Russell Grandchildren TIme

It is going to be tricky now that I have grandchildren 12 hours northwest and 12 hours south as well as the four 45 minutes away--trying to make sure that I have the type of relationship that makes sense with the distance and time involved.  None of the grandchildren have ever stayed seven weeks at our house at one time which led to a lot of fun memories together.  I think that is a long time to be away from home but when your dad is gone, it is one way to make the time go faster.

We did a number of fun things and took lots of pictures.  Tosha did an almost daily update on facebook which captured many of the big and little moments of the summer.  I really had no goals on trying to accomplish anything except hang around with them and keep the house going on a basic level.  I think we accomplished that on most days.

At the Allegiant Game Center with Russells:

Ava really learned to love solid food while she was here.

The Syracuse Island Splash Pad

Grandma time with Niki and Liam to see Toy Story 4.  They loved it and being there without their parents.

 Niki loved our big bin of Legos and spent many hours building with them.

Church day but posing for pictures is not their favorite.....

Playing outside in the heat of the day-

Or in amazon boxes in the basement--they both made jets out of their boxes.

Sometimes you need to stop and watch a show or two after lots of hard playing....

Playdough--

Niki ran an errand with me to Home Depot and we found this awesome cart.  Useful if you don't need to buy too many big things which we didn't so he enjoyed "driving"-

We bought a new pool--12' round--and went swimming a few times.  I would have thought we would have used it more but it was so hot during the day during most of July and August that it only left evenings to play in the water and we were often too worn out by then.  Niki and Ava loved the water, Cooper was a little more cautious about the whole thing.

We headed for an morning at Willard Bay which was delightful and we kept hoping to go back but didn't make it this summer.  Maybe next year.

Ben joined us which was nice as well.  Picnic at the beach--one of life's little pleasures even with the sand and the heat.

They also spent some time with the Russell side of the family.  Here they are eating popsicles with Austen's dad, Tom Russell, up in their home in Mountain Green.

Bathtime:

Cuddles with Grandpa after a long day of playing:

One thing that I have no pictures of is the new game Tosha got Gary hooked on.  It is a Hogwart game on the phone which you play as you walk around different places.  You have to be walking in order to engage in most of the game.  So many nights after the kids were in bed, Gary and Tosha would head off to places nearby and walk around and fight the bad guys and gather the good stuff to make potions---I really am not sure all it entails but they had lots of fun hours together playing this game and still keep track of each other's progress in the game even though Tosha is back in Seattle.  We also got some game playing in with a variety of card games such as "The Game,"  Fruit Basket," and "Five Crowns."  Tosha also joined Gary at his mom's house for a day or two of game playing as well with Uncle Gary and Aunt Vonette.

In the middle of all of this fun, Tosha organized my pantry, cleaned my freezers and kept my refrigerator clean.  She cooked us some fun meals including shrimp tacos which were yummy.  Hopefully we were some help to her as we managed the early morning wake up with the boys while she and Ava slept in a few extra minutes or a hour or so.

Time flew by and it is hard to believe that they have come and gone already!  It is quiet around here now--which is why I can start to catch up the blog a bit!