Visitors - part 3

Thursday

Auntie Sarah has to work in the morning today. So, after a good breakfast with scrambled egg and sausage Helen William and I head out to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. William is all excited about wanting to see butterflies and his mother thinks the Water Play (splash pad) would be fun.
We were half way when we remembered that we forgot hats. U-turn! This is not a day to wander around hat-less. And this time William does not object ... and he does look cute. Parked and on the way. Thanks to reciprocal rules (members at Cheekwood) we only have to pay for William $7 (just turned 4 year olds are expensive).

We went straight to the butterflies.

You have to watch because some butterflies land even on the path. There are puddles from the misting and some just seem to struggle in their last hours.

This one (which didn't look that good any more) I let climb on my finger and then put it on the flower. It seemed to drink (or eat?).

Outside the conservatory is a water garden. Some water lilies were blooming.

I love these water plants! When you look really carefully you can also see a frog. Quite large this one.

They are called "Water Mosaic" (ludwigia sedioides). So cool!

Helen's favorite flower is the sunflower as long as I can remember. She even bought herself china with a sunflower pattern in England years ago.

The splash pad was not a success. He didn't care for it. He rather wanted to go up to the tree-house.

You can see the treehouse in the background. We are on our way out. It is hot and muggy.

On the way home we pass the Sweet Frog. Passing it? Without stopping? William is delighted. He knows the word "brain freeze" though. But he doesn't squander a drop.

In the evening James and I babysit William and have a lot of fun. Mommy is having sister-time. They have gone to a "paint nite". Look at the photos they texted!

Friday - 4th of July - Independence Day

This is the last full day for our visitors with us. It started by William crawling into our bed.

Then Helen made blueberry pancakes for breakfast.

Helen had promised William to take him to the YMCA indoor pool (because this last few days were soooooooo hot and humid). She had called ahead to find out the opening times.

Unfortunately it was not open swimming after all. William was quite disappointed.

To make up for it we decided to go to Kroger for a few things. And that was a success.

We played ... and read.

... sat out on the front patio ... watered the hibiscus. Today was a lovely day with a wonderful breeze. A/C off, windows and doors open.

Suddenly Helen saw the painting of her dad and remembered that he was 4 years then. William is 4 now too and the hair seems similar ... so we decided to take a picture. I cleaned off the mantel and hoisted William up. He thought it was funny.

Closed mouth!

Helen, hurry up with the photos, ha-ha.

William was bored so the two of us went on a little walk in the neighborhood (while mommy was packing the suitcase). The geese are back. On the way back we jumped over the goose poop on the sidewalk. You can find fun everywhere.

At about 4pm we went to Sarah and Wade who had a cook-out for their friends. So funny how the scene had changed from previous years ... babies and small children and lots of toys around.

William is saying good-bye to Caleb.

We didn't play much more at home. William was ready to go to bed. So we played in the bathtub and then did some reading in his bed. He was asleep fast.

Saturday! Wake-up at 4:50am. William woke up smiling when Helen said it was time to fly to Pops. He was chatting and singing all the way to the airport in his seat in the back.

Safe travels!
I think we all had a great time!!! (Probably this statement would need more exclamation marks).
A shame that Ben couldn't come too but we are grateful that he did do without his wife and son for a week.
Thanks!

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