Grandpa and Grandma Judy's Visit

Grandpa and Grandma Judy, affectionately known as Gramps and Grams, came all the way from Pennsylvania to visit us! Not just came...DROVE!  Grandpa used to be in the Navy and so they attend his ship's reunion every year in the fall. This year, it was held in Nashville, and we were delighted that they could make a side trip to visit us before heading out to Colorado to visit my sister, Aunt Alicia.  

Here Gramps and Grams are meeting Matthew and Jonathan for the first time!  I think about every t-shirt my dad owns is either Penn State, Steelers or military!  I love this picture because I never think of my dad as a baby-holding kind of guy, but when it comes to his grandkids, he can't hold them enough!

They did some trashpickin' for us and brought a bike and scooter their neighbors had thrown in the trash!  Here's Mary loving the new scooter!

They bought Maggie a new helmet for her birthday.  She did something funny with it for this picture...it really is the right size!

Judy loves to cook and we love her cooking!  She brought some Auntie Anne's pretzel mix and made pretzels with Mary.  I enjoyed sitting back and listening to them enjoy themselves in the kitchen.  For all of you mix-skeptics out there, I have made my own pretzels, but they do not compare to these!  These are the yummiest pretzels in existence!

And here they are!  Now, I have to tell you that even when Grandma Judy makes a mistake, the results are excellent!  She added the cinnamon packet instead of the yeast, but she figured it out in time and added the yeast, some water, and some flour.  The result was yummy cinnamon pretzels.  In the words of Richard Scarry, "the best mistake ever!"

We ordered Thai food one night for dinner.  Check out Mary's technique with chopsticks!  We shared everything we ordered, except no one else could handle the dish I ordered.  Thai hot is REALLY hot in New Orleans.

Two book lovers enjoying a good book!  Side note: I think this is the day that Mary asked Grandpa if he was in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War or the War of 1812!  Good thing Grandpa has a great sense of humor!

They brought us lots and lots of gifts.  Each of the girls got one of these cute shirts!

Here's Jonathan sporting his new monkey hat.

Here's Matthew sporting his new monkey hat!

Everyone was sad the morning that they left.  Can you tell  from the angle of this picture that it was taken by our budding photographer Mary? 

Here are the girls saying goodbye in their jammies!

This is a picture of what the van looked like before they left our house!  And this is after unloading a lot of things at our house and at the ship's reunion!  Good thing Grandpa has a good ole trusty navigator with him because I don't think he can see out the back!

We're already counting down until their next visit in February or March!