Grandma Jodi in Arkansas!

We were lucky enough to have my mom visit for a whole week plus a day! We were so excited to have her here and to show her some of the things we've been up to this summer. The boys and I picked her up last Tuesday and went straight to the boys' exercise classes. After the classes ended we went out to lunch with Zach and then headed home for Brady's nap. After Brady woke up we went to one of our favorite parks and when Zach got home we had dinner and headed to the bowling alley for Tuesday night bowling.

There was a magic show on Wednesday morning at the library. They started the show with all the kids sitting down and the magician in the audience. They announced the magician and no one got up so everyone started looking around. Then the magician started yelling and being crazy and it scared Brady half to death. He was in the front row and stood up and turned around crying so hard that his face was red. He was shaking. Brady and I spent the rest of the show sitting outside with Brady's head buried in my shoulder. Unfortunately, the magic show was in the same room as all the library programs and now Brady is too scared to ever sit by himself anymore. In fact he cries in my arms for the first few minutes whenever we go in that room now. Good thing summer is almost over. After library time we headed to Lake Atalanta for a picnic lunch.

 

After lunch we found a great stream for the boys to play in. They loved it. Ryan was soaked by the time we left. There were lots of other kids playing and splashing around so Ryan made some friends and played with them most of the time. 

  

Brady spent his time with me and my mom. He was a little more reserved in the water but liked to walk along the stream. 

  

 One great thing about my mom being here is we could take advantage of the Teddy Bear Picnic they had at the library. It was at 2 o'clock and that is right in the middle of Brady's nap. My mom and Ryan went to the Teddy Bear picnic together and had lots of fun while I stayed at the apartment with Brady napping. There were stories and crafts and even cupcakes! Luckily we brought Binky Bear along for the summer so Ryan even had a bear to bring!

 

 Thursday morning we went to story time at the library and went swimming in the afternoon.Ryan was excited to show Grandma his new moves.

 

Friday was... interesting. We definitely felt Friday the 13th at our house. Both boys were in awful moods. Ryan threw a gigantic fit in the morning on our way out of the house because, after hours of playing super heroes with him, it was time to go. Ryan's crying, kicking and screaming got Brady upset and Brady didn't recover for a good 45 minutes. We went to the splash park in Bentonville and Brady cried all the way there and for the majority of our time there. After the splash park we headed over to Crystal Bridges for a picnic and then went in to look at the museum.

Ryan went on to throw about four more fits asking, "who will play with me?!" These all came after my mom had played with him and needed to move on to another activity. It was bizarre. While making dinner I grabbed the hot stove burning my 3 of my fingertips on each hand. The day was redeemed by the fact that Zach and I got to go on a date after the boys were in bed. We went shopping and saw The Amazing Spiderman. We hadn't been on a date all summer and it was a much needed get away. Thanks for watching the kids mom!

Saturday was spent at the Gentry Zoo. It is a safari type drive through zoo with a petting zoo at the end. The drive through portion was really awesome and the petting zoo was really hot. It was totally worth it though to see Brady react to the animals. He got so excited. I took lots and lots of pictures, so I will post more about our trip to the zoo in another post. Saturday night we went to The Whole Hog Cafe for some yummy Arkansas barbeque. It didn't disappoint.

Sunday we went to church. Our church is 8am-11am, so we had the whole day after church to relax and spend time together. In the evening we walked the trails around Crystal Bridges. It was super humid so we all came home drenched, but there were lots of fun things to look at along the trail. Ryan found this tree that had fallen over and wanted to show off his muscles by lifting it up. Impressive.

On Monday we went to the Rogers Historical Museum. It's a free museum in downtown Rogers that is completely geared toward kids. They have a play house with all hands on things and some building stations. Here is Ryan all decked out in his handyman gear.

 Brady had fun hammering the wooden pegs and playing with the different tools. There were some awesome blocks that he liked building towers with too.

 We spent the evening at the pool until Zach got home from work. After dinner we went to a field for Ryan to fly his kite.

Tuesday it was back to exercise class for the boys. My mom bought Ryan and Brady matching Superman shirts since super heroes are the new obsession in our house. They looked super cute in the their matching shirts but I somehow neglected to take a picture of them together.

 As is tradition, we met Zach for lunch. It was Ryan's choice and he chose Panda Express (surprise, surprise.) In the evening before Zach got home we went back to the Bentonville splash park. This time Brady was in a happy mood and the boys played together for a good hour. Being able to sit and chat on a bench uninterrupted for that hour with my mom was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

 A butterfly landed on my toe while we were there.

 After dinner, we went back to the bowling alley for Tuesday bowling. It has been a fun tradition for us this summer. Ryan loves it!

 Wednesday morning we went to the library for a bird presentation by a local wildlife rescue agency. They had an owl, a hawk and a turkey vulture. It was pretty neat, but super crowded. At one point Ryan stood up and caught my eye and said, "Mom, this is so long!" Haha, The woman presenting had a LOT to say about each bird. It kept Ryan's attention- for the most part. Brady was glued to me on the brink of a nervous breakdown the whole time because of that blasted magician they had the week before. After the bird show we had some time to kill so we went to the local Petco to look at more animals. Brady gets so giddy whenever he gets to look at animals so he was just soaking it all in. Ryan wanted to buy Roxy a ball to surprise her when we get home (I didn't realize he remembered we even had a dog. Some days I even forget). There was a little stool by the ferret cages that the boys used as a bench. Adorable.

 My mom's flight was scheduled to leave at 4:30pm so Brady skipped his nap so we could leave the house at 3pm. We dropped her off at the airport and headed home. Both boys fell asleep on the way home and we settled into some episodes of Clifford and a bowl of popcorn. I think we were all feeling a little depressed at my mom's trip coming to an end. All that changed however when I got a call from my mom at 4:35pm saying her flights had been canceled and she was actually going to leave early Thursday morning! Bonus time! We immediately turned off the TV and jumped into the car to go get her. We had dinner together, my mom bathed the boys and then she and I had a great walk after the boys were in bed. After our walk, she let Zach go out for one last hurrah. We went to Kohls and WalMart. We are adventurous, I know.

This morning it was time to face the music. I dropped my mom at the airport at 5:30am and she was on her way. I am just excited that she will be in Utah at the end of August to help my sisters get settled in for the new school year. So it wasn't a "goodbye" but a "see you later" this time. Yea!

Now we just need to survive the next 3 and a half weeks of this heat and humidity and we will be headed back to Orem! I am ready to get back to our house and our friends and get this last year of school kicked off. Ryan will start preschool at the end of August. We have exciting times ahead!