Every time we have family visit, we try to brainstorm a variety of places to go. It's a great excuse to explore town a bit, and Jaden and Cody always LOVE going on outings, so it works!
Our first outing-- shopping at Costco-- wasn't all that exciting, in and of itself. Papa, however, made the trip a real adventure! As soon as we put the boys in the cart outside, Papa started careening the cart around like crazy in the parking lot. Jaden and Cody were having a blast! Papa continued the fast, twisty cart ride inside the store, too. Jaden and Cody could hardly stop laughing!
When it came time to purchase a watermelon, Papa tested out TONS of watermelons. He tried to teach Jaden and Cody a bit about his "thumping and feeling the resonating" method of picking quality watermelons. All of Papa's efforts paid off-- the watermelon he chose was SO sweet & delicious!
The funniest part about our Costco trip is that the boys have now permanently associated Papa with Costco. Each time we've been there since Grammy & Papa's visit, the boys say "Papa, Papa!" as soon as they get in the cart. Then, when we see the watermelon display, Cody and Jaden ask for their Papa again, even more emphatically! Thanks for making Costco such a fun place to visit, Papa! :)
Another day, we visited Lake Elmo, a nearby State Park. It was a hot afternoon, so it seemed perfect for getting in the water.
We found a good table to park our stuff next to and gave the boys time to play in the sand.
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| Mommy and Jaden |
They scratched the sand a bit with a few of their tools, but mainly Jaden and Cody were pretty content just to look out on the water.
Then, it came time to visit the water.
Not surprisingly (based on their water-aversion habits so far this summer), neither boy wanted to get into the water AT ALL. As long as we were holding them, though, Cody and Jaden were both happy enough.
Instead, we adults soaked our feet in the water so that we could cool off a bit.
Thankfully, Lake Elmo also has a playground, so the trip wasn't a total dud for the boys.
This part of the outing, of course, they loved!
My personal favorite outing was to our local Audubon Conservation Center. This visit was actually an scheduled outing with my Mothers of Multiples group. Our family had never before visited this nature center, so I wasn't sure whether or not it'd be age-appropriate for Jaden and Cody. With Grammy and Papa's help, though, I figured it was a great time to try! Our visit started out with the director showing us some of the animals in the aquariums. She even feed a few of them (the turtles, I think) so we could see them moving around.
After this brief orientation, we headed out to try out the canoes!
Cody did NOT want to put on the life jacket (again, not a huge surprise), but Papa apparently had the magic touch with Jaden.
Once we got to the small lake/pond, Cody REALLY did not want to get close to the water or even in the boat. Jaden, however, was ready and willing to go!
This is when it worked perfectly to have 3 adults for the 2 kiddos. Papa and I were able to paddle the canoe together and keep an eye on Jaden.
Grammy willingly stayed back with Cody, who was perfectly content again once he had his life jacket off and was seated on this bench. Of course, it helped to have Grammy's loving companionship, too! :)
Grammy said that Cody was very content-- cuddling with her, looking out at the lake,
watching the ducks,
and even getting a little nearer to the water's edge to wave at us when our canoe paddled by.
Meanwhile, Papa, Jaden, and I were on a mission to find some turtles or other new wildlife. The director said the area was usually teeming with turtles. She even gave us nets that we could use to catch the turtles.
We looked in all kinds of nooks and crannies around the pond, and Jaden would even say "tur-tah" from time to time, but alas, we never saw a turtle. The director said later that the weather was a bit too cool and cloudy for them.
There were two especially great things about our canoe adventure, even though we didn't find any turtles. First of all, Jaden was a superstar out on the boat! We had no kind of seat belt or restraint at all for him, which made me a tad nervous (especially since my back was to him the whole time!). The little guy never moved from his spot, however. He'd point at the ducks, wave happily at Cody, and talk about a few of the plants with us, but he was never even close to falling in. We probably paddled for at least 20 minutes. Jaden eventually said "all done" when he was ready to get off the canoe. He obviously loved it! I was very proud of him for his first boating experience.
The second great thing about this canoeing trip was learning something new about my dad. Turns out he's quite the talented rowing guy! Apparently, he went on float trips all the time during his summers as a youth and became quite experienced with rowing. He was SO great at paddling, slowing down the boat, and steering us exactly where Jaden wanted to go. What a perfect person to have with us out on the water!
Once we got back to shore, Grammy entertained Jaden and Cody while Papa and I took care of the equipment.
Our next activity was to use nets to catch some water bugs.
After Papa scooped up some of the water, he dumped it into this container. The director said we'd be looking for "macro-invertebrates," specifically dragonfly larvae.
Right away, Jaden spotted all the little creatures swimming around in the bin.
Later, the director pointed out to us some dragonfly exoskeletons on the reeds near the pond. Once she told us about them, we started noticing them everywhere!
By this point, Cody and Jaden were getting a little restless and went off to find some adventures of their own. :)
We ended the trip with some playtime (with hula hoops & balls) in a large grassy field. All of the twins visiting were 4-years-old or under, so this was perfect. Jaden and Cody enjoyed making a few new friends, too. These two-and-a-half year old twins were the ones closest in age to the boys. What a great outing!
Towards the end of our time together, Grammy and Papa treated us to some ice cream at McDonalds. We were planning to head to a park, but the weather was a bit hot, so we decided that ice cream and air-conditioning sounded a lot better!
Cody and Jaden definitely remembered the play place from our last visit, because they hardly wanted to eat the ice cream at all! Who could blame them? It was a pretty cool play place... everything is built to resemble a musical instrument, and the structures make music whenever you step on or slide down them.
Best of all, we had the place to ourselves nearly the whole time!
Papa seemed to enjoy his time, too. He discovered a little virtual baseball game in the corner. :)
I love this picture of Cody with his guitar shirt, climbing on the guitar, and Papa, very focused on his video game, in the background.
At the end, the boys had a few more bites of their (now very soupy) ice cream. Thanks for the fun treat, Grammy and Papa!
Then finally came the day we were waiting for... Daddy's return home!! The whole family went along to greet Daddy and the rest of the Manitoba crew as their bus pulled in.
Thankfully, Daddy was one of the first ones off the bus. This year, Jaden and Cody ran right to him!
Welcome home, Daddy!
Once all the people started getting off the bus and unloading everything, the busy-ness seemed a bit overwhelming for Cody and Jaden. They were happy to safely stand by Grammy the whole time!
Once Daddy was back home, Grammy had an idea for one final outing-- pedicures for the ladies! We actually made appointments at a local cosmetology school where my friend Maggie is nearly graduated. Maggie is a great conversationalist, a positive personality, and a talented artist (she had recently painted small giraffes on her own nails!). It was SO fun to get a pedicure from her.
The picture of Mom and me together with our pedicurists didn't turn out so well, unfortunately. The lady taking the picture seemed to be a bit clueless about cameras.... But we still had a great time! The pedicure was so relaxing, especially after the long haul taking care of the boys this past month. Thanks for the idea and the kind gift, Mom!!
It was a joy to have you visit, Grammy and Papa! We loved our conversation, the playtime, the chance to accomplish several projects, and watching you interact so well with Jaden and Cody. You are wonderful parents and grandparents! Thank you so much for visiting. We love you!
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