Visiting Grandma Jane and Grandpa Jeff - everything else

So what else did we do in Glen Carbon?  Well, on Saturday, Uncle Bob, Aunt Debbie, Grandma Marion, Uncle Bryan, cousin Katie, Becky, Dan, Natalie and Rosemary came over for a little party.  It was pretty hot outside, at least by Wisconsin standards, so the girls had a fun time playing in the pool and with the sprinkler.

Nathaniel did NOT like the pool, I think because the water was cold.  He sat in it just long enough to get wet, and then he wanted to get out and snuggle with me:

He was happy to hang out with Katie, though.  He sometimes has a little stranger anxiety now, but he didn't fuss at all in Katie's arms.  I think he could sense that she's a natural with kids.

I have discovered a good consequence when Amelia is not nice to Megan - she has to read Megan a book of Megan's choice.  Megan loves to be read to, and by the time Amelia has finished the book, usually they are getting along well again.  This time they got to read books outside on Grandma and Grandpa's new child-sized bench that was a gift from Bob and Debbie.

Nathaniel may not have enjoyed the pool, but he did like getting to play with Rosemary.  He is very curious about people's faces right now, especially their eyes and eyelashes.  But don't worry, he didn't actually grab Rosemary's face here.

One morning, Jeff decided to swaddle Amelia.  She thought it was really funny, and asked Grandpa to carry her around like a baby.  Aren't they sweet?

We went to get Tropical Sno one evening, although we had to drive all the way over to Troy, since our normal place in Glen Carbon closed.  The girls were very excited to get a sno, and they each made up their own flavor.  Amelia says she had cotton candy, pink lemonade and blue raspberry; she's calling it Amelia's Mystery Flavor, because, as she says, she's "really into mystery books".  I had Frog in a Blender, with watermelon and green apple.  It was very tasty, not like an actual frog.

 We took a walk around a small lake after we got our sno; Megan ran almost the entire way.  We could hear tree frogs chirping from the edges of the lake, but we only saw one.  The girls were having fun watching their shadows, so Jeff tried to get some photos of them jumping.  Megan doesn't quite get the idea of jumping exactly on a number, and plus she was done after a few tries, but Jeff got quite a few good shots of Amelia.

Jeff asked me to send him a good photo of him with the girls, if I had one, and this is the best one that I had:

While the girls were playing in the pool one day, Amelia decided to take a break to make funny faces, and she convinced Grandma and Grandpa to go along with her.  She thought Grandpa might need a little help making a funny face:

I think Amelia's face is pretty funny, too!

Next time I'll make an effort to take a genuinely nice photo of Jeff with the kids.  As the primary photographer, it is very unusual to see a photo of myself with the kids, so I always appreciate it when someone else takes a photo with me in it.  I'll have to remember to do the same for Jeff.  Oh, and we did remember to put Nathaniel in the antique baby carriage this time.  I'm amazed more babies didn't fall out of strollers when they were built like this, because Nathaniel sure seemed to want to explore in front of him, and he would have toppled right on his face if we'd let him.

Jeff gave Megan a fishing pole for her birthday, and then he took the girls fishing while we were there.  They didn't catch anything, but they said they had a good time.  Apparently there are quite a few neighborhood ponds around here where kids can go fishing, so hopefully Jeff can take them again when he comes to visit next.

And finally, Great-Grandpa Jim came over for dinner one evening, and had a chance to hold Nathaniel.  He was surprised at how much Nathaniel liked to bounce.