4th of July with Grandpa Dan, Grandma Kati, Aunt Anna - Plus a Lake of the Ozarks Trip

In our latest stage of fun relative visits we had Dan, Kati, & Aunt Anna here to visit for a few days and then we went to Lake of the Ozarks to visit Aunt Tammy and some very fun cousins.We had a blast!

Grandpa decided to teach Bradley how to do thumbs up. I happened to get a video of him showing Bradley how to do it for the first time and it's pretty funny.

Another amazing Grandpa video is this. He kept nibbling on Eleanor's toes and she loved it and kept putting her feet back up there for him to do it again. This video is the end of a very long run of toe nibbling.

I wish I had gotten a video of Nana chasing Eleanor around and playing peekaboo with her while Eleanor laughed hysterically. These kids loved spending time with their fun grandparents!

I think Grandpa was showing the kids a video of their cool cousins here.

Eleanor may have had the most fun of the two kids at first. Poor little girl is not accustomed to getting so much attention. We think she loves her Aunt Anna.

Okay, we know she loves her Aunt Anna.

Bradley was a pretty big fan of Aunt Anna as well. We'd go downstairs to get Grandpa and Nana each morning and while Bradley would be very happy to see them he'd immediately start asking "where Aunt Anna?" Aunt Anna is just too much fun.

And it certainly didn't hurt her popularity any when she got him a stuffed toy Rubble, his favorite puppy from his favorite show Paw Patrol.

We got to go to Deanna Rose Farmstead and the pool and went on a fair number of park outings while they were visiting our house. Such fun!

 Fishing at Deanna Rose didn't result in any fish but we all had a good time!

Feeding the goats was more of a sure thing

And play time on their awesome playground.

We were all pretty tired afterward

Bradley impressed everyone with his zest for yelling and eating. All are impressed by Bradley's dedication to both of these pursuits.

I think another winning part of their visit was all the cuddles. Bradley insisted that Grandpa read to him before bed a couple nights which was very sweet and very cuddly.

And a swimming outing before they went ahead of us to Lake of the Ozarks. Little did we know how much fun swimming time we had in our future over the holiday weekend!

It was a 3.5 hour drive out to Lake of the Ozarks and there was very little sleeping of any sort on the drive, but the kids did pretty well.

Once we got there we were in for a LOT of fun! Eleanor loved the screened in decks.

And the little girl did not know what to do about all the attention she was suddenly receiving. Unprecedented amounts of attention!

She did not seem to mind it

Yayyy Grandpa!

We are so happy we have the Kindle Fire for Bradley. Portable shows for some downtime are pretty nice for a boy who had to go, go, go the rest of the time we were there! 

We even stayed up a couple hours past bedtime for fireworks on the 4th despite neither of our children being interested. Bradley just wanted to play on a nearby playground and Eleanor fell asleep just as the show was beginning. 

In Bradley's defense, he had just learned to do this and wanted to do it on repeat instead of watching some silly fireworks.

Oh well, one can bring fun and culture to the children but one can't make the children appreciate it.

Bradley ADORED his second cousins. Micah was a particular favorite, but then who wouldn't love a cousin who just laughs when you crawl all over them and bounce on their head?

James was very sweet as well and after Bradley left this cuddle session he kept yelling for him to come back over and sit in his lap again. What a sweet kid.

 

And this was the most excited my children got about fireworks while we were there. We had quite a nice view of the lake from Nathan's aunt's condo. 

But the best thing about the trip by a long shot was the swimming. Eleanor had a lot of fun but Bradley didn't know that life could be this amazing and fun!

 I don't know who's having more fun in the video below: Bradley or Nana.

And Bradley has no fear. Only once did he jump in the pool without a floaty but luckily Uncle Jamie fished him out quickly. What a kid.

Now we're back home on our own for about another week before leaving for my little brother Daniel's wedding in Spokane. Just doing our normal, mellow thing. Like taking Eleanor for rides around the house on a baby quilt ...

And cuddling up with Daddy for a show and maybe a nap too

And taking pictures of ourselves with Mommy's camera.

And there's no place like a park for a little two year old and one year old. Bradley is so cute, he'll go down the slide with Eleanor and then yell "come Ellnor!" and motion for her to follow him as he runs up the steps to go down again.

This photo pretty much sums up my life right now

Good news, Eleanor still loves kities. Better news, our cats remain sweet and careful around Eleanor.

And I'm sorry to say it, but Eleanor's personality is coming through more and more and my hopes of having a mellow, calm second child are swiftly being destroyed. I was trying to do some dishes the other day while Eleanor was playing in the kitchen and I had to come to her rescue when I heard howls of anger and despair. Turns out she had two hands on the barstool and a little leg hiked up as far as she could and was MAD that her attempts to climb up the barstool were not met with instant success. So I put her in her high chair with some markers which she promptly opened and used to color all over her hands. And then she would shriek and point insistently when she decided to use a new color. We eventually retired the markers and I gave her crayons instead, which were quickly dismissed as vastly inferior and tossed onto the floor one by one. I did not get many dishes done. 

In between yelling at me to do her bidding

She also follows Bradley around and tries to copy anything he does. It's pretty great when he's playing with me or Nathan and is cracking up and she walks up and starts laughing just because Bradley is laughing.

Copying how Bradley sits while watching a show.

Helping Bradley dig in the sand at the pool

And I don't have a picture of it because I sort of want to pretend like it isn't happening, but Eleanor's new favorite thing to do is to stand up on Bradley's bed and then fall down on her face over and over. She'll stand up and then throw herself forward, face first onto the bed. Bradley isn't allowed to jump on his bed so she picked this up all on her own.

Bradley talks to Eleanor now. It's pretty great. The other day he was using an empty jelly beans container as my "hat" and knocking it off my head and then laughing and doing it over and over again. He eventually lost it and was asking me "where hat?" and I told him I didn't know. So he walked over to Eleanor and got right in her face and said "where hat Ellnor?" She promptly smooched him so he leaned in and asked her again "where hat Ellnor?" and she happily leaned in for another kiss. He got kissed at least four times before he wandered off. There are a lot of kisses being handed out these days, Nathan and I rather enjoy it.

The "hat". We get a lot of entertainment from a jelly bean container.

We've been putting a little wading pool on our back deck lately and the kids have been loving it so much. I think they'd live in their swim suits this summer if given the chance.

Bouncy fun on the side of the pool!

Eleanor pours cups of water over herself and then cackles

Pretty sure I'm getting told off in this picture.

Bradley copies me when I say "Meg!" now. He also says meow at her and is really happy when she yowls in response. But he doesn't know which cat is which and generally will call Layla "Sookie" or "Meg". I find this upsetting and have been trying to train him but he seems more interested in other things ... like me.

He also loves to cling to me as I pretend to try to shake him off. Is this encouraging my son to be clingy? I don't care, I love being clung to.

 And last but certainly not least, here is Eleanor feeding Bradley a golfish cracker. It kind of reminds me of Lucy and Charlie Brown and the football. Poor Bradley.