visit from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Mike!

We had a lovely visit from Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Mike. They headed home on Wednesday, and I think the kids are recovering right about now. We ate well, had lots of conversation (shocking!), and drank some very good wine.
We went downtown to check out some memorials. Wesley and Grandma Sandy shared a little hug.

Grandpa showed Mary the Braille underneath the letters on the quote and she went hunting for every A.

Kids had a snuggle–I think this was solidarity over the fact that they were both hungry.

A little rest time:

On a different day, we visited a local historic mansion with a cool garden.

 

There was a cool playground for the kids (all three of them):

 

 

 

 

At a local aviation museum, Mike explained the rotary engine.

…and used the flight simulator.

 

We had a great time–especially the kids, who were a whirlwind of activity interspersed with complete collapse.

back to normal

…or as normal as it gets here. David, Nina, and the kids departed on Wednesday; Mary and Wesley are slowly coming back to their ordinary routine.

We had a lot of fun during this visit.

A little family history:

They ate all of the tomatoes in the “free produce” pile.

 

 

They played.

 

 

Then we took a little walk. Don’t they look pastoral?

Then we went out and ate crabs! The visiting contingent assured us that they didn’t mind eating them two days in a row.

The next day, we had a crab feast at our house!

Jack pulled Mary around in the wagon until she looked like this:

 

Wesley had a joyous afternoon with the John Deere ATV.

Mary imitated a garden fairy.

Molly swung.

On the last day, we went to see the airplanes:

Wesley was floored.

 

Doesn’t Mary look old these days?

We also had a lovely day at the beach, but there are no pics because I couldn’t figure out how to take a camera and not ruin it. It was great, though. We got there in the early afternoon, swam and played, went to lunch when a thunderstorm blew up, and then went back after the storm to swim and play some more. The kids loved it. Mary was fearless and learned how to jump when a wave came in, and even Wesley got brave enough to let us carry him out to get his feet wet and to play in the little pool that Jack dug near the shore.

It was a really nice visit. I can’t believe how big my niece and nephews are! We miss them.