They arrived on Friday afternoon just a few minutes after Jake and Casey when down for their naps. This gave me a special hour of one on one time with them. Gavin and I started playing right away. We made a car and airplane out of Tinkertoys. He asked me every 5 minutes when would Jake be getting up. He was anxious to play with his cousins. Finally Jake and Casey wake up and they are greeted in their rooms by Grandma, Grandpa and cousin Gavin.
Friday afternoon was filled with playtime with each other. Gavin brought over a box filled with toys he no longer plays with. Jake and Casey dug into it like it was Christmas again and found some favorites already. Soon after we headed out to swim lessons. Jake and Casey wanted to show off their swimming skills.
On Saturday we visited the Lionel Train Museum (about 30 mins from here). This is our 4th time and it's a favorite place of ours. The tour includes a 10 min video on the history of Lionel (model train company) and the best part is 45 minutes in a room with 1 small kid size train layout and a larger layout. The kids enjoyed watching and controlling the trains. They can push buttons and lights, bridges, signs, trains turn on.
During the afternoon while 3 little kids rested upstairs after a long train adventure the rest of us sat down at the computer and looked at photos from our France trip together last September. My dad brought all of his photos (all 3000) and we talked and remembered all the fun events we experienced. My dad and Jan were in France 7 days before we arrived and visited many neat places. While looking at the photos they explained to us all that they saw. There were some places that Chris and I would like to see if we get a chance to go back.
The afternoon was filled with playtime outside on big wheels and bikes. It was a beautiful weekend with temps in the high 50s. For dinner we went out to a brewery with some good food. The kids had the sillies and made the meal interesting. We've noticed every time we put Jake and Gavin together they turn into these CRAZY, WILD kids running, laughing, screaming all over the place. Their intensity levels sky rocket (mom - they left off from when they were together back in september). Sometimes it's a challenge and we have to separate them for 10-15 minutes to calm them down. We are not sure if it's boys being boys, or if they somehow feel like it's one BIG party when they get together. Casey jumps in and tries to keep up as much as she can but mostly at this age she prefers to play alone and alongside other kids.
Sunday was our best day. We started at the mall for playtime in the kids area. Jan and I went off shopping for an hour while Grandpa and Daddy were on kids duty. After our shopping we met up at Bass Pro Shop for a look at their fish aquarium. Inside this gigantic aquarium lives hundreds of fish. Big and little ones: muskee, bass, catfish, cigar fish etc. There are a few turtles too. At noon is feeding time and the store employee throws in minnows and worms and you can watch the big fish eat them. They also demonstrate using a fish pole and you watch him cast the lure into the water and reel it back in. Afterwards we headed to the Rainforest Cafe (Gavin has never been there).
Gavin had a blast listening and watching all the animals inside the Rainforest Cafe. We sat next to the gorillas and the elephants were nearby too. Every 22 minutes a thunderstorm turns on inside the restaurants. The animals come to life with their calls and thunder booms and lighting strikes. Gavin and Casey loved all of it but it took Jake a long while to warm up to it. Over the last few years he's had good and bad experiences at this restaurant. Sometimes he enjoys it so much (like at Griffin's B-Day party last year) and other times he'll scream and cry anytime he hears a noise. This time he sat by Grandpa who gave him extra courage and he did better. He did cover his ears alot but no crying (which was great).
The kids again took a long afternoon nap followed by more outside playtime. Grandpa and Daddy brought out the baseball equipment, football and frisbee. Two hours later and the kids were exhausted. We enjoyed a yummy dinner and dessert together at home and then our nice day together came to a screeching halt. Casey and Daddy were upstairs cleaning out a poo poo accident in her diapers and on her way back downstairs Casey missed the last step on the stairs and took a tumble onto the tile floor. This proceeded with a large cry and blood. Yep you guessed it, she re-injured her cut. We had just took her into the dr. office on Thursday to get the stitches removed and on Sunday night she bumped it again. She also bit down hard on her inside lip. Poor thing. We called our dr. -on-call and they advised us to take her into the ER to get her chin looked at again. It may need stitches depending on how deep the cut was reopened. So at 8pm Chris and I go to the ER. Luckily things were moving quicker and we were out the door by 9:45 and she didn't need the stitches. They cleaned her up and placed 4 Steri-Strips on it to keep the wound closed. Hopefully we can get through the next few weeks without hitting this spot. Casey just isn't having any luck lately. Actually on our way to the ER Chris and I were talking and realized that she took alot of falls on Sunday (more than usual and in spots or places that she doesn't usual fall down from). We wondered if her balance or equilibrium was off somehow. Who knows? We will be keeping close monitor on her hopefully it was just a bad clutzy day and nothing else. I have those every now and then.
Overall it was a fantastic visit. We said our goodbyes on Monday morning as Grandpa, Grandma and Gavin prepared for the long 11 hour drive to northern Wisconsin. I'll be posting more photos tomorrow (just waiting to get them from my Dad).
1 comment:
oh that sounds like so much fun. doesn't it make you want to move back to WI??? :) i wish my family were closer to us.
regarding casey... have you had her vision checked? that could be something too. i have a friend whose little one did similar things and it turned out to be a vision thing. also when i was little, just one of my eyes were not developed properly (this fixed itself with glasses and a patch) but that might be something?
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