Grandpa and Grandma's Visit

I am not sure if there are any other events in this family that are anticipated more highly than Grandpa and Grandma's visits.  If I were not so excited myself, I would get highly irritated at the constant "What time will they be here?" questions.

 We had a wonderful time with them, and, as usual, the time went WAY to fast.  Although we took pictures to capture a few of the highlights of things we did, the things we did not capture on film were just as sweet:  showing them our house and church, introducing them to our church family, and just having a chance to visit while enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee.

Here are a few photos of the highlights:

1.  Friday afternoon we spent some time at Eagle Island State Park prior to Caleb's District XC meet which took place there later in the afternoon.

2.  The first Saturday after they arrived we went to the Snake River in Melba.  The kids had wanted to come back to the place where Caleb had his XC meet a few weeks ago to walk across the bridge and hike the hills/trails on the other side.  So, we packed some snacks and spent a few hours at the river.

Watching this spider walk on water was a great demonstration of something we talked about in science--water cohesion.

Watching the fisherman

A new friend

A cute couple

A cute family

The view from a large hill/cliff on the other side of the bridge.  This is as far as I hiked, but the rest of the family continued to climb.

What did Grandpa and Grandma do while we hiked?  Sat by the Snake River and relaxed!

A cute boy

3.  Monday night after Nicolas returned from orchestra practice around 6:45, we went to The Village and ate street tacos for supper and watched the fountain show.  It was a little chilly, but the heaters spaced around the tables and chairs were cozy.

4.  During the week sometime, Mom and I made a trip to Hancock's  to pick out fabric to recover the dining room chairs.  Dad and mom did a great job of stapling.  I just lent moral support...and washed and polished the wood on the chairs.

5.   Thursday we showed them downtown Boise and the capital building.  We also walked the paths at Kathryn Albertson Park which is part of the Boise River greenbelt.   It was a beautiful afternoon and the colors at the park were gorgeous.  Dad, Russ and the kids returned to the downtown area later that afternoon when Nicolas had cello lessons and enjoyed the trails and playground at Camel's Back Park.

6.  Friday we made the trek to Stanley, ID and Redfish Lake to show them the beautiful Sawtooth Mountains.  We thought they were even more beautiful with all the snow on them.

We looked it up later and found that this was a Stellar's Jay, common in the evergreen forests of the mountainous West

On the way home we stopped and waded in the natural hotsprings on the Payette River.

7.  Just this past Saturday and Sunday we celebrated Christmas with Grandpa and Grandma--complete with a gingerbread house and a prime rib dinner.