A little staycation with Grandma and Grandpa Izatt

Chuck's parents came to see us for a couple of days last week, hooray!

We fit in some fun around the house in between our other adventures. Grandma helped the boys make pies (blueberry, chocolate, and key lime!!) which they loved. Jack hilariously climbed up to sneak bits of flour into his mouth - whatever, kiddo! Their visit coincided with our purchase of new mattresses for the boys, and it was much more convenient to load them into the back of Dave's truck than to stuff them in the minivan, so we were grateful for that good timing!!

The boys wanted to go swimming, so we trekked over to Ivywild for the awesome slide:

Seriously, most of our time was spent going on the twisty slide (one adult/child at a time) over and over and over again.

Jack LOVED it. (Thanks for capturing all these awesome pictures, Mom and Pops!!)

The next day we ventured out near Melba to check out Celebration Park.

Chuck had been there on a semi-recent Scout campout and promised a good time. I was pretty skeptical (my usual M.O.) but it ended up being way fun.

Our first destination was the Atl-Atl range.

We learned about the history of the weapon and the proper technique of throwing, and then off we went!

It was really fun! And tricky. The little boys had an absolute blast.

Well, except for Jack. He wasn't the biggest fan of staying in his stroller and watching all the action, but since I wasn't the biggest fan of him being a modern atl-atl casualty, in the stroller he remained.

After a picnic lunch, we reconvened with one of the guides, Don, for an incredible tour of some of the petroglyphs that have been discovered on the rocks. From one of the brochures: 

"Petroglyphs are images pecked or abraded on stone. They are sometimes misidentified as pictographs, hieroglyphics, or rock art. Unlike petroglyphs, pictographs are painted images and hieroglyphics can be read like a book."

There's no way to know exactly what the symbols represent, but scholars have pretty educated guesses, and it was so interesting to hear about them.

 

We made a detour to the little museum/gift shop, where Grandma sweetly bought the boys souvenirs - Clyde chose an arrowhead necklace, and Will chose a dreamcatcher necklace. And Pops spent some time with Jack and taught him to say 'Nana' sooo that might be Grandma's new nickname :). Thanks for the gifts Nana!!

Our final destination was a cool old bridge near the entrance to the park; Pops and Nana walked over with the big boys while Chuck and Jack and I met them with the van.

I use the adjective 'cool' when describing the bridge because everyone seemed to think it was. I thought it was terrifying, which is why I stayed in the van and tried not to think about the fact that my children were on it. I may have an issue with old bridges - I don't get the appeal. Shouldn't we be excited about advances in bridge structure and design and not tempt fate by clomping around on old rickety ones??

All too soon our fun visit was over and it was time for Nana and Pops to head home...

after some last minute hugs! (Which I promise Clyde participated in too). Thanks again for coming Dave and Terri; we had a great time!!