Yeah, William is visiting

Of course we are busy busy busy, but William keeps telling me that I have to blog. I am trying!

James had flown on Thursday (7/11) to Nashville and returned with William on Sunday (7/14). These photos are from Helen. She texted them to me with the words that she already missed him. Of course. But we miss him a lot of days too when he is not here.

I went to early service and went to the airport afterwards to meet them. In the afternoon we went "across the river" because Sarah had invited us to dinner. William's cousins miss him too and vise versa. 

Group hug!

First a little play outside. William is trying out Caleb's tractor. 

Dinner enjoyed by all. Of course there has to be a fair amount of monkey-ing around.

Quiet-time before bedtime?

Stella didn't let that happen.

Monday

William was invited to spend the night and next morning we all went to the zoo. A hot day had been forecast but Sarah had only limited days off work. We tried to be as early as possible. And of course we had hats.

The kids had to have food for the giraffes. One of their highlights.

William had never had this experience but he was brave and really enjoyed it.

The tongue was very slobbery though.

The aviary is another "must" for Sarah's children with food. William enjoyed this too.

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Then we looked for a place to have a break in the shade. 

All four had to do some climbing.

We didn't see all the animals. It was just too hot and nap-time was overdue. Last thing ... a ride on the carousel. Why not?

After lunch (not sure exactly when) Sarah took us all to their ACAC pool. They have a family membership. It is a great place. But sorry, no photos. We were too busy having fun. Caleb is fearless. He went on the big slide. He can because he can stand there and he also started doing a few swim strokes. The twins must have jumped a hundred times from the edge. William does not have the swimming opportunity at home but he too does not mind putting his head under water and had a lot of fun.

We took the two older boys to our house and at 6 pm I brought them to our church. It's the week of St Martin's VBS. It goes til 8 pm and James brought them back to Sarah and Wade's house for the night. Decorations in the hallway.

Tuesday

Sarah's last day off. Since it was very very hot she thought it would be nice to go to the movies. I went in the morning to their house and Sarah put us all into her car. Guess what we saw?

The two older boys didn't move from their seats. They were glued. The two younger (being in the middle of being potty trained) asked every other minute to go to the bathroom. I am not sure how much Sarah saw of the movie. 

We went through Wendy's drive through, ate at their house and when it was time for the twins nap I went with William and Caleb to our house. We wanted to go swimming in our CR pool. Pool time for children is limited to certain times since we are a 55+ community. We were a little late, Caleb had forgotten his goggles and did not want to go in and a dark cloud had appeared. We could hear the rumble already. The boys were disappointed but we decided to go to Sweet Frog. Do they look happy? We started outside but it was too hot ... even with ice cream.

VBS again from 6 to 8 pm. No question they had fun. Small groups of children moved around to different stations. It looked great.

They also got dinner there. Robin, our church Sunday School Coordinator, is also Sarah's nanny. Everybody loves her.

After two nights at Auntie's house William had Caleb for two nights at our house. The boys slept upstairs in the guest room and were very good.

Wednesday

What to do on those hot hot Virginia days? Sarah had found an event at the Three Lakes Park from 10 to 11 am for us to go to (she was back to work). They have a summer nature series and this was about "Sharks". 

There was so much to see. The nature center has a lot of aquariums and terrariums with live animals but also a lot of stuffed animals which also was very interesting.

It was still early so for "elevenses" (tea break in England) so we went to a donut place. 

Caleb "posed" for the camera.

At home the boys found something to entertain themselves.

William wrote a letter to his Mom.

VBS of course at 6 pm again. We had been informed that it was "water day".

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Bed time. Every evening Caleb asks to see "the woodpecker". The husband of my cousin in Germany had made it and given to me when we visited them many years ago.

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And this is it for now. William's parents might like this "report".