking up real slow and easy. *Sigh*
On Monday, my parents treated our family with a trip to the local zoo, which was fun, but a little anticlimactic. Seems that lots of the animals were hiding or rebelling against being on display. Not that I blame them...I like my space too.
But I was able to get a few good shots...
And just for the record, this picture of the sea lion did not look that tropical when I took it. In fact, it was pretty murky and icky looking in the water. And I didn't even edit the picture--except to add the watermark. Don't ask me how I did it....
My favorite zoo pic is this one. Peanut spent a lot of the time at the zoo on Grandpa's shoulders and Grandma told her to hold on...
...so she did. Pretty priceless, if you ask me.
And I got a chance for a few more family pics...
I love making memories, don't you?
2 comments:
The picture of your dad and peanut sitting on the deck in the morning is precious, brought tears!
I love the format of your blog, I've been looking at many trying to decide how I'd like to set mine up. I really like the simplicity of the daily posts, not too long and just enough to get the point across.
Thanks!
Thanks so much, Jenn! You're so sweet! :)
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