Grandma's Summer Visit

Grandma Chris's annual summer visit was postponed due to the triplets' arrival, but she made it up to NH before school starts, and we all had a great time.  There were a few glitches, like a summer fever and cold spreading around from Haley to Aiden to Andy... hopefully not to Grandma Chris too... I guess we'll have to wait to see on that account... but colds can't stop a Grandma from enjoying her kiddos.  On Saturday we went to The Fells for a summer festival and the kids got to pet some ultra tame farm animals and make fairy houses in the woods.  We had pizza that night, but have been getting a regular harvest from the garden every few days that necessitates breaking out the recipe books to see what else we can do with kale or string beans or cucumbers.  We've made raw kale salads, kale chips, kale pesto, even Portuguese kale soup, though it's entirely too hot for soup still.  It's all good though.  August and September are a gastronomic paradise.

Aiden's fairy house at the Fells.  These remind me of bower bird nests!  

 The other momentous thing that happened while Grandma was here was that Aiden finally learned how to ride a two-wheeler!  His stumbling blocks at this for the past 6 months have been entirely psychological, so it was just a matter of getting him to stick with it long enough to realize that he wasn't going to crash and that he could actually and completely do it!  The ear-to-ear smile that lasted for a good hour once he realized this was priceless, and we had to stay out in the town parking lot for almost an hour so he could go round and around in circles one way, then the other.  A big thank you to Grandma Sally and HaPa for the glider bike, since that was a big part of getting him over the "speed bump" so to speak.

Haley and Aiden each got to stay home from school one special day and spend it with Grandma, playing playdough, going to the corn maze, or getting ice cream at Arctic Dreams.  They were sad to see her go this morning, but the double-special-treat days can't go on forever!  We are excited to see Grandma again in 2 weeks when we meet the triplets for the first time.  :)