Grand Times with Grandmomma!

We were so excited when grandmomma called us and asked us to buy her a one way plane ticket to come see us.  She flew in two days later!

The night she was supposed to fly in was stormy, with lots of lightening and thunder.  Daniel said, "No planes are going to be landing in this," but when we looked at the airport and the airline websites, they both said flights were on time.  With Grandmomma not having a phone, we headed to the airport to see what the status was.  After an hour of waiting, we found out that her flight was diverted to Birmingham and now due to land near midnight.  Potatoes and I had to go to sleep, but Daniel stayed up to greet his momma.

The next morning, Alexander got out of bed and saw his Grandmomma, who he had not seen for over a year.  Usually, he takes time to warm up to people....not this time!  He ran to her, hugged her big and exclaimed, "Grandmomma!  We were looking for you but your plane wasn't there!  We made you a room with a bed, and a couch, and a TV, and a fridge filled with snacks.  You can stay here FOREVER!"

I can't lie, y'all.  I cried.  We worked hard to make Grandmomma her own suite in our bonus room and wanted her to feel welcomed in our home.  The set up we provided could not compare to the warm reception of a nearly three year old who speaks his mind without holding back.  

We love you, Grandmomma, and are so happy to have you!

We have had tons of fun since Grandmomma came to town!  

On one of our first nights, we headed out to Buck's Fishbowl for bowling fun.

After bowling, we headed into the arcade for some games before heading to Mellow Mushroom for dinner (even though there is a restaurant at Buck's, we always take advantage of being near Mellow when in Destin).

Later, we met up with Serena and Lucy for some trampoline fun.  While Grandmomma didn't venture into the ball pit or off the high jump, we all enjoyed watching the kiddos, Daniel included, burn off some steam.

 Daniel was able to push Alexander back and forth as he hung on and swung from the rings.  He is getting stronger and stronger!

Then Potatoes laid in the ball pit while Daniel swung over him.  The look of awe and joy on his face was priceless.

While not a great picture, I have been so impressed by Alexander's recent skills in following plans as well as creative building.  He pulled out his magnatiles recently, and found the pieces according to the legend, working hard to build the structures as described in the instructions.  He also built elaborate original structures.

On Saturday, we headed to the Tech Toy Preview day at the Science Center.

Grandmomma and Potatoes were ready to explore!

One of the coolest things was a room sized interactive board, where Potatoes was able to sort, match, and play.  His favorite was the dinosaur memory game.

The tech toys included racing cars through a tablet...

...and building robots

We also thoroughly enjoyed the regular exhibits of the science center

Did I mention Jan came back in town!?  We are working hard to convince ehr to stay year round and abandon her summers in Michigan....I don't think we have been successful yet, but we sure love having her!!!

We are soaring high being surrounded by our family!!!

Fall Fair

We had a great time at the Pensacola Fair!

The weather was absolutely perfect.  We showed up at opening the day before the fair closed and walked into a nearly empty fairgrounds.

It was game day, so we were all in our red and black and early enough to make it home in time for the game.

Oh yes, we shared a funnel cake!

The Pensacola model train club was present, and Potatoes loved seeing the trains!

They even had a dino train portion

They also had a petting zoo.  I am still on the fence about these types of things, as I always walk away worrying about the quality of lives the animals live, but at the same time, I want Alexander to see how he is a small part of a very big, very cool world.  It is so special to see him experience animals out of the pages of books and into real life.

This potato sack slide was super fast!  We had a great race, but ultimately, Potatoes and Daddy could not beat me!

It was an amazing day filled with memories!

Mayhem:

Things Potatoes Says

I wish I wrote down everything that comes out of his mouth, because this kid cracks me up!  I knew I had to record the musings of the backseat on our way back from the fair....

Daniel: "Hey buddy, you should take a little nap so we can play when we get home."

Potatoes: "I already did."

Me: "That's not true, buddy. Don't say things that aren't true."

Potatoes: "It is true- I took one last morning.  Don't say it's not true.  You ruined my plan.....(pause)...

Now we have to fight."

For Halloween costumes, we were planning our dino duds and asked Potatoes what Jan should dress as-  "Jan can be a old and naked dinosaur."

"When I was in your tummy, I said, 'Let me out!  I need to play with Daddy!'"

Happy Halloween 2018

With our whole family obsession with dinosaurs, and the only movie we really watch from start to finish and all enjoy being Jurassic World, our Halloween costumes were easy.

Zoey got off the hook from wearing a costume this year!

I tried to find a dinosaur costume, but the options were pitiful.  Luckily, the day before Halloween, Jan and I went to Goodwill and scored big with a perfect Claire ensemble.  I even cut four inches off my hair and blunt cut my bangs, then used a red foam hair dye to fit the part.  Potatoes found it convincing.  He called my Claire and Daniel Daddysaurus the whole time we were trick-or-treating.

He had a great time.  We met up with a few of our neighbors and their kids.  One of our neighbors is a little girl named Addie who was born exactly two days after Alexander.  They had a wonderful time racing to the door to see who would knock first.  Then they would yell "trick or treat!" at the top of their lungs, usually at the closed door.

Potatoes loved trying to guess which houses would open the doors by who had lights on.

The T-Rex costume was too small for Daniel, so his face was well above the little window.  He spent the evening in darkness, but was a trooper, walking the entire neighborhood and helping Potatoes score a bag full of candy.  He has no idea that most kids eat so much candy they get sick.  He has gotten one or two pieces a day and been absolutely thrilled over it.

We might have to be Marvel characters next year....

While we were out, Jan stayed and passed out candy.  All in all it was a fabulous Halloween!

Luckily, Alyssa at As You Like It Aveda Salon was able to fit me in the following evening to repair my self inflicted cut.