Loaner Kids and Fireworks

Hey All!

What a fun (and full!) week we've had.  We were so excited to see so many of you, and are looking forward to seeing many more of you soon!

Tuesday we spend the evening at Sleepy Hollow State Park with Grandma and Grandpa Giddings.  I was telling Nate on the way in that it seems strange that we have spent so much time together and shared so much, and there are still pieces of our lives that the other knows little about.  I went camping at Sleepy Hollow many times as a child, and the park still feels like a second home to me.  Nate and I took a walk with Mom and Dad down to the beach, and got to tell all sorts of stories of how I was as a kid.  It was great to have three generations together to talk and play games!

Wednesday, when Nate got off work, we headed down to Ohio with Dave and Pete to buy fireworks.  Now, a little less rich but a little more excited, we are ready for Monday and will be exploding our almost 100 mortars with a vengeance!

Thursday night we spent time with new friends Adam and Lauren, and old friend Nathan Gray and played all sorts of fun card games before retiring to watch HIMYM.  It is great just to have time to hang out in a relaxed atmosphere, and Adam and Lauren share a lot of the same interests that we do.

Then came Friday - BABYSITTING NIGHT!  Our friend Cassandra has two adorable children, and we volunteered to watch them so she could have an evening out.  This was thrilling for all parties - we were thrilled to get to spend time with adorable children, Cassandra was thrilled to get away from her (mostly) adorable children, and 4-year-old Scarlet and 5-year-old Nicholas were thrilled to have new victims in myself, Nate, and our dog Sara.  And thus, Mom left and the evening commenced.

Nate and Nicholas spent a lot of time play with Legos and talking about Star Wars.  I'm not sure if it was Nicholas or Nate that was more excited to build a Lego Starship! (I swear he suggested it without coercion on my part! -Nate)  Scarlet and I played with her Play Dough Ice Cream Party set, and made ourselves delicious Sundaes.  She told me that she was going to help me with mine because she wanted to be like the Care Bears - super cute!  I think that when we have kids, this blog is just going to be videos of them and a typed litany of all the hilarious things they say.

Later in the evening, after swinging, driving around the yard, and playing piggy-back tag, we settled down to watch Horse Land.  Scarlet went to get her markers, and wanted to draw on the couch.  We quickly veto'ed that idea, but offered up Sara as an acceptable substitute, and thus Sara's Crayola Makeover began.  When Cassandra came home, she declared her to be a Paint By Number Puppy.  Luckily, Sara loved the attention and the kids loved the adventure.  And, at the end of the night, we were exhausted but excited to watch the kids again - after a long nap!

Saturday we had a wonderful sushi lunch followed by a family trip to the local water park. It also turned out it was Nate's first trip down a water slide!  So we spent all afternoon dragging tubes up a flight of stairs so that we could spin and slide our way back down again.  We also made plans to go to Michigan's Adventures, and eventually Blizzard Beach to continue his water slide education!

Big stretch after a long week!  Hope all is well with everyone!  We love and miss you!
-Justine & Nate