Things have been a bit hectic around here since school got out (needless to say). Why is it that changes routines is such a big exhausting change?! Well its not an excuse, but it is the reason why we are behind in our blogs so .... back up 2 weeks ago. My mom (Bunny) came to visit.
She drove into town from their cabin in Michigan, hitching a ride with my Aunt Lynn (her sister) as my cousin Dan (Lynn's son) lives in St Paul and just got tenure at the U of M (way to go Dan!!!Yippeee!!!) Lynn wanted to come into town to help Dan celebrate and we jumped at the chance to see my mom.
She got here"just in time" for Kay's 1st grade, end of the year picnic AND the last day of school. Lucky her. I think this might be the last time she visits on that particular weekend:) The picnic was mass chaos of over stimulated and sugared 7 year olds (and a fair number of their equally over stimulated and sugared younger non-school age siblings). Screaming, giggles, chasing, etc all culminated with Kay and 4 of her friends locking themself in our car. Finally cooler heads prevailed (Mrs VanBatavia - Kay's teacher) and everyone was rounded up and hustled inside to clean their desks. That's a whole other story. Kay is a pack rat to begin with, can you imagine what came home after a full year?! Yuck.
We also got to spend a lot of time with my Mom's side of the family - dinner/family playdate with Lynn, Dan, Sara, Lola (8) and Astrid (5). Good good girl fun. They locked themselves in Kay's room (notice a trend here) and proceded to play with tape, paper, scissors, glue, sparklers, sissors and stickers until we called a time out. Clean up from this adventure was equal to the task of Kays desk. Yuck.
My mom's cousin also organized a cousins family reunion (all my mom's cousins live in the MPLS/St Paul area). They have a gorgeous house in Bloomington and while my kids were the only kids in attendance, they managed to entertain themselves with yard games (and lots of candy & sugared soda - again another theme. I wonder if any of this is why we are having a hard time adjusting to our summer schedule...huh... something to think about....).
We also headed down to the Minneapolis Marathon to see our good friend Annemeik finish her 1st marathon EVER! I love the end of marathons, they are so inspiring. You just have to cheer all those folks on and I always get a little teary (wonder what's up with that...).
My mom was a great help; watching the kids, making salads for the family reunion, reading with Kay, letting Jimmy talk "at her" about football ad nauseum, etc. You know, typical grandma stuff. While we missed having my dad here too, it was fun to just hang with grandma.
Maybe we can make it an annual event?
Dad, when are you coming for your annual grandpa visit?
She drove into town from their cabin in Michigan, hitching a ride with my Aunt Lynn (her sister) as my cousin Dan (Lynn's son) lives in St Paul and just got tenure at the U of M (way to go Dan!!!Yippeee!!!) Lynn wanted to come into town to help Dan celebrate and we jumped at the chance to see my mom.
She got here"just in time" for Kay's 1st grade, end of the year picnic AND the last day of school. Lucky her. I think this might be the last time she visits on that particular weekend:) The picnic was mass chaos of over stimulated and sugared 7 year olds (and a fair number of their equally over stimulated and sugared younger non-school age siblings). Screaming, giggles, chasing, etc all culminated with Kay and 4 of her friends locking themself in our car. Finally cooler heads prevailed (Mrs VanBatavia - Kay's teacher) and everyone was rounded up and hustled inside to clean their desks. That's a whole other story. Kay is a pack rat to begin with, can you imagine what came home after a full year?! Yuck.
We also got to spend a lot of time with my Mom's side of the family - dinner/family playdate with Lynn, Dan, Sara, Lola (8) and Astrid (5). Good good girl fun. They locked themselves in Kay's room (notice a trend here) and proceded to play with tape, paper, scissors, glue, sparklers, sissors and stickers until we called a time out. Clean up from this adventure was equal to the task of Kays desk. Yuck.My mom's cousin also organized a cousins family reunion (all my mom's cousins live in the MPLS/St Paul area). They have a gorgeous house in Bloomington and while my kids were the only kids in attendance, they managed to entertain themselves with yard games (and lots of candy & sugared soda - again another theme. I wonder if any of this is why we are having a hard time adjusting to our summer schedule...huh... something to think about....).
We also headed down to the Minneapolis Marathon to see our good friend Annemeik finish her 1st marathon EVER! I love the end of marathons, they are so inspiring. You just have to cheer all those folks on and I always get a little teary (wonder what's up with that...).
My mom was a great help; watching the kids, making salads for the family reunion, reading with Kay, letting Jimmy talk "at her" about football ad nauseum, etc. You know, typical grandma stuff. While we missed having my dad here too, it was fun to just hang with grandma.
Maybe we can make it an annual event?
Dad, when are you coming for your annual grandpa visit?
