The Laundry Room: They came bearing gifts...

Last weekend we were lucky enough to have family fly in for a visit and we couldn't have been more excited! My in-laws Steve and Laurie, aka Gramma and Grampa flew in for a short trip and brought along our nephew Tyler with them. Tyler is Eric's sisters oldest son whose 8 years old and one of Owen's favorite people so needless to say we were all pretty excited about the visit. Eric and Owen went off to the airport on Saturday to pick them up while Mason and I waited at home for their arrival. When I got the call they were on their way I could hear Owen in the background talking a mile a minute and it was obvious he was bursting with excitement. Once we all met up, Gramma and Grampa had some surprises to share with us. They came bearing gifts! The boys had asked for some new books recently so that's just what they got! Daddy was thrilled with a few new additions to his wardrobe and we got our very first baby gift for our newest little guy, the traditional Red Sox onesie that every true New Englander gets for their child. I'm saving the best for last because that's just the way it should be...I got two of them most amazing gifts ever. First, a new pair of Coach sneakers! Woohoo! Boy, am I glad I have a mother in law with good taste! And the all time favorite thing they brought...Dynamite Sticks from Wholly Cannoli Bakery in Worcester, Ma. If you don't already know I have been craving these for months and to have them shipped hundreds of miles away costs a pretty penny. Luckily, Laurie picked some up the day before and packed them in a cooler in a suitcase after calling airlines and researching to make sure she wouldn't get arrested or kicked off the plane for smuggling Italian pastries into the airport! After going to all that trouble I think it's safe to say it was WELL worth it because they were AMAZING!!! I had four of them all to myself and it took everything in me to hold back from eating them all at once. SO GOOD!

Now on to the rest of the weekend activities! We spent some time going out to eat and to the playground so we could show off some of our favorite spots. Then it was home for a quiet night with some pizza and ice cream while we the boys wrestled and sat by the fire. We spent Sunday exploring the Museum of Natural History in DC and riding the rails of the metro. Of course we forgot the stroller, but luckily we had enough people to pass around the kids when they got too tired to walk. The boys all loved seeing the huge dinosaurs skeletons and got pretty grossed out by the section devoted to bugs. Tyler especially got into this part where he seemed to like looking at everything but not so much as to participate when the scientist decided to pull giant live bugs out of jars for people to hold. He got close enough to see while staying behind some of the more hands on viewers...I can't say I blame him! Then we headed home just in time to beat the rain walking through the city and back to settle everyone in before it was on to one of my favorite parts of the weekend!

My in-laws were also kind enough to surprise Eric and I by sending us off to a hotel on Sunday night so that Mama and Daddy could transform into Lynden and Eric for the night. Gramma and Grampa held down the fort with the three boys and the dog while we went off to the Sheraton for a little getaway. We were so excited to have the opportunity to get some down time for ourselves and have a date night...and SLEEP! We started out by going to dinner at a local steakhouse where we took our time enjoying appetizers and great meals and some drinks for Eric, non-alcoholic for myself of course! Then we were off to a movie where we saw Hall Pass and were able to get back to the hotel by 10pm to call it a night. I think we were both tired from our busy weekend while also exhausted from life in general. Things get so crazy in everyday life when we're working and parenting and raising a family and I think it's important to rejuvenate yourself once in a while. This was the first time we've gone away for the night like this but I'm hoping it won't be our last! The next morning we were surprisingly up by 8am or so and headed down to the hotel breakfast before meeting up with the family. We hung around and did some shopping and playing before having to wrap up our mini-vacation. Steve, Laurie and Tyler headed back to Ma on Monday afternoon and we were definitely sad to say goodbye. We're so lucky to have such great family and appreciate them always. We're looking forward to seeing them again when we make our next trip up to New England! Here's some pictures we took throughout our visit!