The Fourth and Fifth

Grandpa Bennie, Debbie, and Great Grandma Helen came to visit us for the holiday weekend. They arrived in time for lunch on the 4th, and we just hung out that afternoon before the big shindig Jillian had planned for the evening.

Catching up over coffee and a snack

Adrienne opened some birthday presents, which included some balloons for balloon animals. You are not surprised to know that my clown of a husband also has this talent. He made a lovely flower for the girls.

The weather was right for flying a kite, so we headed outdoors to give it a whirl

See that 'For Sale' sign in the background? Anyone want to move across the street from a really awesome family ?!? :)

Adrienne decided it was her job to retrieve the kite

Time in the shop building a race car kit that Grandpa brought

Adding the decals

We put Adrienne to bed as usual, and let Jillian stay up long into the night to fully experience the 4th of July for the first time. Matt took her to buy some fireworks (which in MN, is only stuff that "emits a shower of sparks"), and the painful wait began. It takes a loooong time to get dark this far north.

Hark! I heard a firework in the distance!

Smoke bomb entertainment to pass the time

Organizing her stash of pyrotechnics

Matt decided it might help fill the time to build a fire and make some s'mores. You can imagine Jillian's delight when she got to eat two of them.

It takes a lot of help to build a fire, you know. Even Grandpa's dog had to supervise.

Finally the show could begin

It was a little loud. The people behind us always shoot off some beautiful (illegal) fireworks and make it quite a show. I was surprised that Jillian was way more interested in the piddly stuff that was going on in our driveway.

On the 5th, Daddy and Grandpa set to work on their "project". Grandpa likes a project to do when he visits, and we are happy to oblige him! You may recall that Jillian so eagerly ordered puppets a few months ago. She has been dreaming of a puppet stage since that time, so Daddy and Grandpa did some pretty awesome work on $40 worth of plywood and the princesses of this realm now have a beautiful castle.

Grinding screws

Painted! Jillian chose 'crayola gray' and 'wild strawberry' paint for the colors.

Matt free-handed all the details...I had forgotten he has a little artistic flair

After we moved it down into the play room, we added the finishing touches--curtains!

The first official show, put on my Matt and Jillian

Watching the show

Happy girl behind the scenes

"Ladies and gentlemen, introducing....."

Do you think Daddy likes this puppet stage, too????

Our guests loaded up to head south the next morning, but Grandma Helen made sure to get in a few extra snuggles. I think it's so special the girls got to spend some time with her--it's pretty cool to get to know your great grandma!