A memorable Memorial Day Weekend

So I left off with Will getting into to trouble at every turn. That has not changed. He is literally RUNNING everywhere now. I left the bathroom door open the other day and he saw his opportunity and literally broke into a short sprint to get there before I noticed. I AM catching on though (wink, wink) and have developed eyes in the back of my head.

I don't even remember what we did last week the time went by so fast. I got a call on Monday from my brother Chris asking if we had any big plans for Memorial Day Weekend-No was my response, just hanging here. He and his girlfriend Theresa were interested in visiting us. We were thrilled!! I looked at the calendar and realized that Memorial Day Weekend was THIS weekend. Oops! No matter, we were ready all the same. Our week flew by. We visited our pool a few times. The water was a little chilly the first day, but has warmed up nicely. Will is slowly getting his bearings in the kiddie pool (1 foot deep is pretty deep when you are only 2 feet tall). He goes under quite a bit, but I scoop him up quickly, dry his face off and we are good to go. We learned quickly that this is a "bring your own toys" kind of pool. We learned quickly and are now adequately supplied with some old tub toys in a mesh bag to have some fun with. Jack freaks out a little when they go into the skimmer basket, but after a few interventions he has learned that the toys are safe and will be returned to him. This is also a great place to learn and work on sharing. There are tons of toys floating around but they all get claimed eventually, just as ours do. Sometimes sharing is hard for a 3 1/2 year old, but we are getting better. Please note there will be no pictures from the pool at this time because I don't have 6 hands. :(

So Friday came quickly and next thing we knew Chris and Theresa had arrived!! YAY!! South Carolina was showing them it's true May colors with temperatures in the 90's. We had the air going most of the weekend to keep us all cool. Friday the homeowners association put a new roof on the pool house and so the pool was closed. We learned that the hard way after sunblocking and loading up the stroller with supplies. We turned the backyard into a water wonderland and played for a few hours. There were water fights, a full kiddie pool, homemade popsicles, the wacky sprinkler and the splash mat going. Thankfully T is good with her camera and always has it at the ready to capture some great moments. Here are a few to enjoy. A big thank you here to Theresa for all her pics from this weekend. Most of the ones I am posting are hers!!

Pool Party!

Water fight!

I GOTCHA!!! (my favorite picture!!)

Cool dude

Will helped to welcome our guests by screaming for 2 hours Friday night from 2a-4a. Getting molars is not fun!! Despite this little night time crib party, we were all up and ready for the farmer's market at 8am. We hit the streets of Greenville and showed C & T what it was all about. They found some peaches to try (although the left them behind by accident, but they are DELICIOUS) and some fresh pasta to bring home, even some gluten free for T!! Will charged around the streets like he owned them, big round belly pushed way forward and a march of his little feet. No stroller riding for this kid! We walked C& T down to the Falls (which I talked about first in this post) so they could have the full Greenville experience. Unfortunately we were on a tight schedule and had to quickly get back to the car in order to make it to our last swim lesson. As I had expected, Jack bailed on the last lesson. Too much excitement between the market and having visitors. I didn't press the issue. I think he is getting kind of bored with them anyway. We gave Miss Ana a little card and gift card and a "hand hug" aka HIGH FIVE and said our good byes. It was a good thing too....that pool area is about 200 degrees with a 100% humidity. I can't even breathe in there. Good bye swim lessons for now!

Checking out the map

Fun at the house.

With a pirate sword in hand...

Watching Tangled for the 100th time.

Brothers!!

The rest of the weekend was a perfect mix of planned and unplanned. T & I escaped for a quick and much needed pedicure. Tom and I had a date at Publix for some kid free grocery shopping. C, T and I had some pool time with just Jack on Saturday afternoon while Tom stayed home with Will. We hosted a small impromptu cookout with some of Tom's work friends. There was Sangria flowing, burgers and hot dogs grilling and a very heated game of Can Jam in the backyard. We learned that Chris is somewhat of a 'bunny whisperer' and our bunnies were no exception-coming out of their nest to 'see' him. Some old prom pictures even made the rounds-dug up from a box in the garage, they provided endless material for Tom's co workers at our expense! We enjoyed a slower pace on Sunday. A lazy game filled morning and an afternoon by the pool. Jack loved having C& T to play with in the big pool while I stayed with Will in the kiddie pool. He especially liked that C would carry him from pool to pool because "I have sensitive feet" (the cement was about 100 degrees).

Intently playing "Cars" on the iPad. 

"Let me just show you how this is done..."

Block tower time!

It's taller than Jack

And now it is taller than Chris.

Gotcha!

And it all came crumbling down...wonder who did that? 

We headed out to Freedom Weekend Aloft on Sunday night to try and catch a glimpse of the hot air balloon launch. As much as Saturday was hot and humid with air so thick it made you just want to take a nap, Sunday was hot, but breezy with lots of big, fluffy clouds (my favorite kind of day). This made it a perfect choice for a evening at a festival, just not the perfect choice for a hot air balloon festival. The balloons did not fly. Weather conditions have to be perfect and these were not. They did inflate a handful (to appease the crowds I think) and that was pretty cool. Quote of the night:

Chris: "I would take this breeze any day over seeing a hot air balloon fly."

We all couldn't have agreed more. 

Jack fell asleep in the car-hence the dazed and confused expression.

Yes, that is a SKUNK balloon to the far right.

Family photo op! Thanks T!!

Jack on the train.

Jack enjoyed some kiddie rides, was traumatized in a bouncy house when he went down a slide that ended in a "tunnel" with sides so high he couldn't see out. Tom had to go in and rescue him. We fed Will a picnic dinner from home (Jack ate at home and in the car) while we enjoyed some gyros from a vendor. The balloons filled and after bopping around like a bunch of bobble heads were deflated and we called it a night. There was a beautiful playground that we used as a partial bribe on our way out at the end. 

C&T packed up and headed home to DC on Monday morning. We laid low doing a little more grilling and hitting up the pool once more. Jack and I took advantage of Tom being home and went to the pool during nap time. It was a fun little Mommy-Jack time. Swimming, splashing and playing with this HUGE super soaker squirt gun that someone left at the pool. Once filled the thing weighs as much as Jack. He is insistent on holding it and lifting it out of the water while swimming to shoot it. I had to help him a little, it was kind of funny to watch him try to maneuver this huge thing on his own. Boy was he determined. At one point, he pushed it underwater (thinking it would sink) and it came popping up out of the water behind him, hitting him on the head and pushing him under. I had to laugh! He, of course, has been beggging for one ever since. HA I got him a nice little $0.97 Walmart, good, old, unreliable, will probably  break in 3 uses and doesn't take your eye out when you squirt it squirt gun. He loves it!

Lastly, our Memorial Day weekend was made complete with a short Skype session with Auntie Cait! She was able to get the weekend off and fly home to surprise everyone. We were so happy to see her face and have a short chat. She is currently at Fort Sam in Houston for her Medic training with the RI Air National Guard. This was her first time home since Feburary. We know that it is tough where she is, but we are all so proud of all that she has accomplished! It is people like her that have allowed us to have to this wonderful weekend to celebrate. A big thank you to all the service men and women and their daily sacrifices. We love and miss you Auntie Cait!

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

And lastly, I finally got some pictures of those BUNNIES!!

Jack says this is Piranha. 

Piranha (in the sandbox) and Booney.

Oh and.......

WE HAVE RADISHES!!

And I promise this is really the last picture.....

Found this on the camera and think it is HYSTERICAL. Don't know what Jack was crying about, but Will is obviously trying to make some sort of escape! HAHAHAHA This is MY REAL LIFE!!