Grand Visitors

Well before we have our next round of visitors, I better bite the bullet and post about our last ones, eh? We don't get much visitation round these here parts! So when Darren's parents came a few months ago, we hit it hard and had the greatest time. Choosing from among the hundreds of pictures was daunting, but the delay is no reflection on how great the visit was. :)

The kids were sooooooo excited! It had been more than 2 years since they'd seen their grandparents and with it being postponed from Christmas for a broken foot, man, the anticipation was a thrill.

After a few flight delays, Summer was really ramped up to see these mysterious "grandparents" we kept talking about. She was only 6 months when we moved here and of course Des was just a twinkle in our eyes, so it was fun to share the day with them before the big kids took over after school.

And took over they did! I wish I could've captured the exultant joy as they jumped up into their arms in the school parking lot (was nursing in the car - bad angle) but their faces still say it all.

Will and Kenna proudly took them on a tour and then we watched the end of Annie's netball practice. The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up, cuddling, unpacking all sorts of goodies, and getting acquainted again.

(That is, after a crazy impromptu four wheel driving adventure out in the bush where Papa almost jumped out of the car to walk home. The "adventure" was a little too intense to be fun, which wasn't exactly the reaction Darren was going for. But they ended up laughing about it in the end. Admittedly, it wasn't an easy track and the risks of the 9 of us being stranded without mobile coverage definitely outweighed the benefits so... lesson learned.)

traditional chocolate fountain welcome

The next few days I toted them around the Canberra sights - National Botanical Gardens, National Mint, Old & New Parliament Houses, U.S. Embassy, National Museum, Questacon, Telstra Tower (Summer still shouts "There's our tower with Papa & Grama!" every time we pass - which is a lot), and even hit up Kenna's regional race at the famous Australian Institute of Sport, which was awesome.

 They were such good sports, even doing Free Fall! I tell ya, I ran 'em hard. Also visited National War Memorial, National Gallery and COSTCO! And even got to glimpse the neighborhood roos.

 Nights were spent like this:

and this:

 and THIS:


Grandma Raynie was the BEST newcomer at Tim Tam Slams - she couldn't quite get the corner bites just right and it wouldn't suck up through the cookie. We were laughing so hard. Good times.

Man, we've missed family. It was so heart warming to just hang out again, talking late into the night, with Grandma telling bedtime stories and Papa giving blessings and generally basking in the love that only grandparents can smother their grandchildren with.

 Papa and Will taught us FHE, complete with a PowerPoint presentation.

 Pretty much, this girl will never be the same. She just crawled right under their skin and made herself comfortable. It was so sweet to watch. Very hard to say goodbye to these guys. :(