B&B

No, we did not jet away to a romantic little cottage that catered to all of our breakfasting needs - even better!  Becky and Benton came to visit!  All the way from Portland. 

Upon arrival, Annabelle called both her aunt and uncle by the name "Becky."  This was not confusing AT ALL.  Over the weekend she differentiated a bit, but her "Benton" is still quite muddled and hard to understand if you don't already have a guess at what she might mean.  She did "know" them though, clearly remembered both of them from Christmas.  I am thankful that she is now at the age that she really knows and cares about her people.

Unfortunately, it was rainy and chilly pretty much the entire time they were here.  So much for providing them with a break from their usual!  They promised that they didn't mind, they were just glad to get to spend time with their niece and nephew.  Very polite, but I know Becky, and that Florida girl was certainly hoping for more warmth and sun than she got!

In addition to the crummy weather, I'm sure that they didn't appreciate the little 24-hour bug that Benton suffered while he was here.  Always striving to be a considerate hostess, I agreed to suffer the bug right along side him, for the exact same 24 hour period.  We still have no idea what it was, what caused it, or why no one else got it.  We missed church and were pretty lazy most of Sunday, but I supposed it could have been worse.

So those were the negatives.  Anything good about their visit?  Of course!  Sam truly loves to play with Benton because the two match each other in energy levels.  It is so wonderful to have an adult around who can keep up with him!  Benton is more than willing to roll the kids around on the bed and participate in pillow fights.  He will also host - and participate in - wind sprint, relay races and speed drills outside.  Both Sam and Benton exerted full efforts, both breaking a sweat.  Annabelle ran aimlessly into the street, totally missing the point of the wind sprints, and the neighbor girl slowed to a trot after only 2 turns.

We managed a few outings as well.  We took them for some quality TexMex - they have amazing food in Portland, a foodie's dream, but they do not have our TexMex - at a new-to-us restaurant that included a playground.  Our table was mere feet from it, which meant Sam was free to live there minus the 4 minutes he ate as many bites of taco.  Annabelle wanted to be out there, but was scared off by the sand.  That girl better get over her sand issue fast...

Saturday we took them out to a local brewery.  Yes, Katy has a brewery!  We timed it all wrong and ended up walking in during the hardest rain of the day.  We were all pretty wet, but no one seemed to mind all that much.  Yes, the kids tagged along as well.  There was food and music in addition to the beer sampling, and plenty of climbing fun until someone in charge shut that down.  Sam also enjoyed running in and out of the rain and screaming.  100% boy.

Monday, after we were all back on our feet, we sent Chris to work and headed to the strawberry fields.  I'd been trying to get the kids there for weeks, but with the rain and cold it just wasn't happening.  Having two additional expert berry pickers with me, we decided to brave the cold and give it a whirl.  turns out that 47 and breezy is a bit of a chilly experience for berry picking!  (please remind my children of that when its 100 and sunny when we pick blueberries this summer!)  Sam did great, selecting a bucket full of excellent berries himself.  Annabelle got fed up with the cold, the mud and her runny nose about half way through and cried and fussed the rest of the time.  Could also have been the conditions in the port-a-potty that were so terrible that she refused to go.  Didn't bother Sam, though.  Yes, I got to take them both to the port-a-potty.  Special times.

But we made it through in record time - the fields were virtually empty - picked out some candy in the store and headed out with our 20lbs of berries.  Not a typo, folks.  And as I type here 5 days later, they are over half gone.  Annabelle cried in the car the entire way to lunch because I wouldn't let her eat the candy before lunch.  BUT Chick-Fil-A fixes all kinds of wrongs, and everyone was happy a full after some nuggets and play time.

Sam woke himself up early on Tuesday because he knew they'd be leaving that morning.  He has developed the ability to rise early when he knows something exciting or important will happen.  We were all sad to see them go, but were thankful they came for a visit.