A Staycation for Nonna

Remember last year when we gifted Nonna with a weekend of all of us staying at her house together? Well, sadly 51 weeks later, for various reasons, we still hadn't done it, but we finally managed to all have a free weekend this past weekend and had a delightful 2+ days together!!! On Friday Nonna and Pepe had dinner with the kids and put them to bed while C, Tio, Jon, and I went and saw Mythbusters. This was a previously scheduled outing but I think Nonna was more than happy to get some solo grand kid time in.

On Saturday morning, after a little less sleep than I'd have liked, Reed woke up pretty early, so the two of us started making orange juice and breakfast together. We were joined a short time later by Kieran who was happy to join in the breakfast making. Saturday morning we just hung around the house, letting the kiddos play and enjoying each other's company. After a yummy lunch of chicken tortilla soup that C had made the two little kids took naps and the rest of us got ready for our afternoon activity . . . bowling!!! The kids all used a bowling ramp and thought it was a lot of fun. We did however learn that one game is more than enough with three young kids.

Who knew stacking cat food was so fun!

You can't see the last 40 years in the timeline sign C made - spoiler alert - she's looked exactly the same!

Time to take a break to watch a movie in their coordinating chairs

Saturday night Jon made a delicious Indian meal that we all ate way too much of. After dinner, C and I finally got our wish of a cousin bath. You always see cute pictures of kids piled into bathtubs together, however our three are a bit rambunctious. They all took turns fiddling with the water temperature to the point that they had to stand naked for quite awhile until we could get it to a decent temp for them to get in. Then Lyla taught Kieran how to drink out of the faucet. Not to be outdone, Reed figured out how to turn on the bath jets and soaked poor Lyla and Kieran. About the time we had the tears wiped away and the two littler ones calmed down, Reed slyly pushed the button again. I managed to get a glimpse of the grin on his face and knew what was about to happen so I lunged for K and Lyla and managed to keep them from being put under water but couldn't keep them from getting absolutely soaked and scared once again. After quite the eventful bath we had champagne and banana cream Birthday pie and quickly got the hooligans off to bed quite a bit past normal bedtime.

Closest thing to all three looking at the camera at the same time

Up to no good - a look I know all to well!

Not amused

I had high hopes that after a fun day and late bedtime the boys would sleep in, but they were both up at 6:00 am and ready to start their day. Once again we made breakfast together. Poor Pepe managed to wake up and find a pancake and sausages cooking on the stove top with Reed on the toilet and me wiping Kieran up after I had both boys simultaneously declare they needed to poop right in the middle of cooking breakfast. We can cause quite a scene! After breakfast, and an attempt at getting a matching pajama picture, we all bundled up and took a walk to the bottom of Nonna and Pepe's property were we were able to cross the street and walk up the hill to the local Christmas tree farm. They have an awesome steam train we rode, a model train the kids loved watching, and Reed friendly kettle corn. The kids all wanted to go on another ride but we quickly learned we should have stopped at just one because they were all freezing and tired and wanting to be home before we were even half way done.

After lunch the Littles took naps and Tio took Reed on a quad ride. Reed loved it and I think they were out there for well over an hour. Did I mention that we all brought our dogs? So Maple and Dodger were with us for the whole weekend as well. They loved chasing the boys on the quad and Dodger must have jumped in the freezing cold pond at least 20 times during the weekend. He had an absolute blast and I'm so glad we brought him along.

Sunday night C and Tio made delicious homemade pizzas that Pepe grilled on the BBQ. Again we all ate too much, but they were so good!!! We had Nonna open her Birthday present, said our goodbyes, and loaded up the car. It was a great weekend and for someone that is so hard to shop for, I think time with her kids and grand kids is the best gift we can ever give her. Five minutes into the drive home Reed was sound to sleep and Dodger quickly followed. Only Kieran managed to stay awake for the full 15 minutes of the card ride - think they all had some fun too?