family affair

Our favorite little girl came to visit over the weekend.

Ivy Rose is in the house.

She came with her parents but they didn't come running to hug us at the airport. 

They were only here for two and a half days but we tried to fit everything in. I gave them an award-winning tour of our new town. It takes less than three minutes to drive through the center of town (even if you get a red light) so it was a very short tour. We visited a new coffee shop and were flabbergasted that the people making the coffee didn't know how to make ice coffee. We had to tell them that regular ice coffee is not the same as a latte. "You want us to pour coffee from the refrigerator over ice?" Yes. That's literally all there is to it. We went back the next day and ordered one drink with whipped cream and one without. The lady at the drive-through window made sure she pointed out which had whipped cream and which didn't. HOW WOULD WE HAVE KNOWN WITHOUT HER.

I expect this is what it will look like when I have another child.

Neither child is looking at the camera and I look exhausted.

Except I'm already exhausted so only half of it will be new.

We visited two playgrounds and the zoo. It was so hot on Friday that I got sunburned after an hour at the playground. I love sunshine but I'm VERY concerned about what temperature it will be in by April when it's already over 80* in February.

Erika helped me hang up outdoor lights on my front deck. I have visions of a Pinterest worthy deck with a rug, flower pots and maybe a fountain. Currently, it has a kids trampoline, pink Frozen pool, and black and white teepee. It's not exactly an outdoor oasis but the lights were supposed to kick it up a notch. We came home from a pizza dinner at Mellow Mushroom to my lights twinkling in the darkness. The sky was clear and we looked at the constellations. The girls ran around playing and giggling. It was lovely. I had carefully inspected the area for frogs and having seen only a small one that hopped away I thought we were in the clear. I sat on the swing and enjoyed chatting with my family. For whatever reason, I decided to check the wall behind me. THERE WERE MORE THAN  TWENTY FROGS. They were everywhere. I'm not embarrassed to say I screamed and yelled and jumped. I swear I could feel them crawling on my skin. I have no choice but to burn the place down. So much for my outdoor oasis. 

Aside from the frogs we had the best visit. We live 7 million miles from home and I've missed everyone so much. Daniel and Erika came right at the knick of time to boost morale.