The Visitor

This was a very special week for us because my mother was here to visit. She’s gotten some quality time with all of her grandchildren this summer, and our kids are especially grateful. It’s been amazing to have an extra pair of hands ready to hold Merritt, but perhaps even better to have an adult who loves children and knows how to treat them. 

Avey has had some excellent tutoring in beginning sewing, and is already starting to plan out clothes she might make when she has the skill.

Carver is mostly enjoying having an audience for all of his mind-blowing moves. He also enjoys having another person available for reading books. He impressed Nana and me when he was finished playing in the mud at our nearby splash pad; he explained that he had a pet parrot on his arm, whom he introduced to us, and then proceeded to tell us all about. The invisible bird even lifted him into the sky for a moment or two.

Hakan has been thrilled to have a warm lap to sit on, and to have another pair of listening ears. He tries to join in with the older kids and Nana as they play card games. 

We were fortunate to have a nice visit from my great uncle and his wife, who live about 3 hours away. I had never met him, and my mother had not seen him in many years, but we had the most pleasant visit, and the kids behaved surprisingly well. We hope to see them more often.

Our biggest adventure was an excursion to Chicago to give my mom the full Illinois experience, complete with heat, humidity, sweat, lots of walking, and noise. We ran into some major headaches when it was time to feed the kiddies, but the boys wanted one restaurant and Avey wanted another. We split up to accommodate all, but realized too late that Kira, in an effort to travel lightly, had not brought her wallet. We had to meet back up (thank goodness for cellular phones) and then part ways again, only for them to wait in a very long line while Nana and I fed the boys. We adults spoiled ourselves with authentic Chicago-style stuffed pizza for our meal, after the boys were in bed, and that made a nice end to the hard day. Perhaps the best part of the Chicago trip was that we were finally able to find postcards for my mother – she and I had tried 3 stores in the suburbs with no success.

We are heartbroken that she has to leave us tomorrow. It will no doubt feel empty and alone here without her calming presence, but I suppose it’s good motivation for us to make it back to Colorado in the near future.

School starts up in 3 weeks, so now begins the desperate efforts to squeeze a little more fun out of the summer…

#Happenings