Things We Do While Daddy's Away

Toby was at a bachelor party last weekend in Asheville, N.C. for his friend Alex. A few months ago he told me a bunch of guys were going to rent a cabin for the weekend. In my mind I pictured a log cabin, hiking, maybe a bon fire or two and all kinds of outdoorsy stuff. I was happy he was able to go since he very seldom has guys' nights and very rarely sees Alex, one of his best friends since childhood (they met when Toby was 5 and Alex was 4). Friday I received a picture of the "cabin" the boys stayed in...

I hope they managed in such a primitive setting. Ha!

I had mentioned to my parents that Toby would be away for the weekend and asked them if they wanted to hang out a bit. We had toyed with the idea of going to the cabin in Blue Ridge but decided to stay here since the weather forecast did not look too promising. Saturday morning the kids and I showed up to Meme and Papa's house and this is what we saw...

It was seriously like a mini carnival. There were games and toys and food and music and oh yeah, A BOUNCY HOUSE! Patrick had a blast going from one thing to the next and goofing around with his Aunt Mollie. By the end of the day he was saying things like "C'mon Mols" and "Mols, where are you?". He enjoyed doing puzzles and counting frogs and lizards with Meme. Patrick and Papa also had fun assembling a red motorcycle so Patrick (and eventually Madelyn and Creighton) can have a bike just like Papa.

We then went on a long walk to some green space that is someday going to be a park (when it's all growns up). There we saw a front end loader which Patrick was able to "drive" with Papa's help. I was also schooled by my Dad on how those things work and what buttons and gadgets did what. I need to know these things because, believe me, Patrick will ask. He already looks at me like I am some kind of fool because I don't know all (and I mean ALL) the dinosaur names like Daddy. Sometimes he'll hold a dinosaur up to quiz me and if I hesitate even a moment he"ll shake his little head and mutter "ask Daddy." I don't want to be the loser Mommy that doesn't know about tractors and trucks too!



Miss Madelyn had a very fun weekend too. She spent most of it outside with us watching Patrick go bouncy house crazy and swim in the pool. She loved the cool breeze and looking at all the trees. She also got some quality time with her Aunt Mollie, Papa and Meme. It was so sweet watching her coo and smile at Mollie when they were playing on the floor together. (Click here for a video of our Chatty Maddy.) Here are two of my favorite camera phone shots of Maddy from the weekend (all the pictures of the kids in this post were taken with my phone. See here for why):