Over The River and Through the Woods.....

Last weekend we had to opportunity to drive down to Grandma's house. With both baseball and soccer seasons seeming to last forever, it's been a really long time since we made the journey to Temple. Too long in fact, and we could not have asked for a better time for Aidan's sports seasons to come to a close. You see last weekend was extra special, for Sunday was Grandma's birthday, and we were lucky enough to be able to spend it with her. Speaking of the end to Aidan's sports season, here is a picture of Aidan's new trophies. He certainly earned them.

We left for Temple on Friday evening about 7:30pm. Since we had planned on leaving about 6:30pm, I would say that we were right on schedule. Oh by the way, that would be "our usual schedule", and not "normal people schedule". While Aidan and Lori and Christopher made sure that the backs of their eyelids were not going anywhere, I was lucky enough to get behind a passenger bus that was obviously being driven by Keanu Reeves. By staying on that buses tail most of the way, we made fantastic time. We pulled into Grandma's driveway a few minutes before 10:00pm with everybody well rested......ummm....well....almost everybody....Grrrrrrr.

When we arrived, we were pleased to find that Grandma was still awake. We stayed up for a few minutes and visited, and finally got the kiddos off to bed about 10:30pm. Grandma went to bed right after that, and Lori and I made it about 1 more hour before we were also greeted by the Sandman.

We woke up bright and early on Saturday morning (as one does when there are 6 year olds and 15 month olds in the house), and started enjoying Grandma's hospitality. It's always great returning to the house that I grew up in. Although I have not lived full time in that house in over 20 years, it's still as comfortable as ever, and the familiarity is refreshing. Aidan and Christopher did not waste time hitting up the huge backyard. Each time we are down, a good majority of the day is spent in Grandma's huge backyard. Oh how we wish we had something like this to play in at our house. You could fit 5 of our backyards into 1 of Grandmas. Before Christopher headed outside, I was able to snap a picture of he an Grandma.

After getting outside, it did not take Aidan very long to figure out how to use the new POGO SWING.


It looked like a lot of fun, and you could see the gears churning inside Christopher's head, wondering how he was going to get his turn. In due time buddy, in due time. A brief game of soccer followed,


until Christopher decided that picking up the ball was much easier than kicking it with his little stubby legs. As I tried to explain to him the rules, he just turns and give me the "what Dad?" look.


Christopher finally decided to take a rest, and frolic in the leaves a bit. This gave me a great opportunity to capture a fantastic photo of him. Isn't he just the cutest little monkey you've ever seen?


Uncle Jim was able to stop by the house on Saturday morning before going in to work, and we all enjoyed his brief visit. Hopefully next time we will hit a weekend when he is off and will get a bit more time to visit. Saturday seemed to go by really fast. That tends to happen when you are having so much fun.....just ask Christopher. (Click on Movie)



Aidan and I both got a real kick out of taking Grandma's convertible for a spin, as we both sported huge grins on our face the entire ride. After we got home, we had a great home cooked meal, and finally got a very tired Christopher to bed about 7:30pm on Saturday night. The rest of us sat down and watched NATIONAL TREASURE TWO: BOOK OF SECRETS. It's one of those turn your brain off at the door and enjoy the ride movies, and we were all entertained.

Sunday morning we woke early and wished Grandma a very happy birthday. She prepared a wonderful lunch for us, and Lori made a beautiful flower arrangement.


After a great lunch, we saved room for the birthday cupcakes that Lori made. Here is a picture of Grandma blowing out the candles. (Please take special notice of out oldest goofy monkey in the background)


We all had a really good time on a very short visit. Like always, the time went by too quickly. We loaded up the CX-9 about 2:00pm, said our goodbyes, and got back home about 4:45pm. Like a said, a very brief visit.

I want to thank Grandma for her wonderful hospitality, and again.....HAPPY BIRTHDAY and I love you.


William