Grandparent Time

I decided spur of the moment yesterday afternoon to make the hour and half trek over to see my parents and younger brother David today, even though we just saw my mom the day before. The sun was shining and our plans to have a play date with neighborhood friends got cancelled, but I still wanted to get out and about. Plus I wanted their help corralling the little one at the mall while shoe shopping.

Well the day didn't turn out as nice as the morning suggested it would as the wind kind of picked up and it was cooler than we had hoped but still comfortable. We went to a newer outdoor mall by their house; but didn't get either of the tasks I wanted to do accomplished. Can anyone explain why shoes for a two and a half year old cost more than ones for me or why a store that has closed would still be listed as open online? It's a very nicely done up place with lovely fountains, a big bright play area, built in fireplace, even a mini splash zone for the kids to jump in when it's warmer, and boccie ball courts so it was a nice place to spend a few hours nonetheless.

But why oh why do developers put outdoor shopping centers in MI? This is the second one they've opened near my parents. We had some beautiful ones in CA, the key word in that sentence being California, you know where the weather is pretty decent most of the year! Today was nice and there were a lot of families out and about but I wonder how the shops do business wise in the winter time. Cause I'm not wading through snow drifts no matter how big the sale is!
After shopping it was time for an early dinner; we tried a new family restaurant by my parents and it was really good. Going anywhere new with my folks is normally unheard of, they seem to always go to the same place on Friday as my brother can tell you! I thought I should add a picture of me for change to the blog, to prove I really do come along. Not that I like this one, I think I look tired, my hair is frizzy, and I was just a mess today. My shirt had a stain on it, and I have no idea how it got there. Don't you just hate that! So keep your eyes on the cute kid I somehow managed to produce!

ER calls my Dad "Papa", here she is with him and yes that is a butter packet she's clutching in her hand. She started calling for bread almost the second we sat down. Really she should have been requesting butter, cause that's mainly what she ate. I spread it on her roll and she proceeded to lick it off, her little nose got all shiny real quick. She must have been hungry for once cause she ate a whole hot dog, half a roll, and french fries, as well as bits of tomato, chicken, and hard boiled egg from my salad. For her that's almost a shockingly large amount at once.

We had time for some more silliness and ice cream, back at my parents' before we left. Here are my mom aka Grammy and ER reading up on their favorite blog...but really mom is checking it out to make sure she looks good in the pictures from our visit with the Great Grandparents the day before. Just kidding Mom! That's my little brother Dave behind them. You might also note that miss fashionista has raided Grammy's jewelery box and over accessorized like usual with two bracelets and a necklace. Honestly that girl just loves the jewels!

So as you can tell nothing big happened today, just a day with the fam. Which might not seem like a big deal but it really is a wonderful thing for us as we never thought Brad would find work back in MI and we'd always live out of state. So while a ninety minute drive just to hang out might seem far for a lot of people the commute is much shorter than it was from CA or NM so no complaints here!

Being close to our families and friends was one the main reason we moved back, I grew up with a large extended family around for all of the holidays and saw my Grandparents who lived just two blocks away from me during most of my childhood almost every day. I wanted my parents, brother, and Brad's mother Norma to have as big of a presence in ER's life too. Plus moving here we could afford for me to continue staying at home with her. We even managed to find a house less than ten minutes from where Brad works so he's able to spend more time with us and less time commuting. I don't regret the decision we made for a second.