Ann and John visited us!!! We had an awesome visit and the kids were over the moon excited. They arrived on a Wednesday, and I took one child out of school each day so they could have some special one-on-one time with Vanaema and Far Far. On Serenity's day they played Settlers of Catan and some UNO. They also played Old Maid, Go Fish, and they attempted to teach Serenity Pairs and Tails. I so love that the kids are starting to play card games! They went to the park for awhile and Serenity showed off her monkey bar skills.
Donovan got to stay home Friday. He played UNO, lost puppies, and he and John built trains for awhile. Ann played quite a bit of baseball with him too. Later they went to Turkey Mountain for a little hiking.
I've already written a post about Halloween, which was especially fun since Ann and John were in the spirit with their super hero costumes =) Click here if you haven't seen that yet.
Saturday the kids got to show off what they are learning in their lessons. Donovan showed off his soccer skills to John and Ann watched Serenity ice skate. In the evening we went to my sister's for her awesome fall fun party. Bonfires, hay rides, bounce house, lots of fun!
On Sunday we went to the Discovery Lab! It was John's first time and I think he loved it =) There were lots of new exhibits we hadn't seen before, including barrels that you can climb up and over, ropes to swing on, and other moving exhibits. And there were dinosaurs! Red Dirt Dinos that were actually found in this area. Maia was mesmerized by one dino in particular and she stood up for thirty seconds at a time just staring. She has become incredibly mobile in such a short time it seems. We had just told Ann she wasn't really crawling and now she's FAST! And she can stand up without pulling on anything and stand for ages. After the lab Ann and John treated us to a nice lunch at Chili's. Donovan is still talking about what he'll eat the next time he goes to John's "favorite restaurant."
Every night we got to play eight hands of bridge, which now makes me feel bereft that I don't get to play anymore. The kids have mastered UNO now, they're ready for bridge, right?
John and Eric defeated the Hobbit storyline... with a little help from me once.
