We had been wanting to make the trip to visit our friends from college Dave, Helen, and their girls, Ava & Sophia. We were finally ready to do a longer car trip with the kids, so we squeezed it into one of our remaining summer weekends! The timing worked to catch up with John, Kelley, and their daughter, Addie, too. Bonus! Plus, turns out another college buddy, Liam, lives just 30min away, so he drove over one afternoon with one of his kiddos. And...another college friend, Pat [congrats on your "thing" (a.k.a. wedding)] was in town for work and also came over one evening. It was practically a reunion!
*Jack and Malynn got to watch their first Disney movies on the drive down and back home. The inaugural viewing was of The Lion King. Two moments were especially dear: 1) As the movie started, Jack got a big smile and said, "Animals TALKIN'!" and 2) [caution: spoiler alert] When Mufasa was falling into the stampede below, Malynn said, "Oh no, far away." and a moment later it was followed with, "You come back now." (Moments like that in movies always bring a tear to my eye, but Malynn's commentary left me defenseless, triggering a chin quiver, runny nose, and stream of tears. Good grief!) On the way home Nemo became Disney movie #2.
One of the very first things we did was to head upstairs to Ava & Sophia's amazing playroom and find this...
...bunny suit! Malynn fell ridiculously in love with it. She must have put it on at least five different times while we were there, and she would wear it until we had to encourage her to take it off because we didn't want her to overheat! When she wasn't wearing it she would let us know she was thinking about it by saying, "Where the bunny go?"
Check out this precious bundle! Jack was happy to show Addie how all the animals fit into the barn. I love it when Malynn and Jack are playing with our friends' kids...I love it every time.
I wanted to capture a little of the kid action with a video. I thought it was inappropriate to keep filming when sweet little Sophia got hurt, so it's just a glimpse.
Ava wasn't home from school yet (1st grade this year!), and if you think you didn't see Malynn then watch again and look carefully!
When Ava got home we all learned that first grade is awesome because you get two recesses and the coolest thing she's learned about so far this year is the gorgonopsia (a prehistoric creature). Ava thoroughly enjoys imitating the creature, and apparently it was pretty terrifying beast!
One thing you can count on if you visit Dave & Helen is being fed well!
Here we are with amazing ribs that were fall-off-the-bone tender and you'll-eat-two-more-than-you-should yummy! Everything was cooked with bunches of fresh herbs from their garden, and the picking, chopping, and preparing with herbs shows extra love -thanks! I thought it was pretty amazing that we were ALL eating together at the table at once, so I had to snap a quick picture...even though Sophia isn't sure why I'm interrupting her meal, Jack can't be bothered when there's pesto pasta on the plate, and Kelley is trying to get Addie to smile, I'm still glad I caught the moment.
Sleep didn't go so well our first night there. The kids had trouble falling asleep, were restless, woke up crying multiple times, and in the middle of the night Malynn had one of her "I'm totally awake and will be for the next couple hours" episodes. I ended up downstairs on another air mattress with her to try to let Jack and Daddy get sleep for the rest of the night. We got through it, but knew that we'd have to try something different for the next night. I was convinced at this point that the pack-n-plays were simply too small and not allowing them to get comfortable. To be continued...
That morning the air mattress downstairs made for an irresistible play surface!
...which Sophia tolerated, but it elicited belly laughs and chants of "more, more" every time from Malynn and Jack.
That day we made the trip to the water park -oh, I mean pool- that Dave and Helen belong to. It was huge and had an amazing water slide!
*Malynn and Jack both did the water slide, which was another first. Jack wasn't a fan of the loud rushing water at the top, but still enjoyed a handful of rides on the slide with Daddy. Malynn loved everything about it: the steep climb, being up high, the rushing water, the twists and turns, and the big splash finale. She even got brave enough to put her arms in the air on the way down after the first few trips!
...then it was time to head home for nap time. Dave and Helen let us use their toddler air mattresses.
*So, Jack and Malynn had their first independent sleeping experience in a non-walled bed! They were pretty excited about it, but thankfully they were also totally wiped out from the pool. I was smart enough to stay outside the door after we put them down and consequently was privy to Jack saying, "No, May-may, no." and Malynn responding with, "It's okay Jackie. Mommy went away -like downstairs." (!!!) Of course, to her chagrin, I appeared, resettled them, and waited until they fell asleep (which took about 3.25 minutes).
That afternoon we just took it easy. There was swinging to be done, yummy food to be eaten, and bunny suits to be worn.
A few other precious shots:
Malynn was feeling a little sensitive, as evidenced by this moment:
But Jack was feeling good and we got a whole series of amazing Jack pictures:
That night the kids fell asleep easy again and the mommies and daddies got some adult time. Wine, Olympics, and good friends -that's pretty fantastic evening!
That night we only had one little fuss from Malynn because she had rolled off the mattress!
In the morning Jack was the first one awake, and Mike and I heard:
"Wake up Mayin."
"I no milk cup. No, Daddy come get it."
"I water cup." "I no water cup."
"No Jackie. Stay in bed for nap-naps." (Good job Malynn. I'm so proud of you for listening to Mommy and Daddy and respecting us.)
One final memory from the drive home was when Malynn was playing with one of the old phones we had brought as a car toy and she said, "I'm texting on there," and was holding the phone appropriately for texting. Soon enough, my dear, soon enough.
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