Our Fun Filled Week!

The one that ended a week ago....
Yes, that's right, it has already been a week since I took my family to the airport to fly back to Arkansas. But boy did we have fun while they were here. I have lots of pictures! Yes, I finally got them all downloaded from my cameras and had a chance to choose which ones could best help me tell the story.
So, here goes the story of our BIG surprise and the fun-filled week that followed.

This pretty lady was coming to see us:

That's my kid-sister and the boys' Monk Monk.
We were super excited that she was coming to see us.
Her flight was delayed and the 11:15pm flight turned into a 4:15am the next morning flight. I met her at the airport and she said that there were some nice people watching her luggage for her. Inside I thought "gee, she must have really made friends with someone during the delay in Denver". We walked around the corner and I saw my Mom and Dad hanging out with her luggage. I'm certain my jaw dropped! What an amazing surprise! Took them home and put them to bed for a few hours.
But Ryne was up early as usual and C.G. couldn't help but get up with him and bust out the prize suitcase.

He was excited to see C.G. for sure but he was thrilled to have first dibs on all the good stuff in her suitcase.

He took everything out one by one and investigated it all.

Then Kade woke up.

He was looking for Monk Monk and found her. Then she told him that she brought him a surprise and took him to the kitchen where C.G. was sitting at the table.
This was his reaction...

He fell to the floor in disbelief!

Then looked up to see if she really was there. It was too funny.

It didn't take long for Ryne to drag Kade to the goodies..

Guess what, everything came out one by one again so that Kade could investigate.

After checking out all the goodies and resting for a bit we decided to head out for the afternoon.

Did I say we were so glad that Monk Monk came? Well, she wasn't a surprise but we were super excited that she was here!

Got the boys dressed in a couple of their new shirts and I wanted to get some pics of them outside with all of our blooming flowers. I mostly just ended up with crazy expressions, but here they are anyway:





And then we went to Cabela's...

Checking out the animals.


Checking out the fish.


Posing for a picture with Grandaddy.
My boys just don't pose that well.

On Thursday the boys took C.G. and Grandaddy to their favorite park.

Ryne showed them his playground.


And they had a picnic!

While the boys were having C.G. and Grandaddy time...

We got to have a sister day!

We did lunch and then had our toes did...

beautiful huh?

Then off to combine two of my favorite things...

My sister!

And Cold Stone Ice Cream!!
Then we finished off our girls day with a bit of shopping...mostly for groceries to take home and cook. It was a fabulous day. Made me wish so badly that I could have more of those kind of days with my sis. Love you bunches, Monk!!

What else did we do?
Well, a bunch more so hang in there with me...

The boys were able to talk Monk and C.G. out of their phones. Kade learned how to send text messages on Monk's phone. Not sure who Ryne managed to call on C.G.'s phone???

We gave Monk an early birthday present...

Oh, the anticipation! What is inside this old box?


An OLD eye doctor kit.
I don't know the technical name for it but it looked really cool and we just couldn't pass up getting it for her when we came across it.


And of course Kade had to investigate. See how hard he is trying not to touch? I don't know how many times we said "Kade, don't touch anything. Leave it alone."


Grandaddy did some looking, too.
Check out Kade's finger, still in touching mode, but not touching.
But he just couldn't help himself, he had to check something out...

And I had to have a picture because it was too funny!

Another day we made a trip up to the Quinault Rain Forest and over to the Pacific Ocean.
Here are some shots from that fun day...

Checking out Lake Quinault in the rain forest.


It was a beautiful day.


Kade threw lots of rocks.


Ryne tried to throw rocks, too. But mostly he just liked digging in the dirt and rocks.

We picnicked beside the lake and then set out for a hike through the forest. Lots of green. Lots of water. Lots of giant trees.
Take a look:










We even got to see this...


Hard to tell from this picture just how big this tree really is but it was huge....check out the stats in the picture above this one.

Then over to the coast for a look at the Pacific Ocean.



More rock throwing!


Grandaddy got some good pictures. Some of which I am using for this post.
Thanks for sharing, Dad!
Here are some of his fun pics from the beach...


Yep, Monk Monk ended up wet!

It is still hard for us to get used to the fact that we are going to beaches with more rocks than sand and that in May and June and July we often have to wear our jackets because it is so cool. Certainly not the gulf beaches of Florida that we are accustomed to. But still lots of fun!

Speaking of fun, C.G. had told Kade that she would take him to McDonald's to play while she was here. So the rest of us tagged along as well. Guess who showed up while we were there?


Ronald McDonald, himself!
Kade thinks that C.G. arranged that. (she didn't) He told her, "Thanks for taking me to McDonald's to play and for telling Ronald McDonald to come see me there."


Ryne wasn't sure what to think about that clown.


Monk just enjoyed her meal. I'm not sure she was even phased by Ronald's appearance.


Kade then enjoyed some dipped cone with C.G.
Spoiled, yep!

Need more proof?

A package came from Granna and Paw!
And you know how I've told you my boys love to get packages! This was no exception!


Check out this shirt Ryne got.
Check out how excited he was to put it on....

He ran it over to Monk Monk to get her to put it on him. And he wore it proudly the rest of the day. I'm pretty sure he didn't understand what it said.


Kade started reading his new books.
See, I told ya, spoiled! But I guess the grandparents would probably say they aren't spoiled, that they are just well loved. And I know that is true. My boys are definitely loved by all of their grandparents! And I am so thankful for that!

Time was running out. C.G. and Grandaddy were going to be leaving soon.

So we better let them get as dirty as possible!
Ha! No problem, I didn't even have to bathe them after the sandbox extravaganza.

Can't say just how happy I was that my family got to come for a visit.

And how amazed I am that this sister of mine pulled off such a great surprise.
I was sad to see them all go. But we made some great memories!

I wasn't the only one who was sad. Kade did cry once the day they left when he woke up from his nap and everybody was gone. He came downstairs with tears running down his cheeks and I said, "Kade, what is the matter?" I thought maybe he had a bad dream that woke him up. But no, that wasn't it. He just looked at me sadly and said, "I just wanted to see them for longer."
I hugged him and pulled him in my lap and assured him that we'd always like to see them for longer but we have to be happy that we got to see them at all.

The week since they left hasn't been near as exciting.
The big excitement didn't even seem all that big after our fun week. But I'll share it with you anyway. Our DuPont McDonald's opened up! And we did take the boys to check it out.


Ice cream for everybody!

We had lots of rain this past week, too.
Which led to the end of my red tulips...

It was sad.
But at the same time, look what started coming out...

Some new purple tulips!

So there you have it! An amazing week with the family and then just a good ole average week to follow it up. I'm thankful for both of those weeks because both are evidence of a God who loves me and blesses me like crazy! I do love good ole average weeks. Don't you? I mean, if we didn't have those, how would we know just how amazing other weeks or days really are?