Grandpa Jan's Visit, Part III -- Spring Fling

Grandpa Jan accompanied us to Braelinn Elementary's Spring Fling which served a two-fold purpose.  First, and foremost, it was another chance to spend some time with us, doing what we do.  Secondly, and hugely helpful to me, he helped supervise the kids throughout the evening.  Scott was one of only two teachers to sign up for the dunk booth.  While the kids and I would have, and could have spent the evening walking around together, it was wonderful to have an extra pair of hands and eyes to help.  We were able to divide and conquer, while Scott was otherwise engaged.  Grandpa Jan spent a lot of the evening with Elijah doing his two favorite things -- the inflatables and even more exciting -- dunking Daddy!  While Keira liked walking around, eating yummy things, and her most favorite activity was playing in the dirt.  In this first picture, behind Keira, you can see the Titanic inflatable that Grandpa Jan and Elijah went on at the beginning of the evening.  The inflatable was HUGE! 

Grandpa Jan's Visit, Part II -- Time with Grandpa

While I loved spending time with Dad after all these years, it was possibly even more special that the kids got to see him.  Elijah was extremely excited to see him, and even made him a sign to welcome him. 

As for Keira, she warmed up to him right away, which for a man is unprecedented.  Even more amazing, right after he walked in and hugged the rest of us, he knelt down, opened his arms and asked for a hug from Keira.  She RAN into his arms.  Seana and I were stunned speechless.  In retrospect, Dad and I decided that Skype may have helped.  Although, she'd never met him before, she'd talked to him on the phone and most importantly on Skype.  She knew his face and voice -- he wasn't a stranger to her.

Both kids loved spending time with Grandpa Jan.  Elijah so enjoyed his time, he didn't think he should attend school for the week. ;)  While he didn't convince us into a week vacation, he did get to spend time with Grandpa Jan after school and on the weekends.  One afternoon, he even had Grandpa Jan help him with his homework by listening to him read.

As for Keira, she had more hours with Grandpa Jan, but she had to share him with me.  :)  She loved playing catch with him, and would rope him into it most days.  She giggled through all the games with him -- she loved how expressive and goofy he is.

Grandpa Jan and Grandma Karen had the ingenious idea to send the kids' birthday presents ahead of Grandpa Jan so they could open them in front of him.  Keira got a kitty piano that both kids love and play with almost daily.  Elijah got Legos which are always a huge hit and get a big smile.

Grandpa Jan's Visit, Part I -- Time with Dad

Grandpa Jan came to visit at the beginning of May.  He stayed with us, and we had a wonderful visit.  It was especially exciting to see him since we hadn't seen him since Elijah was a few months old and Keira had never met him.  We had a lot of catching up to do!  It was also great for Seana and I to spend time with Dad in person after all these years.

As Tom and Diane commented after he left,  Dad was a courteous and easy guest.  He didn't want to be entertained or shuttled around to tourist attractions.  He just wanted to spend his time living our lives with us and spending time with us.  For Dad and I, that meant lots of time to talk.  I think we spent nearly eight hours each day sitting at the kitchen table talking, talking and more talking.  It was fabulous.  It was also great having him around day to day seeing how we live our lives.  He came to Tiny Tunes with Keira and I one day, to Elijah's school to eat lunch, to Elijah's soccer game, and then the Spring Fling (more on that later.)  But, mostly we spent our time around the house.  He got to see everything, even the mundane tasks like laundry.

Another exception to our around the house time was a few good meals out.  One night we went out to El Ranchero with Seana and Josh.

Then, one morning we met Seana and Josh at Mike and C's and ate brunch .  Per Grandma Karen's request, we got a great picture of Dad, Seana, me and the grandkids in front of the restaurant.  I'm glad she had the idea.  :)

Elijah's Birthday, Part VIII -- Elijah's Adult Party

Elijah was a little conflicted about his birthday celebration this year.  He loved and was super excited about his celebration at Monkey Joe's, but he wanted to include his family, too.  I explained to him that a lot of adults wouldn't enjoy themselves at Monkey Joe's.  We struck a balance, and decided to have a special adult party on Sunday, which we invited the families.  It was also special, since Dendi and Bapa had just returned from Italy and could attend and celebrate with us.  Elijah made them a special sign to welcome them home.

We served everyone Elijah's favorite "fancy meal", which consists of Sam's Club Chicken, Za Za rice, broccoli and Sister Shubert's rolls.  Then he opened presents.

Even more important than eating his favorite meal and opening presents was spending some quality time with his family.  He was especially excited to have some silly time with Uncle Brian blasting off rockets.

Elijah's Birthday, Part VII -- Making the Millennium Falcon

As the pictures from Outback documented, the Millennium Falcon was one of Elijah's favorite presents.  It took many hours and hard work to assemble on the part of Elijah, Daddy and Uncle Jason.  But, they did finish it before the end of his birthday weekend.

Elijah's Birthday, Part VI -- Monkey Joe's Party

We threw Elijah's Kid Birthday Party at Monkey Joe's on Saturday afternoon. He invited his whole class, and all told everyone had a great time. Keira was not a fan of the inflatables, as she didn't like the noise or the air on her face. She spent her time on the fire truck and the pony ride.

Elijah and Kieran also enjoyed the fire truck.

Like all the big kids, Elijah loved the inflatables, and scrambled around like a madman from one to the next.  While he spent lots of time jumping around, it's really hard to take good pictures of the fun on the inflatables, these are the best we took of him and his friends in action.

After the kids jumped their hearts out for an hour, we gathered in the party room for pizza, cake and presents.  We had a great turnout as you can see from this picture of the party table.

Elijah was tickled by the turnout and especially enjoyed hanging out with Kieran.  They talked, laughed and generally hung out with each other through the pizza and cake.

Speaking of cake, Auntie Andrea generously agreed to make Elijah's rocket cake.  Thanks Auntie Andrea -- it was awesome! 

Elijah and Keira both loved the cake.  Keira made a spectacle of herself in her admiration.  She was not a fan of the spork, so she decided to take things into her own hands (or lips!)  Emmi, and many others, thought she was hilarious.







Finally, no party is complete without presents, and Elijah definitely enjoyed opening his.  It was especially festive to open them seated on the big inflatable throne.



Elijah's Birthday, Part V -- Soccer

We started Elijah's insanely busy birthday weekend with our usual Saturday morning soccer game.

While her brother played, Keira entertained herself by picking flowers with Grammie which she presented to me and Daddy.



She also loved flying with Babo.