Camp Grandad hits the road

A couple weeks ago, my parents left Kansas and hit the road to visit all the grandkids.  Our house was the first stop.  Since all the grandkids (minus one late addition produced by my sister) are now out of diapers, my dad has really come alive as a Grandad.  He always has fun stuff for the kids to do at his house.  A trailer to pull them behind his riding mower, a zip line, and a pool.  He was frustrated though..when he would come to our house that he can't bring those things.  So last year he bought a croquet set and a snow cone machine before he came to visit. Then this year because they were here in the winter, he brought this microscope to hook up to the computer.  OH MY GOODNESS..was it a hit!

 They looked at all kinds of things with it... but had hoped for a bug.  It being winter, that was a little hard to come by.  Then one night around 11, I trapped a spider in PK1's bug catcher.  Gigi, Grandad, PD and I were up past midnight trying to chloroform this spider so we could kill it, but not squish it.  (We were eventually successful with a Raid soaked Kleenex in the bug catcher and some tape over the air holes. PETA fans cover your ears.)

He also brought the snow-cone machine. This is more of a summer thing and not my favorite because of the mess, but of course the kids love eating the sugary ice and feeding the cubes into the machine.

OK, here is the big one...I have wanted to take the girls roller skating for quite some time, but I have been reluctant to take them by myself until they got the hang of it.  I could just picture myself being pulled to the floor by two struggling daughters and skated over to the tune of some terrible 80's song. I mentioned this to my dad and he jumped right on it!  He said, "Well..lets do THAT!"

 Background story is that he used to take me skating when I was a kid.  He even bought his own skates with indoor wheels and outdoor wheels.  I know that is a lot to take in.  But he and I love skating!

Gigi was uber-grandma and comforted tired girls when they needed a break.  Although it was really me that needed a break because dragging them around the rink was exhausting.  But they made a TON of progress by the end of the night. They even said that they loved it which really surprised me because if I skated like they skated..I would hate it!  Gigi bought an Icee for everyone...

And look who showed up right at the end looking just like Rob Lowe from Parks and Rec:

By the way, you can tell where I am in life when I wear a cardigan to the roller rink.  I didn't give it one thought until I saw these pictures!

Gigi brought the girls each a set of Calico Critters.  They are so cute and have been played with constantly since their arrival.

And PK2 read to Gigi and vice versa:

We took them with us to Awana, our nursing home ministry, and the home school co-op.  They were also here for our Spanish tutor and piano lesson, so I think they got a bit of a taste of our real life.  I bought Gigi some sunglasses for her birthday. Grandad took us and Gram and Papa out to dinner.  We also watched the governor give his first State of the State address.  It was a great time!