The Grandparents Visit

The last week has been a lot of fun in the Reid house.

To start off, Dave's parents arrived last Tuesday night. The kids were very excited to see them again.

On Wednesday, Dave turned the BIG 40! He just wanted to spend the day with family. So, we surprised him with balloons at work and then planned a mini "fiesta" in his honor. Dave had requested a very specific taco dish (skirt steak is impossible to find!) that he had requested for his meal along with Mexican rice. In the boys minds, when you have a party, you should "dress up" so they dressed as "Mexicans" along with grandpa.

What would a "Fiesta" be without a pinata? Definetely a requirement!

On Thursday, we spent the afternoon at Clark Park. We have been going there for years so it was fun to show Grandma and Grandpa a summertime tradition!

Friday morning we went and picked lots of yummy blackberries. Dave's dad just couldn't get enough blackberries so he went out later and picked even more. And they were mighty fine in my triple berry pie! YUM!

Nat showing off some of our "stash".

Friday afternoon, Dave took the boys and his dad to Battleground Lake for an overnighter fishing trip. (I sent him with the camera, but guess what? NO pictures were taken!) They decided the Battleground Lake is NOT the place to fish. No one was even getting bites. So they came back Saturday morning empty handed and EARLIER they expected. While the boys were gone us girls went out to eat and then shopped at IKEA. FUN!

Saturday evening, we all went to "Round Lake" and had a picnic dinner, played Boche (girl's rule!) and went on an easy hike.

On Monday, I took the whole crew up to Mt. Saint Helens. It was a beautiful day to view the mountain. And a great activity to end their trip on. (I forgot my camera in the car, so I have to wait til Dave's mom sends me pictures.)

With all the going and doing, my kids hung in there pretty well.

However, I found Nat like this...(Yes, that's a sleeping bag on the lawn. The kids were planning on sleeping on the trampoline later that night.)

and Alex like this...(Don't you like how his head is turned! That is how he ALWAYS sleeps! and notice his baby blanket. Yep, he needs that too!)

And then I found Natalie here the next day...

(If only she would ALWAYS put herself to bed when she is tired! One can only dream!)

My kids played hard and slept hard too!

We love having family visit! and wish that we lived closer so we could have more time together. But, the time we had was well spent and many great memories were gained! Until next time...