Tata and Papa to the Rescue

We were so glad to have my parents here for the month of November.  You can always count on good meals, lots of laughs, and free babysitting when Tata and Papa are around.  They hadn't been down since April, so we were anxious for them to come visit.

While they were here, it was mostly life as usual.  I scheduled all my yearly appointments while I had childcare, so I made visits to the doctor, eye doctor, dentist, hair dresser, and caught up with some friends.  We took an outing to Conner's A-maize-ing Acres, went to the beach, did some landscaping, went to the St. Augustine outlets, had Brielle's baby dedication at church, and did lots of playing. (I guess that's a lot of stuff to do in just a month, especially when you throw in two trips to Tally for football games, plus Thanksgiving, and the first trimester of pregnancy!)
 
We did a house swap for two nights.  They watched the kids at our house, while Dan and I stayed at their condo.  Dan and I did a tour of the Beaches restaurants, hitting up The Reef (St. Augustine), Salt Life, Roy's (progressive dinner - Happy Hour oceanside at The Reef, dinner at Salt Life, and dessert at Roy's.)  The next morning we continued the tour with Bagel World, Starbucks, Angie's Subs, and Mezza Luna.  Finally, we topped it all off the next day with breakfast at The Beach Hut.  We didn't do a whole lot - we bought some new jeans for Dan (something we've been talking about for literally years!), finished reading the Francis Chan book Crazy Love that we'd been working on forever, explored Fort Caroline, and walked on the beach...oh, we even worked out.  We came back refreshed and reconnected (and full!).

Tata and Papa kept the kids busy while we were away with a field trip to Krispy Kreme to learn how doughnuts are made and a visit to the train at the Beaches Museum.

We are so grateful that they are willing and able to come and visit for extended periods of time.  It's really helped the kids to feel connected to them and has been such a blessing for me to have extra hands and company during the times Dan is working a lot.  We are looking forward to their next visit coming up already in January!