Babies' First Trip to Gram and Papap's House

  

{this chair. this room. Sawyer sat and rocked and watched baseball with Pappap while Louie tossed stuffed animals at Pappap to catch. They both love him so much.}

{I have so many memories of piling cousins into this hammock, swinging too furiously, tipping out, and piling right back in. Or eating ice cream sandwiches while watching everyone on the slip and slide.}  

 {a more recent edition is this amazing front porch, it's everything a front should be.}

{this owl-  legendary! we used to take him off his perch and carry him around like he was our pet}

{everything about this is my Gram's house: she's had a birthday wall chart for as long as I can remember, recently updated by my sister, because she's all about her family. And treats. She is all about having the good stuff.} 

 {we played where my mom used to play, on the train and carousel at Wheaton Regional Park}

{meanwhile, back at the ranch, the best husband ever, Jeff, had cleaned the whole house and staged the kids' rooms with their favorite toys for our grand return.}

As we sat down to breakfast the morning after we returned home from Maryland and Sawyer asked, "Can we go back to Gram's house, please?"  That's exactly how I feel after every visit to Gram and Papap's house. There's a feeling to their home, a certain peacefulness and reverie effect that is so filling, you feel its vacancy when you leave.  It's an aspiration of mine to create such a home.

It's a similar feeling to Jeff's grandparent's home, and considering the two situations, I suppose that years of loyalty and love, dedication to family and faith are active ingredients in slowly and surely building a place of peace.

The other treasure of my Gram's house are the memories associated with it. It has always been a gathering place of family and after 7 long years away, it was nothing short of wonderful to bring my children to play at Gram's, and she still has all the good stuff (minus the green worm rider toys, but in case you're wondering, there was a slip-n-slide hanging up to dry on the clothesline).  Some things were lovely and new, but the some of the best things, to me, were the unchanged bamboo wallpaper, the creaking wood steps, the full pantry, the smell of Entenmann's crumb cakes, the afghans- these were so perfect.

We had such a beautiful visit. Elouise dominated the tree swing, we walked around the neighborhood like we always do, the babies ate popsicles out of Gram's ice cream fridge, Sawyer scootered and ran and swung and went on the slide until he had to be coaxed inside to bed. Uncle Shane helped me so much, aside from being our chauffeur for the 7 hour drive (luckily, my kids are roadtrip pros! Alas, I am a Miss Daisy), he is the best uncle and playmate and we all love to have him with us wherever we go. But he also makes a great chaffeur, and I loved having him drive us, right up until the moment he backed my car into Jeff's. In the driveway. At the end of the trip. All was fine, though, so let's end this on a good note.

We can't wait to back. See you soon, Gram and Pappap!