August 2017 Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

August 2017 began with big excitement: A visit from Grandma and Grandpa! In preparation for their visit, there was cleaning, and also some furniture moving, which made possible this nice new view (far better than the perpetually cluttered desk that used to be where the piano is now):

Grandma and Grandpa's visit included a Friday (Free Fun Friday!), and so they went with us to the Children's Museum at Holyoke. Lots of fun stuff there for the kids to play with.

The next day brought another museum adventure: the Connecticut Science Center.

The harp Grandpa and Clarissa are checking out plays with lasers instead of strings.

Curtis built this fort all by himself.

Dad moved something with his mind!

This may look like a random, pointy blue thing . . .

. . . but it's actually a piece from the rocket that launched James Doohan's ashes into space(Scotty from the original Star Trek). It's covered in signatures from his coworkers.

Watch out for the dinosaur on the ground: it moves!

The science center is built overlooking the Connecticut River. Behold, the view:

Later that evening, Grandma and Grandpa treated us to dinner at a yummy Mexican restaurant near their motel (same place Grandmother and Grandfather usually stay when they visit).

During our times between outings, the kids enjoyed playing with the fun building toys Grandma and Grandpa gave them (see Clarissa's creation below). We're so glad they came to see us!

The Foods of July 2017

When we went blueberry picking, the kids discovered just how patriotic a fruit it is, appearing white, red, or blue depending on ripeness. Fortunately, they mostly picked blue ones.

While passing through Ohio headed west, we discovered a White Castle with self-service ordering!

They offered fried pickles, too, which we sampled.

Lest you think we ate nothing but junk food all month, behold this produce feast we enjoyed at Grandmother and Grandfather's table:

We tried rock candy from Connor Prarie:

Mom made her obligatory visit to Fazoli's, this time sampling at long last the famed pizza baked spaghetti she heard about on the radio years and years ago. The fettuccine alfredo was good, too, as usual.

On the way through Ohio heading east, we stopped at Culver's. The Wisconsin Big Cheese Pub Burger Mom tried was ridiculously good.

Our nice hotel in Pennsylvania had some fun offerings at breakfast:

Pennsylvania also offered much Tastykake goodness:

Back home, Mom successfully brewed a batch of homemade fettuccine alfredo:

She also whipped some cream as topping for hot chocolate:

Dad and the kids made lemonade one day, from real lemons:

Last but not least, Mom and Lydia concluded that happier hour shakes at Arby's are a nice deal:

New England Adventures in July 2017

Since many of our July 2017 adventures happened while visiting Grandmother and Grandfather, we'll give those that happened closer to home their own post. The biggest non-grandparent adventure was a trip to an amusement park for Mom and some of the kids. Here's Jared getting ready for our first ride to start, on the Tilt-a-whirl.

This ride was one of Jared and Amanda's favorites. Note that the people are at the top of the picture, upside-down. They also enjoyed the main roller coaster at the park and rode both rides many times.

Lydia preferred more low key rides, like Mom, and enjoyed the carousel and the teacups.

Lydia and Jared also had fun at the mini bumper cars, which were just like the big ones, only slightly smaller and with far fewer people waiting to use them.

Thanks to Dad's vision of bringing back family game night, our board game collection got a boost in July.

We had a bit of home improvement done, in the form of new glass for our back door.

Our day-lilies bloomed:

And at the very end of month, we had a nice family outing to enjoy nature a bit:

July 2017 Adventures with Grandparents Part 4

A few more photos from our visit to Grandmother and Grandfather. We saw a lovely pond:

Clarissa had fun visiting the bank with Grandfather and collecting goodies:

Mom found a lilac in bloom . . . in July!

We did a lot of swimming, sometimes with cousins:

We visited a playground and found new things, like wild flowers and a splash area:

Mom and Amanda visited the Indianapolis temple:

On the way back, we stayed at a fancy hotel, in a room with a kitchen:

We also had an unexpected guest on the way back, a shiny bug who crossed much of Pennsylvania with us: