Visiting Pops and Grammy

Liam and I spent most of last week in Pennsylvania visiting my parents. It was a long awaited trip, probably beginning when we left their house at Christmas. Christmas to April feels like a long time not to see someone you love very much, and really it was a long time. Long enough that we made the flight out there to be with them. Rob had to stay home and work, this being crunch time of his semester. We went Monday to Friday and while we always wish we could see them more, it was about as long as we could both stand to be away from papa. 

We did all kinds of fun things while we were there, although I'm sure Liam would have been happy to just play and play and play with Grammy's toys and read all the books she has. But we still did things like bake cupcakes, see my dear friend Chrissie and her kiddos, get ice cream, play basketball with Pops and more. I got to go shopping with my mom, get a pedicure and take naps almost every day so I chalk that up to a great vacation. 

One big highlight of the trip was getting to go to Grammy's Little Kids and Babies class at her local hospital. My mom has taught this class for older siblings who are going to have a new baby in their family for about as long as I can remember. For years I went as her "helper" and have many fond memories of that time with her. She is a wonderful teacher and it was so fun to be on this side of the class. Liam seemed to like it for the most part and mom told me not to worry if he didn't seem interested, as he was probably picking stuff up. This proved true after we got back to their house and dad asked what he had learned. He said, "the baby is in a pink place upside down." Which is exactly true based on the book mom showed the class. 

Friday morning we left very, very early (I was up at 4 am) to catch a flight home in time for me to go to our church's women's retreat. It was a very long day for me since I didn't end up going to bed until after 1 am on Friday night, but as usual, the whole time was a ton of fun. We had excellent teaching, funny games and lots of quality time with my dear friends. 

Needless to say Sunday and Monday were re-grouping days with the usual laundry and grocery shopping to round out the time. This is always a busy time of year for us as Rob finishes up his semester. We are praising God though that he did get a summer teaching assignment again for May and June. This is always a huge blessing to us financially and professionally for him. 

To round out the week, here are some pictures from our adventure east! 

This sticker book was probably the best $10 I have ever spent on Liam. It was an I Spy sticker book that allowed us to work together to find the matching stickers without the problem of Liam just covering himself in stickers as is his usual course of action for stickers. I called it "stickers with a purpose." We probably spent about an hour of the flight working on this and then more on the way home. 

All the wonderful toys at Grammy's house. 

Cupcake batter! 

Cupcakes with icing and sprinkles! 

Visiting one of our favorite places - Ott's greenhouse. They have a jungle inside with a huge waterfall and so many gorgeous plants. Unfortunately none would travel well on a plane. Mom bought me some seeds instead.

A glimpse of the future...holding (and throwing) a baby doll during Grammy's class. 

Getting ice cream on one beautiful spring day. 

Mama got some too!