We got an unplanned Memorial Day weekend visit with our oldest granddaughter, Laine. We had traveled to NWA on Saturday to attend the first birthday party of our grandson, Copeland. I'll be posting about that soon as well as posting about the girls' birthday party. After Copeland's party, it was brought to our attention that Laine had accomplished a big "goal" that had the reward of going to Papa and DeDe's house.
So how could we not fulfill that reward!?!?
I'm going to post about our time together for our memory as well as for Laine to read someday and remember her time with us. Saturday evening, she came home with us. Here she is after her bath and getting ready to head to bed. She really is into "posing" these days :-)
A picture below before heading to S.S. and church at First Baptist. I'm so glad that she likes to go to Papa's church (as she calls it) I'm prejudiced I know, but I sure think she is a pretty girl!
Jeff and I had already planned, before knowing Laine was going to be with us, to head out of town Sunday after church to enjoy a little down time during the holiday weekend. So we headed east, with Laine in tow, to Springfield, MO. Laine was so excited. She remembers well staying with us in the hotel in NWA Valentine's night and has mentioned to her Mom more than once that she sure would like to go back to a hotel with Papa and DeDe. So she was thrilled when we reached the hotel. One of her favorite things to do is ride on the luggage cart.
We got to Springfield in the middle of the afternoon, ate lunch, then checked in. Laine still takes an afternoon nap. We were surprised she didn't sleep on the hour + drive. However, as she was laying on the couch watching cartoons late in the afternoon, she fell asleep. We had promised her swimming, but it was really hot outside, so I was glad she went to sleep and that way we went swimming around 5 after the sun had gone down some.
We didn't think to have her Momma pack a swimsuit, so had stopped at Walmart before going to the hotel and she picked out a suit. Cutie pie :-)
The water was a little chilly, so Papa is coaxing her into the pool with his water gun
It worked
After spending an hour or so in the pool, we headed back to the room and cleaned up
And then walked a few blocks to eat supper
And get ice cream for dessert
Yum - strawberry cheesecake
Bedtime..Laine loves for you to tell her a Bible bedtime story, so Papa is doing that
Next morning, breakfast at the hotel. Papa made her a waffle
And DeDe let her have chocolate milk, orange juice and a blueberry muffin too.....yes, just a little spoiling - that's what grandparents are for, right? :-)
Another favorite thing she loves to do is operate the elevator. She also immediately memorized our room number and would run ahead of us and find the room, all on her own.
Enjoying a lazy Memorial Day morning....trying to decide what we were going to do. With the forecast of rain, we just didn't know if we would go on to Branson and to Silver Dollar City
But we eventually did decide to do just that -- we had a happy girl as a result
When we arrived at SDC, instead of a trolley picking us up, a big bus did. Laine said it was her first time to ride a big bus, so she was pretty excited about that.
Ready to start a fun day
Since Jeff cannot ride the rides, due to his vertigo, I got the privilege of being her riding partner and Jeff was our photographer
About 2, the park shut down most of the rides as there was lightning in the area. We decided to head to the Saloon for their fun show and was hoping the rain would come while we were inside. Standing in line about 30 minutes, so Laine was treated to a Dippin Dot ice cream cone.
The rain did come while we were in the show. However, it was still raining when the show was over and they made us move on out of the theater. Laine loved running thru the rain and jumping in the puddles (thus a blurry picture)
There was still lightning and light rain in the area, so most everything was still shut down. We did ride an indoor boat ride
And then rode the train
After the train ride, we decided to head on home. We were wet and tired!
Laine wasn't in the car 10 minutes before she was out! She was sure a good girl all day and made our time so much more fun at SDC.
Tuesday, we just had a lazy day back in Galena. Laine is setting the table for our evening meal.
Spaghetti and meatballs - one of her favorites
And after dinner, I took her to a nearby shaved ice place where she chose Pink Bubblegum
Wednesday morning, it was time to go home.....
Andy and Ellie met us halfway -- these two sisters were sure glad to see each other!
We love both of these girlies so much. Ellie will get a turn soon to come for a visit! We are so grateful to Andy and Carman for sharing their daughters with us!
