Making time for Grandma

Grandma is sick.

We get that.

Dyleva gets that.

That doesn't mean we are going to leave her alone.

We decided to come by to make some soup.  

Mom can't eat chili....so I thought the next best thing....corn chowder?

It took a lot longer than "45 minutes" to prepare.

More like two and a half hours.

No importa.

I played chess in between.  Eva played cards with Grandma.  I played football with Dylan.  And then Jenna showed up!

It was good to see Mom.  

We sufficiently annoyed her enough for a while.

Enough for her to appreciate some time alone again.    :  )

One Crazy Weekend

We are party animals!

Not really, but sometimes we are soooo busy, we have to schedule a shower.

This weekend was no different.  The school year has gone smooth so far, other than one aspect.

The commute.

Eva's school is in the boonies.  So I have been desperately attempting to come up with quicker ways/solutions to the afternoon commute.  
Anyway, "normal" eta these days is 5:15.  The earliest.

Friday, we had to stop to grocery.  I had a salad to prepare for the next day.  We took a mini break in the cafe, found what we needed, then headed home.

What Dyleva did not know, was that there were 3 families at our house, awaiting our arrival, playing in the backyard.  

What a great Friday surprise!

Eva and Dylan hung with their friends all night, and even had a makeshift pool party, due to the unusually high September temps.

Sleep.

The next day, I hit the ground running because it was the day of Titi's surprise party.  I took Eva with me around noon.  We stopped to see Grandma Candy, then headed over to set up.

Eva was a lot of help.

It was HOT outside.  She was amazing.  Later, for the party, she even set up her own face painting/tattoo booth.
Thanks baby girl!

Dylan arrived shortly after, asleep in the back of the car.  

Happy 40th Titi!

The party was a success.  Dyleva had a fantastic time, and stayed awake close to midnight!

So you would think we would take the next day off....

No way.

We woke early to go apple picking!
We met up with a bunch of friends and had a picnic lunch.  




At home we had a mini pool party while the Bills lost miserably.  The whole weekend hasn't dipped below 85 degrees.  

It has been lovely hanging out with my sweaty party animals!

First Day!!!

After weeks of play and relaxation, and about one week of preparation, inevitably the first day of school had arrived.

Eva handled it like a champ.  New school? New daycare? New routine? Not a problem for this little girl who rolls with the punches.

Although, she is starting to look not so little anymore.

And has began reading this blog for fun in her spare time.

Hi Eva!

Dylan also took on the day nonchalantly.  With a sprinkle of shyness at the beginning.  But all his fears disappeared when best buds arrived.  He loves his posse.

Omg.  Look how old they look.
I can't stand it!

We are struggling to work out some transportation woes.   
Traffic sucks.
I cannot get to Eva in under 30 minutes.  Then an additional 20 for  Dylan.

That is unacceptable.

For ninos that already have incredibly long days, that's not fair.

Its not fair to them, as I come to pick up Dylan, and I see running around the playground with his friends.  

Yeah he looks miserable.

Underground!

At the end of summer, we always try to think of one cool, interesting thing for the kids to do.

This year we took Dyleva on a tour of the Lockport caves.

https://lockportcave.com/

It was really neat!

It was a warm, drizzly morning.  We began with an outside tour that had history of the locks, and the city.  

Next, we actually walked the lock, and the exterior area around, and learned about the ambitious agenda of one man to further his own ideas.

https://lockportcave.com/birdsill-holly/

Then we actually got to enter and walk throughout the caves.

So cool! Unlike the caves in PR made by water, these caves were manmade.  The experience sounded horrifying! They used to use dynamite to blow up the rock Then they emptied out the rubble about the size of a basketball, one after another.  That would take forever! 

In the boat. (The flash was bright!)

At one point they turned out the lights, to show us how dark it actually would have been for the workers.  It was erie!
Ha ha! No pun intended!

The tour ended with a simple boat ride through the caves.

I couldn't believe it; I was punching Dyleva.  !!!Can you believe we are riding a boat in a cave! That is so cool!  I bet you no other second/fourth grader rode a boat through a cave this summer!  

I loved it.  Then we went to a fantastic brunch.  A very different adventure this year.

A Chance Meeting....

One of our last weekends of summer, and we wanted to get some exercise.

It was hhoooottt!

Much like every beautiful day this summer.

We decided to go to Griffith's Sculpture Park.

It used to be 'off the map,' as in, a best kept secret.  But in recent years it has become every more popular.  And unfortunately, we have noticed a lot of the sculptures have become broken as well.  Bummer.

Anyway, we make the drive.  Its a haul.  We use the bathroom, hike into the entrance (about 15 minutes,) and then have a picnic lunch.  

Dyleva had a lot of energy. 

As always.  I find it exhausting.

We finish eating, and Eva has to use the bathroom again.
Sigh.
Better now than on the hike.

Jeff decides to take the picnic stuff back down to the car, since we have to walk back down to the entrance again anyway.

As we wait for the bathroom, who comes walking from the parking lot toward us?

Their cousins!

Another family who had the same idea!

So clearly we had to take a break to tailgate together in the parking lot!

Also now we had a wonderful outlet for Dyleva's energy.

Their cousins!

We hiked in the blazing sun and admired all the beautiful sculptures.

What an amazing day and a chance meeting!

Good thing high maintenance Eva had to use the bathroom again....