August 2017 Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

August 2017 began with big excitement: A visit from Grandma and Grandpa! In preparation for their visit, there was cleaning, and also some furniture moving, which made possible this nice new view (far better than the perpetually cluttered desk that used to be where the piano is now):

Grandma and Grandpa's visit included a Friday (Free Fun Friday!), and so they went with us to the Children's Museum at Holyoke. Lots of fun stuff there for the kids to play with.

The next day brought another museum adventure: the Connecticut Science Center.

The harp Grandpa and Clarissa are checking out plays with lasers instead of strings.

Curtis built this fort all by himself.

Dad moved something with his mind!

This may look like a random, pointy blue thing . . .

. . . but it's actually a piece from the rocket that launched James Doohan's ashes into space(Scotty from the original Star Trek). It's covered in signatures from his coworkers.

Watch out for the dinosaur on the ground: it moves!

The science center is built overlooking the Connecticut River. Behold, the view:

Later that evening, Grandma and Grandpa treated us to dinner at a yummy Mexican restaurant near their motel (same place Grandmother and Grandfather usually stay when they visit).

During our times between outings, the kids enjoyed playing with the fun building toys Grandma and Grandpa gave them (see Clarissa's creation below). We're so glad they came to see us!

Grandmother and Grandfather come to visit Fall 2014

On Friday morning, September 5, after the older Muffins were off to school, Mom took the little girls out for a special adventure: finding Grandmother!

Grandfather showed up a bit later, too, in time to wait with Mom for when Curtis came home from kindergarten.

Amanda took up knitting over the winter, and she'd been itching to expand her yarn skills. Grandmother to the rescue with crochet lessons and supplies!

Grandfather especially had lots of things he wanted to see on this visit, such as the under construction Hartford temple:

And, since the rental car came with a New York license place,he also made it a point to leave New England just long enough to get a picture of the car in its plate-appropriate state:

The New York jaunt was part of a bigger excursion to a phonograph show in Danbury, CT:

There Grandfather met Ron Sitko, who has been a long-distance phonograph contact of Grandfather's for a few decades:

Grandfather also got to visit a trolley museum, this time with Grandmother and three grandkids in tow.

Another time Mom snuck out with him for a lobster roll:

Even if Grandfather weren't already a lobster fan, it would just be a shame to visit New England without trying the official sandwich of the Red Sox, now wouldn't it?

Grandmother spent most of her visit with the grandchildren, who thoroughly approved. Note in the top picture the ruffle scarf that Amanda knit for Grandmother.

When Grandfather was a kid, his grandmother, known as Grandmom, would lecture him about the virtues of her son, his father. Grandfather decided it was time he do the same for his grandkids, and so here he is lecturing them about Mom's virtues.

Here's a river Grandfather saw in his travels:

And here are Grandmother and Grandfather on an outing to find salt water:

Not bad for a visit that only went from Friday to Tuesday, eh?

Travels with Grandparents: Kentucky 2011

Here they are, the three senior Muffins all lined up in the backseat of the rental van. The occasion? An outing to Kentucky, with lunch in Indiana. In this shot, they are in Indiana, just before lunch.

And here we have Lydia, also in Indiana, contemplating a cookie that Grandfather made while he was in Nevada.

The bag in Grandfather's hand shows where we stopped for lunch; the hardware store shows the name of the Indiana town we were in.

After a stop at an Indiana gas station to refuel the van and get some ice cream, we made our way to Kentucky. First stop: a rest area. Here's Mom there.

On the way in, Mom noticed some red bud flower trees:

Amanda also had fun checking out flowers; here she is with a dandelion:


Jared and Curtis had fun collecting acorns:

Lydia enjoyed spending time with Grandmother and being out of her car seat:

Despite the kids' love for the rest area, which to them was a giant park, we did actually go somewhere in Kentucky: the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. Here's Amanda by the first horse we saw. Like the other horses we met, it liked her hat.

Here are Grandmother and Grandfather bringing the boys to go see the champion horses.

We saw four champion horses during our visit, Mr. Muscleman, Funny Cide, Cigar, and Da Hoss. Funny Cide gets to be on the blog because he won the Kentucky Derby on the day Mom and Dad got married, May 3, 2003.

Mom thought it was pretty cool seeing the champion horses, but the boys we're quite as thrilled.

Soon enough, though, the little show ended and we were off wandering the park. We saw this very large horse:

And we saw and got to pet this not-as-large horse. The horse is Emma, a six-year-old Haflinger. Considering Emma's somewhat smaller size, Mom wondered if "Haflinger" was related to "Halfling," but it turns out the name is based on the place in Europe where the breed originated. The lady holding the horse had something in common with Amanda, aside from an affinity for horses: her first name.

Here's Lydia contemplating life while looking around the breeds barn, where they keep the horses they use to show off different breeds. Note, though, that the stalls are only part time dwellings. The park also has lots of pastures where the horses get grazing time.

Here's a friendly horse we found in the breeds barn. He humored the kids by letting them feed him straws they picked up from the edge of his stall.

Back outside, we found a much smaller horse:

Here's the horse again, with Curtis and the fence for size reference:

Also at the park are a couple of museums. This picture is from the International Museum of the Horse, which is affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.

Here's a view looking into the park that shows the setup of pastures and buildings; imagine this scene repeated a few dozen times. Mom got this picture our way to the other museum, the American Saddlebred Museum.

The kids' favorite part of the museum were the giant rocking horses. Here's Jared:

Mom found something fun, too: a little William Shatner shrine. (Yes, Mom is a Trekkie.)

Finally, it was time to go. We had a good time and felt that we got our money's worth, especially since there was no admission charge for kids six and under, which all of Mom's kids were. Here's Lydia with Grandmother on our way back to the car.