I'll Keep Future Visits a Surprise!

At the Memphis Zoo entrance

My parents came to visit us for the weekend.  I think my mom was tired of hearing about all our zoo adventures and she wanted to see it for herself. :) Let me tell you what I was tired of--Hannah counting down the days for a week straight!! Every single morning the first thing she said, "Only (x) more days until Grendy and Papaw get here!" Oh my gosh! I started to think that I should keep their visit a surprise, but before I could tell Ryan my idea he had already told Hannah they were coming. Oh, well.  We spent Saturday morning at the zoo, lunch at Chick Fila, took a nap, and then they took the kids to their hotel for the night!  Ryan and I took advantage and had a date! We had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack and saw the new Harry Potter (wonderful! I actually thought it was worth paying to see it in the theater!).  Sunday was church and then lunch at IHOP.  I actually ordered something light...kinda proud of myself. :) A great weekend and now the countdown to the Atlanta Zoo will begin!  Ten days!

Fun pics from the weekend:

post-zoo lunch at Chick Fila!

Autumn and Papaw at IHOP

cooling off at a misting station at the zoo...those things are amazing!

hanging out at the herpatarium

Grendy and Hannah at IHOP

Hannah and this super huge python..wow

Julie and Splish get a drink :)

lounging at the pool at Grendy and Papaw's hotel

Grendy comforting Autumn on the carousel...oy

rattlesnake!

Ryan is amazed by the steampot at Joe's!

sea lion show! so cute!

sweet sisters

A Night at the Theater

Last night was date night, and my husband being as resourceful as he is bought us tickets to see a play at the Roxy! A wonderful change from seeing a movie that we probably wouldn't have liked (and probably a lot cheaper, too!). :P

The play was wonderful! The actress playing Belle sounded just like the one in the movie, speaking and singing...very impressive. :) What cracked me up the most was the young man playing Lefou (Gaston's little friend/lacky). I highly recommend going and even bring your kids with you. Tickets are not expensive. There was a great number of kids there last night (I'm not sure my own child would have sat still, but the kids there last night were very well-behaved).

After the play, Ryan and I made it over to TCBY. I gorged myself on a banana split while Ryan looked on, nursing a root beer float. Hey, it's frozen yogurt. It couldn't possibly be that bad for me, could it? ;)

Meanwhile, on the other side of town at Steak and Shake...

Autumn got herself hooked up, thanks to her Uncle Bobbo who has worked at Steak and Shake for the past three years or so. :) Autumn and Grendy had a big time getting ice cream and getting a new stuffed lion at Toys R Us (just what my girls need...another stuffed toy :p). Hannah was with her Papaw, no doubt playing computer games, eating fruit snacks, and watching The Polar Express and DVR'd episodes of Sponge Bob.

None of us could have asked for a better start to the weekend!

Slumber Par-tay!

Grandkids spending Friday nights with the grandparents were quick to become a tradition when Hannah was a year old. Then came grandchildren #2 and #3 almost at the same time, and we parents were really quick to continue that tradition. Three times the fun! :D

Last night Hannah stayed with my mom (she switches between my parents and my grandma), and my mom already had Emma, my niece. My sister and bro-in-law went to KY for a kid-free weekend with friends. My mom figured it couldn't hurt to see how Autumn would do spending the night away from home for the first time. Ryan and I were both anticipating a middle of the night phone call saying Autumn was melting down and demanding her daddy. To our pleasant surprise, Autumn did fabulous! My mom claims Autumn is so devious she would make Bin Laden surrender, but she just doesn't understand us Caulfields need constant stimulation. Whether it's clearing out shelves of DVDs at 2 AM, hiding the remote control, or stealing Grendy's watch, we are unable to remain idle. Of course, everyone was exhausted the next morning. All three girls took four hour naps, and somewhat recovered. :)

While both kids were spending the night with their Grendy, Ryan and I were able to enjoy a date. We went out to dinner and Ryan took me to have a pedicure as an early Mother's Day present. When we came home we were in awe of not having at least one child to get ready for bed, and we woke up on our own rather than the squawking of a toddler or a 5-year old crawling into our bed at 5:30 AM. While it was quite lovely in a sense, it was also a reminder that stuff like that is not going to last forever. Eventually the girls will become teenagers who will want to sleep in, and we will be the ones trying to wake them up. :P