Grandma and Grandpa visit :o)

The kids had been counting down the days until we picked up grandma and grandpa last Wed. evening. They were very excited, so much so, that they woke up very early the first few mornings wanting to hang out with them. We made them wait until 6:45 to visit their room. Of course, grandma brought lots of fun things in her suitcase and they really enjoyed unpacking.

Thursday we dropped Reggie at school and took grandma and grandpa to Ainsley’s gymnastics class. It was a beautiful morning, so we decided to make a stop at Shadow Cliff’s Regional Park. It just happened to be the day they were stocking the lake with fish, so we got to watch them pour 500 pounds (1000 fish) into the lake. Then we walked the trail and learned we could spend the whole day exploring the area. We decided to head home for lunch instead! Grandpa was busy blowing and mowing in the yard, so Ryan had a nice surprise when he got home. That night, we visited our favorite frozen yogurt shop, Menchies :o).

Friday was really busy, Reggie and Ainsley had their classroom Halloween parties, so we divided and conquered. As always, Halloween is so much fun at Reggie’s school and I think this might be his favorite day of the year. They do a parade, assembly and then have a class party. We learned a lesson a few weeks ago at a playdate about eating too much sugar, so Reggie did a good job of limiting his sweets. My mom went to Ainsley’s party and had a good time visiting with 4 year olds. That night everyone (except me and Ainsley) went to Reggie’s cubscout meeting where they had trunk or treating afterward. Sounded like it was quite the event….people had lights/music decorating their cars!

Ironman Reggie:

Saturday, we finally got some rain. We headed for Six Flags anyway, packing our umbrellas :o). Mom and Dad had never been and really wanted to go and since it is only open on the weekend, we didn’t have much of a choice but to brave the weather. The closer we got, the darker it got and it was raining pretty good when we got there. We picnicked in the car and then packed everything in the stroller to go. We got a nice Halloween scare on one of the umbrellas…..a nice large black widow!!! Mom had never seen one, so it was a good learning experience and reminder about how much they like the garage. The weather worked to our advantage because “fright fest” is a big deal at Six Flags and it was the quietest we’ve ever seen it. We were able to see almost all the shows and have front row seats! We did get poured on a few times, but managed to get through the day pretty dry. From there, we went straight to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner and the kids ate free since they were wearing costumes :o).

Grandpa playing take-out in the deflated bounce-house:

Sunday we headed for church and then Costco. My parents just light up when you mention Costco. We were there for an hour, sampling and looking at all the fun things. We did haircuts that afternoon and then headed out for trick-or-treating! It was the first time we were home and decided to go through our neighborhood, partly because Reggie’s kindergarten teacher asked if we were coming by. We hit the jackpot….our neighborhood was great!!! There was even a house that had a slow-cooker handing out ribs and pulled pork sandwiches for parents! You can bet Ryan and my dad were all over that :o).

It was a bit of a late night but Reggie didn’t have school, so we just relaxed on Monday. Grandma had never been on the trail, so we took her for a walk and looked for prairie dogs and showed her where we play pooh sticks. The water has been running all summer and since it just rained, there was a big current once we cleared the debris away.

Tuesday was pretty mellow…Ainsley had dance in the morning and then we did a little shopping at the thrift stores, worked in the yard a bit and went out to dinner at Uncle Yu’s (the best Chinese in Livermore!) and then Reggie had basketball practice. I guess that wasn’t really a mellow day after all.

Mom and Dad helped me get the house back in order Wed. morning since we had a break from both of the kids. After we picked up Ainsley, we went out for bagels and then to Target to get Ainsley a toy for being such a good helper in the yard. She decided she wanted shoes instead, so grandma got her the most sparkly red shoes :o). Then we picked up Reggie from school and headed to the airport. The week flew by and we had lots of fun. We will miss grandma and grandpa!