Summer Days with G&G

During late July and early August, Grandpa and Grandma came out to Texas for a visit. We loved having them with us during the summertime, as everyone was off school and available for much more playtime. We spent a lot of evenings playing outside.

We enjoyed quite a bit of game playing and music playing indoors too.

Our family hosted the larger Schleicher family for dinner and a game night one evening. It's always so fun to see the cousins playing together. They all act more like siblings than cousins! We of course love the adult game-time after the kids are all put to bed too.

One afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa treated our kids and Matt and Kim's kids to Toy Story 4 in the theater. They were all thrilled!! I was amazed that Adley actually sat for the whole movie. She moved around to different laps, but she did it! ;) That's a sign of a good movie! We all thought the movie was well done.

Our other big adventure during their visit was taking a day trip down to Galveston. Grandpa and Grandma had never before been to the Galveston beach, so we figured it was about time. We started off with a ride on the ferry. As always, we kept our eyes peeled for dolphins and did actually see a handful of them.

Then we spent a few hours at the beach. The cousins did a little of everything-- sand castle building, playing in the water, flying kites, feeding seagulls, throwing footballs and Frisbees, jumping over waves, pushing around cars and trucks, digging in the sand, and just plain enjoying being in God's creation. We had a warm but beautiful day!

To cap off our Galveston experience, we enjoyed some ice cream at La King's Confectionery before heading back home. The kiddos were all smiles to get their ice cream treats! It was a wonderful all-around day.

Thanks for visiting us, Grandma and Grandpa. We always love our time with you!

Adley Day

Adley was so pleased to have Grammy and Papa all to herself for a day this summer as well. She seemed so proud to drive off with them, leaving Mommy and the boys behind, waving in the driveway to her, for a change. 

Grammy and Papa let Adley take the reins, choosing what activities she wanted to do all morning. They said she wanted to spend a LONG time outside, even though the day was a warm one.

I was impressed with Adley's digging skills which Grammy caught on video! 

This second video was one that Adley wanted to watch over and over and over again after she first saw it. She thought it was hilarious how she fell into the sand castle!

Grammy and Papa kept Adley nice and hydrated on this hot day.

She played for a long time at the school playground as well.

Back at Grammy and Papa's house, Adley filled her snack bag with all kinds of tasty favorites. She was so proud to show us this bag at home and describe all of its contents.

Papa let Adley do some watering outside. She LOVES helping with tasks like this.

Later, Grammy read some stories to Adley and then showed her pictures of Mommy when I was young. Adley was very interested in checking out "Baby Mommy"!

What's the verdict? Do you think "Baby Mommy" (the shorter one) bears any resemblance to Adley?

Grammy also said that Adley played for a good stretch of time with the Little People sets upstairs. Grammy and Papa have so many great toys!

Adley closed out her Adley Day with a video, lunch, and naptime.

This girl was all smiles when she came home. I'm pretty sure Adley felt quite grown up to spend all that time away from home. She definitely felt very loved. Thanks again, Papa and Grammy!

Jaden Day

Jaden, too, had a wonderful time with Grammy and Papa for his "Jaden Day" this summer. Here are his comments about the day:

I'm with Grammy and Papa in the beginning.

I was digging a hole, and I actually reached the rocks at the bottom.

That's our sandcastle. There's a flower on top and four rocks around it. There's also a moat. I made a wall around the moat.

There's my deep hole. I slid into it. I also drew a home plate and slid into it.

I think I hit a pop up.

This is my home run.

(Jaden also tried to catch the SkyRipperz rockets that Papa launched into the air. If you listen closely in the video, you can hear the rockets whistle. At some point, Jaden made a successful catch. What a fun toy!)

I'm doing my snack. There's me with my big bundle of snack.

I'm floating. I think I floated for 400 seconds.

It looks like it's raining on me.

I'm watching America's Got Talent.

I'm starting to make my first octopus.

That's my finished octopus.

This is the game of Aggravation with Papa.

Now I'm making my shark.

What a special time for Jaden! Thanks, Grammy and Papa, for spoiling him that day!