July 17th-29th, 2023 - One of Our California Families Here for an Extended Visit

On the 17th of July our Wiseman family arrived from California to spend two weeks at our house. The plan was for mom and dad to work online during the day while grandma and grandpa kept the six-year-old, Violet, and the three-year-old, Wren, entertained.

Coming up with things to keep them busy eight hours a day proved challenging but we rose to the task. We couldn't hang around the house because the girls would bother mom and dad, who were on video meetings, on a regular basis. The following is not in chronological order, I lost track of what day we did what.

We spent one day at Lake Perry where the girls swam while I cut the grass and later entertained themselves at the lake lot. Violet with a little frog and the girls entertaining themselves with the pool noodles.

We spent another day at the Perry Park Center where half of the gym floor was set up with activities for 3 - 7-year-olds. Very nice and well-done.

We had a pool set up in the backyard and they enjoyed it on several days enduring our hot Missouri weather. We loved it as grandma and grandpa could just sit around and watch with a fan blowing on us. LOL

One day we had chalk painting on the sidewalk. They had a ball and thoroughly enjoyed getting paint all over themselves and then getting squirted off before being allowed inside.

One day we went to the movie. It was Wren's first movie and Violet's second. They enjoyed it and were really well-behaved.  A nice lunch followed. 

Another morning we went to the playground equipment on French Lane but it was just too hot. All the equipment was too hot to play on and there was no shade. We put their suits on in the car and went to the kids' water park just down the street. Luckily there was a little shade for grandma and grandpa making it tolerable. The girls certainly kept cool as they ran from one water feature to another.

On another day the Dinosaur Museum in Ste. Genevieve had scheduled activities for kids, so we took them. They colored and cut out a Triceratops to wear as a crown as they walked around to look at all the exhibits. Great fun and a great museum. I highly recommend it.

We also took them to the Discovery Museum in Cape Girardeau one day. It was a really big hit. It is in an old building downtown with two floors of play areas - a "construction area", a play house, a beauty salon, a stage to perform on, etc. They were really busy the whole time and were worn out.

One afternoon Aunt Alexa showed them how to do Avocado and Honey Facials. They applied the "goo" to each other, to Aunt Alexa, and to grandma. Grandpa got his hands done.

Saturday the 29th the visit ended. We thoroughly enjoyed having them for an extended visit since we see seldom see them. 

While in St. Louis earlier in the month, Annie purchased a brand-new car. It needed to get to California so Tuesday Adam left to drive it home. He was able to take a lot of their stuff so that at the airport Annie only had to deal with one suitcase, one car seat, and the girls. 

We took the three of them to the airport in St. Louis on Saturday morning to find the parking garage full. They sent us to a $20.00 per day lot but when we got there it was full as well. The plan changed. Kelly would drop us all off with the luggage and I would help Annie get the luggage checked while Kelly drove around until I came out to be picked up. 

I don't know what was going on but the terminal was crazy. There was a crowd at the Southwest terminal like we've never seen before. The lines to check in at the kiosks were out the door and down the sidewalk. The entire inside of the terminal was packed with people from one end to the other. After checking in at the kiosk we had at least a fifteen-to-twenty-minute wait before we could drop off the checked luggage. They must have been shorthanded because the luggage conveyor stayed full most of the time and they wouldn't accept more luggage until it cleared off completely. After the luggage was dropped off I said goodbye and called Kelly to come pick me up. 

The three of them got through security rather quickly and had time to grab some lunch before boarding. It is always fun to entertain young children in an airport but to make matters worse after they got on the plane it did not take off for over an hour as they waited for a crew to arrive. Absolutely crazy. They did all arrive home safely Saturday evening and called to let us know.

Sad to see them go but now we must get ready for a campout that begins in Illinois on Monday. Busy, busy, busy!

P.S. I need your input. Some people, maybe all, are notified that a new blog has posted. I send an email reminder. Some have told me they don't need the email reminder. Please let me know if you are notified by Blogspot or if you need the email to know a new one had posted.

Mike