Tacoma Trip-Day Two and Three

Just normal "grandma" heaven--nothing major organized, just hanging out, having conversations, reading books, sharing moments and having yummy pizza for dinner! (And some of that with Tosha and Austen, as well...not just the grandkids.)

Thursday morning the three of them joined me for my morning walk on their bikes.  Of course, we stopped by Carter Lake to watch the ducks for a few minutes.

They traveled a bit faster than I did, but did a great job in stopping and waiting.  I enjoyed the beautiful trees and the many wildflowers along the trail that we took.

Ava

Another stop at a playground to exercise some different muscles...

Niki

Ava

Cooper

Niki

Back home, we built with the maga-tiles which are quite fun to work with.  My kids would have loved them when they were little, too.

Cooper was busy using his tablet to find pictures of the weapons in a video game he likes.  Then he would use lego pieces to recreate the tool/weapon as close as he could.  He is an excellent lego builder.

No picture of Thursday night movie night where we had popcorn and candy (and no parents were home.)

Friday, Cooper opted out of the morning walk, but Niki and Ava joined me, walking the whole way with me.

Reading my sister Valerie's book-- "Little Bear's Turn" with Ava.  Niki is also interested in being an author so he was very excited to talk about my sister, the author.

Tosha had to work on Friday, so we had another quiet night of neighborhood fun.  Austen and I sat outside talking with neighbors while the kids played up and down the street with other kids.

Ava had begun working on this cardboard house and brought it out again to work on it.  She brought out a large container of markers, tape, and three pairs of scissors.  When I asked her why she needed three, since you can only use one at a time and it wasn't like they cut differently from each one.  However, she knew better than I---in a very short time, she had some helper builders including her brother and the neighbor.  They worked together in a great example of cooperative play as they made mailboxes, a firestack and other additions to it.

Niki was mostly involved in playing basketball and other physical activities although he did take some time to do some drawing.

While we went in for dinner, the neighbor boy had taken the box to his garage to work on and then after dinner, he brought in back to their garage and they kept on building, drawing and playing.  I love watching kids play together and with such delight.

As I knew it would be, the time had flown by so fast....but it was a sweet uncomplicated time together and I hoped that they would remember those little moments, too.

Plans were made for a birthday breakfast celebration for all of them on Saturday morning. Austen had just the place picked out to go. I tucked them into bed one more time and climbed into bed to read my scriptures and to finish a book I was reading on my phone.  It was a good day!

Tacoma Trip-Day ONE

The purpose of this trip was to watch the kids on Thursday night, because Austen and Tosha had to "volunteer" as security for a concert in Seattle as part of a fundraising group for an upcoming Base "Ball." I mentioned it in a prior post related to booking the tickets and how I couldn't make it work to stay through Tosha's birthday, but felt strongly I needed to be home Saturday night for some reason--ring any bells from prior posts.

So, I flew out on Wednesday morning--

An art display in the baggage claim in Seattle-
If you are missing your luggage, you might want to check here!!??

Finally, after our several trips to Tacoma, we finally were able to arrange to visit Tina and Vic Berger who live up in Snohomish.  They were our good friends from down the street here in Syracuse.  They moved up to Washington in 2020 as Vic's job required him after years of working from home to now be within an hour of the main company offices--crazy in the middle of a pandemic year.

Tosha picked me up from the airport and we headed north to their home which was another 1 1/2 hours away from the airport (and about 2 1/2 hours from Tacoma where Tosha and family lives). We had the best visit with Tina, VIc and Jessica and her two daughters who are 10 and 8.  The kids basically swam in their above the ground pool from 2:30 to 8:30 pm except a quick break for dinner and some jumping on the trampoline.  It was fun to watch them play.

And the conversation was even better.  I loved reconnecting with Tina and even with Vic.  They have a beautiful piece of property up in the mountains and a house with a total wrap around deck.  They recently redid their kitchen and it was great to see their fun art work and the pieces of pottery that Tina has made.  It was all just a perfect afternoon and evening. 

Tina and I

I love that about people.  You can step right back into comfortable conversations and feel right at home even as time continues to pass us by.  We will do it again sometime.  It was good.

But somehow I left without pictures of Tina's amazing work!  She is an excellent potter.




 

The Neighborhood Park

On Tuesday (June 24), I was feeling prepared enough for my trip to Seattle the next day and my upcoming presentation on Sunday, to make a quick park visit with the Utah grandkids.  The weather was warm, but not too hot and it made for a fun break in the middle of a busy week.

This is a park in their neighborhood, so we were able to walk to and from their house which made it easier.

Liam---swinging the girls

Ezri--taking a break in the shade

Zander--a pose to ponder

Alex--on the top of the world

I think they rode this around with Jena and I pushing for 10 minues.  They figured out their water bottles could fly off depending on where they put them on the circle.  Watching kids figure life's little mysteries is fun business.

Life is good at a park

Carter--the only singleton picture I got of her for some reason during this park visit.

Ezri playing music

And Alex again with hair flying as she spinned one of her sisters.

Nice break...then back home to finish my visual aids for Sunday and to pack my suitcase for the trip to visit Tosha, Austen and family.
 

Accidentally "Twinning"

in our Grandparent Bluey Shirts!

But sometimes getting Gary to pose is impossible! (Besides being Bluey, they are super soft t-shirt and I love to wear mine---even though I don't present myself as a grandma that gives my grandkids everything they want.