i am the luckiest: Family Visits 2013

Charlie (2 yrs) and Pappa

This is a post I have been wanting to write for a while but hadn't found adequate time (or energy). We are only 3 months into 2013 and have been so blessed that most of our families have been able to visit us in Franklin. In February we had a week-long visit from Nanna and Pappa (Ben's parents), and Carl, Jane and their boys Henry and Daniel. They all flew over from Australia, and I think we managed pretty well having 6 adults and 5 kids (ages 4 and under) in our house, with half of the people jet-lagged. We stayed busy busy and the one week absolutely flew by.

Cousins Daniel (9 months) and Malachi (2 months), sleeping at the restaurant

We tried out a restaurant that had wings and BBQ - two things that are Southern American and not so much Australian. The Aussies love to come and have a good meal that is a bit different than what they would find at home - and we love BBQ! This place was a winner and we will be sure to return soon. We also enjoyed a yummy Mexican restaurant, Five Guys, Sweet CeCe's, and Chick fil a, just to make sure they had a good taste of all of our favorite places.

Carl enjoying his wings

Jane eating some wings

Cheese!!

Cousin Henry, who is only a few months older than Charlie

Adelaide, after she finished some mac and cheese

The whole table, except Mal who slept most of the meal in his carrier. Nanna is holding Daniel. One of the babies was generally needing to be held during a meal, so it was good to have so many hands! There was a lot of food, and I think we took home about 4 big to-go boxes which made for lunch the next day.

A common occurrence around our house is dress-up, not unusual for our 4-year old little girl. But Nanna and Pappa brought some dress-ups for both Adelaide and Charlie this time, and much to my surprise, Charlie actually liked his elf costume.

Adelaide in her new fairy costume

Pappa and Charlie - instant buds

Nanna and Pappa with Adelaide and Charlie

We also had Malachi dedicated while the Hockey's were here. The only photo I have from that at the moment is the one below, but we should have some other photos coming from friends and family.

The family waiting to have Malachi dedicated

For a few nights we travelled to Gatlinburg, TN, about a 4 hour drive from our home. We rented a big cabin there that was just beautiful and had a hot tub that the adults enjoyed several times :) There were ski slopes about 20 minutes away and we did manage to trade off watching the kiddies to spend a little time on the slopes. There was a carousel at the ski resort so the kids did love riding on that a few times.

Henry on the carousel

Adelaide loving the carousel

Charlie waiting to ride the "black horsey!"

Charlie and Henry playing

Nanna and Daniel

Henry and Charlie playing outside at our cabin

Nanna with 3 (out of 6) of her grandsons

Ben getting ready for his 2nd time snowboarding

Carl preparing for our nighttime run on the slopes

It actually wasn't very cold so doing the nighttime run was so pleasant (and not very crowded!)

Jane and I after our runs. I'm a mess, but that is to be expected, right?

On our last day together we squeezed in as much as possible, with a big trip to Wal Mart (a must) and a drive down the road to Dave Ramsey's studio. We have converted most of our family to be big Dave Ramsey readers, and he is on air live about 15 minutes from our house. There is a lovely cafe with complimentary treats and coffee, so we enjoyed some hot chocolates and cookies while the kids played a bit, the men bought more books to take home, and then got pictures and autographs.

Jane, Carl, Lyndon, Del, Dave Ramsey and me

Dave signing autographs and Martha, who took great care of us

On our last night I kept it simple for dinner and heated some of my dad's chili that we had made earlier in the week and froze. It was the first time I saw Henry eat very much - he must have loved it!

Malachi wasn't in very many pictures, because most of the time he is awake (at that time), he is eating. But I got this sweet photo of him during one of his baths.