Nana and Tickle Grandpa come to California

Do these look like the faces of happy people?!  They sure do!  My parents made the trip out to California to visit us and we all had a wonderful time!  The boys loved having their grandparents around to play with and talk to and to say that my parents loved interacting with the boys would be a gross understatement.

We started the week with a visit to the farmer's market and then a trip  to Aunt Kappy and Uncle Sam's house for some swimming and family time.  The boys LOVE to swim and it was extra fun having Chris there to play.  Both boys practiced jumping into the pool and were enamored with the fact that Chris and I could dive into the water.  They also like riding on our backs while Chris and I raced from one side of the pool to the other (don't let this picture fool you, I won every time!)

Monday we spent the morning at the park and played in the backyard in the afternoon.  Brody spent most of the time playing baseball.  He was very fair and insisted on letting everyone hit even though we all just wanted to pitch the ball to him.  Brady spent most of his time playing "three little pigs".  He loved building a house of our gym mats and then blowing it down.  Nana and grandpa rotated between the two games to keep everyone happy.

Tuesday we attended a free kids concert that featured a performance by the teacher of our Mommy and Me Spanish class.  There were lots of kids activities available and it was a fun way to spend the morning.  In the afternoon, we went swimming again!

Wednesday we set out for a big adventure and headed down the coast to Monterey.  We started at Denise the Menace park.  This park has several different play areas and the boys loved exploring everything it had to offer.  (Side note: There is a huge suspension bridge in the park that Brady was scared to run over.  Brody grabbed his hand and told him "I help you D" and off they went.  I melted right there in my shoes).  After burning off some serious energy, we refueled with a quick lunch, and then jumped in the car to do the Scenic 17 mile drive between Monterey and Carmel.  The drive was beautiful (as advertised) and we got to see many pretty vistas and lots of birds and sea lions.  It was pretty windy on the coast so the boys had to bundle up a bit to be comfortable.  It's amazing how different the coast looked at every stop; the light, clouds and the color of the water made every view more special than the next.  The drive was made even better by the fact that as we drove passed the huge mansions in Pebble Beach, Brady continued his obsession with the Three Little Pigs by saying "I blow this house down. [pause] I blow this house down."  It really put a different spin on what we were seeing!  We ended in Carmel with a quick walk around town and a stop for ice cream.  Here I was shown (again) how lucky I am to have kids with such even temperaments.  After a day of being on the go and deviating from their normal patterns, they were still cool as cucumbers when Brody dropped his whole ice cream scoop on the pavement.  Without skipping a beat, I took half of Brady's (who passively let me take whatever I wanted out of his bowl) and life went on.  It was not until my parents mentioned it later that I realized how normal that is for them.  When something like that happens, they rarely melt down and I am grateful for that!

We did a few more fun things the remaining days that my parents were here.  On Thursday we took them to IKEA because they had never been.  Random and fun, now they can check that off their bucket list ;)  On Friday they came with us to Spanish class.  We had lunch afterwards and topped off a great week with dinner out all together Friday night.  I loved seeing how the boys matured over the course of one short week.  With so much attention, they really thrived!  I noticed that they added personal pronouns to many of their sentences.  It is such a little thing, but it is so fun to hear them speaking more and more clearly.  Sentences like "Nana, you eatin' too?" instead of "Nana eatin'?" were more commonplace by the end of the week.  Also they liked asking Grandpa "What time it is, Grandpa?" and "Nana sleepin'?"over and over and over.  It was a truly wonderful week!