Three Easy Days

That title may be misleading. Don't assume by "easy days" that we did nothing. We stay busy for at least a good part of the day. Their last three days here were no exception.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

We let the kids start stripping wallpaper in the guest bathroom for our next project.

I baked a Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake for Jackson. He fell crazy in love with Gooey Butter Cakes this trip. We tried them for the first time at City Museum in St. Louis. They were so delicious that we bought a bunch (they were individual size) to bring home from there. I knew I had the recipe so I made one when we had the party here the week before and I had read about other flavors so tried the chocolate while he was still here. The original flavor is still our favorite though.

Shelby and G'pa conducted several science experiments from the kit she got the day we went to the Museum of Science and Industry. For most of them, G'pa made improvements over the instructions in the book...that's just the kind of science guy he is!

We went to the mall to walk and look around. Shelby got shorts at Justice; we all got pretzels.

On the way home we stopped at WalMart to pick up a few things. While there, the hula hoops apparently needed testing. I can assure you that no shoppers were harmed during the testing of these products!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Even though it was hot that day, we went to the Morton Arboretum. It's a tradition, a favorite spot, and every summer there is an installation of large works of art usually made of natural materials. This year the project was Tree House Tales so we were excited to see them. To say we were underwhelmed...uh yeah.

Clubhouse

Cabin

Ship

Doghouses

Clubhouses. Sure. Tree Houses...hmmm  The kids have always had so much fun in the Children's Garden ever since it opened; they were very young then. The boys are just beginning to outgrow it, but still enjoy the climbing.

The overlook at the top of the maze.

Cooling waters.

The most beautiful beetles...you should have seen their colors!

Perhaps my favorite photo of Rich...EVER! He is one happy G'pa!

Now this could be called a Tree House!

Jenny came out to visit that evening and showed the kids a movie of their dogs playing in the yard.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Again, tradition holds that we have breakfast at Tasty Waffle on the final morning of their visit.

Since the temps had cooled a bit that morning, they wanted to play at their favorite park again before leaving.

Greg and Jenny came over to see the kids on this day of leaving which allowed us to get some group photos.

Because remembering this makes me giggle, I'm posting the Tebow pose again!

All too soon, it was time to leave for the airport. The kids love the moving walkways; I swear they can have fun anywhere, anytime, on any thing.

Another gourmet meal, courtesy of G'pa and G'ma...this one actually qualifies as gourmet for the boys though since they got Prairie Farms Chocolate Milk with it!

And then, it was time to board their flight; always bittersweet...the goodbyes coupled with the excitement of seeing their folks, Dexter, their stuff, their friends...

Lovin' Life ~~ Still Missin' Our Grands