Top 10 Tuesday - Long Weekend

The weekend went a little longer for us. We are just starting our week today. My husband had Monday off because of Veteran's day. We also had Stake Conference this weekend and a 2 hour meeting with my little guys is very hard. Oh.. and it just happened to also be Grandma's Birthday. So we decided it was a great time to get out of town. We headed to the hills and Grandma's house. Here are 10 things that make these little trips wonderful. If gas weren't so expensive we would do them more often!

1. DVD player in the Car - usually when we do the 2 1/2 hour drive to Grandma's we listen to music or stories for as long as the little guys will take it. Once they start to go crazy from being strapped into car seats we break out the DVDs and put one on. This is a life saver or at least a sanity saver. Henry hates sitting in his car seat anyway but over 2 hours is torture which quickly becomes torture for our ears. So we watched Book of Mormon movies on the way to Grandma's on Sunday morning (We would have left on Saturday except that we had Ian's Soccer game and a Stake Leadership meeting that afternoon that one of us had to attend)

2. Fresh air and open space - Heading out of the city and into the country is always a good thing. It was a bit rainy and wet this weekend so we weren't outside nearly as much as we could have been but we checked out the flowers in the garden, the cows out in the pasture and the wood peckers that are pecking holes in Grandpa's house and hiding acorns in the walls. A lot more nature up at Grandma's house. The kids get dirty digging in the dirt and played croquet on the lawn.

3. Tickle Torture with Grandpa - My boys get so excited to see Grandpa. They love to climb up him holding his hands and then flip over. They love it when Grandpa tickles them. They keep going back for more and more until finally one of them (Ian usually) ends up crying because he has finally reached the maximum tickles before it becomes torture.

4. Zoo Tycoon Marathons - Sophie gets to play Zoo Tycoon a lot longer at Grandma's house. Grandma has two computers and one of them is for the kids to play their games on. Grandma has the best computer games. Harry Potter, Book Worm, and especially Zoo Tycoon 2. (we only have the original Zoo tycoon collection at our house)

5. Cooking and Canning with Grandma - I get to be in the kitchen with my Mom a lot while we visit. With so many guests at Grandmas there is a lot more cooking. I was glad to be of help as my parents cooked and canned the last of the apples from their tree. We made jars and jars of apple sauce and I even got to take some home with me.

6. Heaven for kids - This is the best park ever and my kids beg to go there whenever we head up to Grandma's house. It was even better this time because cousins went with us!

7. Dish TV - We don't have cable or dish where we live but Grandma's house has Dish and therefore a ton of channels to choose from. The history channel is often on but the boys love to watch the discovery channel's show How things are Made and Myth Busters. Ian just calls them builder shows.

8. Games - We often break out the board games at Grandma's house. Settlers of Catan is one of our families favorites. We have even been known to play Risk and Monopoly at times. Sunday night, once the kids were put to bed, we had a great game of Pit. It is one of my Dad's favorite games. I don't really know why because I think he ended up with bull or the bear almost every time. I don't mind playing this game especially since I seem to get the corner a lot. I actually am a great game player. I don't know why but I do seem to win quite often. It used to bother my husband that I beat him so often at games but he is used to it now.

9. Cousins - My brother and his family live up near Grandma and Grandpa so it is always a treat to see them when we visit. My kids always have a great time with their cousins.

10. Celebrating Birthdays! - With so many family members in the area we tend to have a lot of birthdays and this weekend it was Grandma's. That was the Main reason for our visit the other things listed here are just the icing on the cake.

Happy Birthday Mom!
We had a great weekend! I hope you enjoyed your Day of all Days!
We Love You!