Visitors!

This past month has been busy - good busy.  We've had 3 rounds of visitors and a trip to Lake Wawasee.  More to come on Wawasee but here are a few highlights from our visitors.

First up, my mom, Jadyn and Jordyn came to visit for a long weekend.  This overlapped with Ben's birthday so Ben and I were able to go out for dinner to celebrate just the two of us... the first (and only) date we've had since moving to Akron!

 Katy and Brandon also happened to be in Cleveland for the weekend and stopped by one night during this weekend too.  It worked out well that my mom spent the night with her girlfriends that night so we were able to offer Katy, Brandon, Joe (Katy's brother), Jadyn, Jordyn, Lucy and Hank all a bed and a pillow.  We had quite the full house! And I was extra thankful that Katy and Brandon were able to come to help celebrate Ben's birthday, complete with 20+ balloons and a trip to a local water park.

Outside of Ben's birthday and the Miller visit, we spent a lot of time just hanging out at the house with Mom and the kids.  We also fit in a trip to the zoo, a trip to the beach on Lake Erie, a date night for Ben and I, a family night out to dinner, and a girl's night out for Mom and her friends up in Cleveland.

The beach was no Florida beach, heck it was no Lake Michigan beach, but none the less, it was a beach and we had fun sitting in the sand and watching the waves roll in.  It was a little chilly, I would definitely go back another day but would try to make it on a warmer day.

It was about 45 minutes away, so we haven't gone again (45 minutes makes it hard to do something and get back for nap time) but if our kids were a bit older I could see going here all the time.

And one shot from the zoo... 

We had a great time having my family out, and of course Lucy loved having her older cousins visit.

Next up, my good friends Emily and Heather came to visit, with their sons Quinn and Henry.  With four little ones running around I didn't think much about taking pictures, but I finally grabbed a few shots of the babes playing in our back yard one afternoon.  We also spent one day at a park that has a big play ground and free wading pool, we were supposed to go to the zoo but after locking Lucy in the bathroom and then locking myself out of the house we decided a walk around the neighborhood made more sense, and Ben watch the kids one night so that Emily, Heather and I could go out for dinner.

It was hard to get all four in one place... the next three shots are my best attempt at that..

While it was a little chaotic, I couldn't have been more happy to have our house full of all these little ones and especially to have their moms out to visit.  I know it's not easy to pack up a toddler and drive with them 5 hours so I'm extra thankful these ladies made the trip out!

Lastly was the Ravensberg family.  They came out this past labor day weekend.  We had another fabulous time with these visitors - we made it out to the zoo, a food truck round-up (which ended up being a bit of a bust), and even had time for a little guy's night out and a girl's day out (complete with pedicures and brunch!) Here are a few highlights from their trip...

Had to include a baby bump picture...

All of the kids played really well together and surprisingly everyone slept pretty well too (although Hank was randomly up one night at 11:30pm, 2:30am, and 5:30am... sorry Rabos!).  Lucy got new bunk beds right before their visit so Andrew and Lucy were bunk mates and Gavin shared a room with them in a pack n play.  The first two nights they all went down without a peep, but the third night I think they all had a case of the giggle-bugs because we listened in on the monitor as Lucy and Andrew told Jokes and all three of them were cracking up laughing.  They eventually went to sleep, but their little laughter was so sweet, even if it was way past bed time!  Sorry Hank... maybe you can join in next year.

Thanks also to the Ravensbergs for packing up two little ones and coming out to visit us! We loved having you and miss you already!