Saturday, November 28, 2009

Grandma Bonnie's Visit

October 14 - 20

Despite the face above, we LOVE it when Grandma Bon comes to visit. It is always packed with lots of fun.

These two are quite the buddies. And we couldn't help but do a little photo shoot this day when their outfits coordinated so well.

Zoo Boo

At zoo boo they had two haunted houses that in fact were a little too scary and quite smokey. And though Carter's face looked pretty spooked, he handled it pretty well.


This was the "Not too Scary Train Ride." This was our first time riding our zoo train and it was "interesting." It is the only zoo train I have ever been on where you don't see any animals, well I guess we did see a handful of sculptured animals but they don't really count.


They had a number of these large macrame animals that were quite cool.

Matt and the Dragon are climbing through the sea ray tunnels in the aquarium.

This video is of Daddy chasing the dragon. Listen for the Dragon's great roars at the top of the stairs. Before we went to the zoo, Carter said he was going to roar at all the animals and scare them all. The tigers are one of the first animals and all of a sudden he decided he didn't really want to scare the animals. Good decision my boy. Also, I am sure you have noticed he only had the top half of his costume on. It was a rainy, icky day and I didn't want him getting his bottoms dirty.



Feeding the Ducks

We wanted to bring Grandma Bon along for one of our favorite Sunday afternoon activities, feeding the ducks at the Allegheny County Cemetery. I know it may sound creepy that we like to spend our Sundays at a cemetery, but this is one of the most beautiful cemeteries Matt and I have every been to. I think I read somewhere that it is the 7th largest urban cemetery in the country. There are HUGE, OLD trees everywhere which makes it gorgeous in the fall and lots of deer and critters all around. But what we do every time we go is stop at the duck/ goose pond and feed the ducks.



Highland Park Fountain

This is another favorite family spot. Carter loves to ride his scooter around this fountain or grab a stick and poke it in the water.

The Latest Hang Out Spot

We have this tree that is pretty low to the ground in our backyard and it has become the favorite hangout spot for Carter. He climbs up there on his own and literally hangs around on the branches. It is just so funny how kids are kids. If it was 100 or 200 years earlier you better believe that another kid would want to be doing the same thing. Kids just love to climb trees it is as natural as eating sweets.

The Big Project

Bonnie is such a great sport. When we first found out we were having a girl, she offered to buy the bedding for her. I don't think she quite had this in mind:

While, at Swiss Days I found this adorable rag quilt pattern with all the material included. The catch was, you had to cut it all out and put it together. That is where my fantastic mother-in-law comes in. I called her up and informed her that we now had a great project to do together which also involved her flying out to my house in Pittsburgh. And she took the bait...though I didn't have to beg much (not at all).
She did a phenomenal job. I helped a bit with the cutting and ironing, but she did all the hard and tricky stuff. It took us the entire week that she was here to put this all together. We did play in all our in between time though.

We also went on the hunt for a bumper pad and crib skirt that would match our quilt and my tastes. We found a bumper but no luck on the skirt. So back to my trusty mother-in-law, I had the audacity after all that quilt making to ask her to make me a bed skirt. The day before she left we went to JoAnns and after about an hour or so ended up with this material. She took it home along with Carter's store bought crib skirt for a pattern and to no surprise it turned out looking better than Carter's store bought one. Even my little brother who is in town for Thanksgiving couldn't believe the difference and what an incredible job she did. I tell you this lady is amazing and I am not just talking about her sewing skills.
Thanks for being so willing and helpful Bon!!! This little girl has quite a gift on her hands and we have lots of fun memories to cherish!!

4 comments:

Leah Miller said...

Ryan and I saw Bonnie and Jay in Vegas a few weeks ago. It was so fun to visit with them. Cute quilt!

Lorie Walters said...

I LOVE seeing the cute pictures and movies of one of the cutest kids around! Looks just like his dad - no prejudice here! So fun to hear and see Bonnie too - I agree she is amazing!! My brother married well!! Love you all!

M & S Eagar said...

ADORABLE!

Dan and Jen said...

I think that it is SO GREAT that you have such a terrific relationship with you mom-in-law. And I can tell that she really loves you like her own daughter. The blanket turned out PERFECT! And so sweet that Bonnie would also help you out with a crib skirt as well. Those are definite treasures. I always knew that the things my mom made were treasures but now.... they are absolutely priceless. You're little girl is lucky to have those. You need to post some prego pics. Love you guys. Hope you all feel better soon.