Weekend At Grandma's (Supersize It. And Me.)

Each year my husband, dad, brother and brother-in-law go fishing. My grandpa, Pop, used to go too until he died unexpectedly two years ago, so now it's extra special when they have their fishing weekend in a preservation kind of way. Anyway, each year they go fishing. On my anniversary.

But this year, after they set the date on my anniversary, my wonderful husband (who really should have gotten a nice 5-year anniversary post on this blog but didn't because we went out to dinner ALONE and had delicious heavy food and wine and I didn't happen to open the computer that night) made them change to a different weekend, and that weekend was this past weekend.

And theoretically, when the guys do their fishing weekend, the girls all get together and shop for matching clothes (in a good matchy way, not in a weird matchy way) and get our pictures taken so we can each year look back and say, "We looked so good! Look at how little the babies were!" and such.

However, we've never actually gone past the shopping part, and this year my sister Andrea, a cross country coach, had a 5K to run with her kids and couldn't make it. Which is a huge bummer, because aside from being in my top three favorite people on earth (this includes my two kids) -- OOPS, top four, including my husband -- sorry wonderful husband -- she's the number one favorite person of my children. But we settled for Grandma, who comes in as a close second. :) 

I made the three-hour trip down by myself with the girls for the first time ever, and it went quite smoothly, considering that it was by myself with the girls. I had a huge box filled with forgotten toys and forbidden snacks, and they powered through and did great. Fast food on the way there, but you take what you can get. 

Had a blast shopping, playing and adventuring with Grandma, who gave them a zillion toys, gave me a zillion clothes and fancy cosmetics and gave us lots of love and undivided attention, on which we all thrived. My mom and I swore off cooking and so we had more fast food. And I discovered in her pantry the most delicious substance known to man (besides this bacon chocolate candy bar that I need to blog about, but this is close), a treat I never even buy because, truly, it won't make it home from the store even if I don't have a spoon with me: Nutella. And I ate a whole tub of it. And we had chocolates. And, well, I could go on and on, much like my waistline, but Trevor has just gotten home from a weekend of looking at men who've showered very little and drank very much, so really this was a good weekend to grow my waistline because I just look good to him as he unloads his car (and mine, wonderful hub that he is). 

I would love to post photos of the girls playing at Grandma's new house ("Mommy, this is our house now. Our gray house is our old house."), going to the apple orchard and riding in Cinderella-style coaches, and playing at Frederick Meijer Gardens, but my mom is playing the "Our internet is slow" card and doesn't plan to send the pictures my way. Hopefully she'll see just how much we want them and fold clothes in her office tonight while she waits for her connection to power over the photos.

We also had a surprise visit with our dear friend Kim Reed, and Berit has been asking when we'll see her again since. So Kim, take note, we miss you and your family, because you're fun and happy and even with 10 minutes you make our day.

And after an 80-degree weekend, it's chilly here at home, and the leaves on the ride up were red and gold, and there's just no debating that it's autumn. Which is kind of nice. Now off to be with my wonderful husband and pawn the kids off on him, because after our three-hour ride home, frankly I'm starting to lose it a little.