Visiting Omes & Opes

I wanted to be sure to take advantage of summer vacation time to spend some time with my Oma and Opa in St. George.  I didn't want to be limited to a weekend, so I made up my mind to go without Ben, planned the dates with O&O, and crossed my fingers that Ben would be traveling at the same time.  No such luck - he went on a business trip the following week.  But I was still excited to have a visit with my grandparents and drove the kids down to St. George looking forward to some good family time.

It was about a 4 hour drive and we left right after lunch, when Eliza usually naps.  Of course, she hadn't eaten any lunch during the 30 minutes I tried to coax her to eat something, but we hadn't even pulled out of the driveway before she asked me for a snack.  Kids.  We had quiet time for the first couple of hours while Eliza napped, then I told the kids they could watch a movie after we stopped for a potty break.  Cat had chosen 2 DVDs from our collection, and I love that she chose these ones:

And you know what?  They didn't even watch Aladdin.  They watched "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" down to St. George AND back.  And they all enjoyed it.  Woot!  We arrived in St. George in time for Oma and Opa to grill up some burgers for dinner, and giving Cat plenty of time to clean off the table on the front patio, where she really wanted to eat dinner.  It was fun to be outside, fun to talk, and fun to just be together.

The kids took their time going to sleep that night, but once they were finally down, I was able to enjoy some good talk time with my grandparents, mostly learning more about their families.  I never get tired of hearing them tell me about their youth.

We went to bed good and late, and the kids woke up nice and early, but we managed to stay somewhat quiet so that Oma and Opa weren't forced to wake up too early.  Once they were up and about and we'd had some breakfast, Oma and I started talking about some things we could do that day.  And in the middle of our conversation, Opa came in saying he'd just received a phone call that his sister in Wyoming had passed away.  She'd been sick for quite a while, so it wasn't unexpected, but of course, it's always sad news to hear.

Because they had significant preparations to make before going out of town for the funeral I decided to go ahead and take the kids home that day.  O&O had one errand that needed be taken care of ASAP, then they wanted to have lunch together.  I knew I had to take kids to the water play area near the St. George Tabernacle, if nothing else, while we were in town, so we headed down there while Oma and Opa ran their errand.

Eliza has really taken to Opa over the last few months.  During this trip, whenever she had a choice of who she could be with, who helped her with things, who held her hand to cross the street, she chose Opa.  She loved to sit with him and snuggle, and Opa didn't mind one bit.  I love that every time Eliza rushed to him or clung to him instead of coming with me Opa would exclaim, "I got me a girl!"  It was just precious.

(Side note: I love this picture of the two of them from April - Oma and Opa were passing through town on their way to Salt Lake and we met them at Zupa's for lunch.  Eliza refused to come to the car with me, but very happily held Opa's hand the whole time they walked to my car.)

After the kids had some play time at the water area we all got lunch together and enjoyed a little more talk time before the kids and I left.  It was definitely a worthwhile visit, even if it was short, and we're so glad to live close enough to be able to drive to see them.  We have another trip planned for next month and I can't wait!