Brentwood

One week after getting back from our 12 day family vacation, I loaded up the kids and headed north to my parents house for a visit. Karlee had been in Brentwood for awhile with only a few days left of her trip and we wanted to get some time in with her and Leila. It was a much needed visit - we're so sad that they have to live on the other side of the country! My girls are absolutely in love with Leila!

Elle especially is such a little mama and was constantly asking if she could help take care of Leila.

Since Gram and Papa had to work, Karlee and I spent our time at the park  . . . 

on walks to see the animals (pretty sure we went every single day) . . , 

and playing out in the kiddie pool!

We spent a great 2 1/2 days together! It was hard to see them go. Sure love this sweet sister of mine (and her beautiful daughter) I hope that one day we'll be able to live close (don't mind my "just before bed" look - it was the night before she was leaving and we realized we'd never gotten a picture of the two of us together)!

Karlee and Leila flew out at 6am on Thursday, leaving the kids and I two days of Gram and Papa time. We stuck to our daily routine of walking/running/biking to the animals first thing in the morning, hitting up some park after that, and then home for quiet time while Cal napped in the afternoon.

Gram was always home by the time Cal woke up from this nap and ready to entertain us all!

Zacky came over on his birthday so the girls had decorated cards for him, made him a crown, and gone with Gram to pick him out a balloon and special treat.

Papa and Gram are always great about making time to play when we come to visit. Papa joined us for bike rides in the morning, trips to the park, and always took a kid or two anytime he'd have to run an errand. Gram picked up the girls every afternoon before heading off for school pick-ups. Then she'd be home by 3pm to play games, cook us up something yummy, and read stories before bedtime.

Gram took Friday off just to spend the day with us. Gram always knows how to make the day special -snuggle stories on the swing in the morning (Madi was still waking up here):

Splash park in the afternoon, UNO attack while Cal napped, and we all went out shopping before dinner. Gram had promised the girls key chains for their school backpacks and lunch boxes and they had to pick out the prefect one!

I love how my mom always recognizes when I need a break and she'll whisk all the kids away on some adventure! This particular afternoon I believe they headed off to play at McDonalds!

My kids also had their first exposure to the Toy Story movies on this trip! Toy Story 3 was playing at the Yogurt place we went to on Wednesday and my kids totally got sucked in. . .

(watching with Leila's other grandpa - Steve Evans)

Since we only got to watch part of the movie while out to yogurt, we all requested Toy Story 3 for popcorn movie night on Friday. Then of course my kids wanted to watch one and two as well. My parents didn't own #1but my dad made a special trip to Target with Elle on Saturday morning before we headed home so that we could take 1 and 2 on our trip with us. I felt like such movie junkies - my kids watched all three Toy Story movies within a 24 hour span!

Thanks Gram and Papa for the great trip and all the wonderful memories!

When we got home Elle made a list of all her favorite things from the trip that she wanted to thank Gram and Papa for. I had to take a picture of her sweet list for documentation:

We love our trips to Gram and Papa's!