Opa's Version

My dad updated his blog and included his stay here with the kids while Danny and I went on our anniversary trip. I wanted to include it here. This is a copy and paste of his version and words.

Gina's family in New Braunfels, TX:

Several months ago we convinced our daughter Gina to leave for a few days with her husband Danny, celebrating 10 years of marriage.  She had not been alone with him since their first child was born, almost 9 years ago.  Last year they moved to Texas, so this required a trip to Texas.  We were excited to spend time with their five children. We had some reservations if her twins, now two years old, would adapt to us, since they don't know us very well.  We felt that our time spent with her three older children would go very well.

We arrived on Wednesday, August 9 and were picked up at the airport by Gina.  We proceeded to their home, got reacquainted with their children and then Gina and Danny left.  To our great surprise and relief, there were no issues with any of her children, including the twins.  They all behaved wonderfully and we consider our visit to be a cherished memory.  We stayed until Saturday afternoon, so we were able to have three nightime routines, many meals and a lot of time to spend with each of the children building relationships.  The temperatures were well over 100 degrees, so we mostly stayed indoors. The following are a few of our experiences and special memories:

Danny and Gina have a tall swimming pool on their patio.  The first day, all five children enjoyed time together in the pool.  It was outside, but in the shade, so it was bearable.  They absolutely love being in the water, so we were off to a good start.

Danny had left this inflatable pool all ready for our arrival.

This was probably the only time and/or place that Debbie left the house for three days

They are all excellent in posing for photos

The pool was deep enough for the older kids to swim immersed in the water

Rylee and Quinn were full of smiles most of the trip

After dinner, we moved into our game playing mode.  The older kids were ready and anxious to play games.  For three days, they never tired of playing games.  They had their own games that were on their list.  We brought a belated Christmas gift (game) that we had not received before sending our Christmas box last year.  We also brought our selection of 6 card games that we had used with Jared's kids a few months earlier.  They loved all of them.  We finally decided to leave the 6 card games that we had brought since they loved them so much.

Our Christmas present game was a success.  When we weren't playing it together, Grant spent hours occupied by himself while his brother and sister played other games.

 

I love Blokus and so did they

Go Fish was our first card game, but not our last

War became a favorite, often going on for a long time

These were the games that we played for 3 days.  They never got tired of playing.

While we played games with the older children, the twins were really good about playing together or having time with Oma while Opa played with the older kids.  It worked amazingly well.

Rylee and Quinn enjoyed time with Oma while Opa played with the older kids

The twins also played very well together most of the time

We found that the twins love to follow their siblings, especially Grant.  Whatever he does, they want to join in

Oma also brought her other treats for the kids, including the punch balls, which were a big hit throughout the time we were there:

Everyone enjoyed the Punch Balls, especially the twins

Gina has her kids on a great routine.  The twins have a set nap time.  They all get up at 7:30 am and watch TV while we get ready.  They have set times for meals and bedtime.  This all made caring for these great kids pretty easy.  It also helped us keep track of who Rylee and Quinn were, because they know where to sit at the table and which crib and bottles are theirs.  If we were in doubt, they reminded us.  During our bedtime routines, we were able to enjoy Come Follow Me videos and discussions with the older children.  This is one of the activities that brings great joy to our hearts.

Each has their own seat at the table.  Quinn sat by Debbie and Rylee sat by me for each meal

Bedtime routines include reading stories and then praying with each child individually, some of our favorite memories.

On Thursday, while the twins were napping, I took the three older kids to the neighborhood swimming pool.  Gina cautioned us to not try to take all five at once.  These kids love the pool!  Addie had some of her friends come to the pool and she swims quite well.  Hudson and Grant love the water, but mostly swim with water wings.  However, they love to take them off and jump in the pool.  This is when they needed my full attention.  I only let one of them take their wings off at a time.

These three love the water and seem to have no fears

Hudson and Grant jump into the water over and over again

Hudson was an absolute dare devil

This photo of Grant jumping in looks like he is walking on the water!

Addie with her friend and her older sister

After several hours, they finally agreed to go back home

On Friday we needed to go to the store and buy a few things.  I took Hudson and Grant with me so they could spend a few dollars that they had saved.  Grant picked up a few clearance toys and was happy.  Hudson could not find a dinosaur for the three dollars that he had and agreed to go home and order one on Amazon.  That was until he saw the machine where you pay a dollar to try and pick up a stuffed animal out of the machine, which is next to impossible.  While I was trying to talk him out of it, he put his dollar bill into the machine.  After being unsuccessful in capturing a toy, he decided to try two more times, again without success.  When we arrived back home, he went to his room sad, because he had lost all of his money.  This was one of those learning moments.  As we talked about it, he decided that he could teach his son from his lesson. I agreed to order an inexpensive toy on Amazon for him if he got more money from his mom for cleaning his room.  It was a tough lesson, but he handled it very well.  Another meaningful teaching moment.

After almost a near perfect time with the twins, Rylee had a meltdown just an hour before her parent got home on Saturday.  She wanted to open her water bottle on her own, but was not able to do it.  After crying for a half hour, her parents arrived home and she was okay again.  We are grateful for this opportunity to spend meaningful time with these beautiful grandchildren.  We were also glad to come home and have some time to ourselves again!  Gina and Danny had a good time with only a few phone calls from us during the three days and nights.

As Gina took us to the airport, she stopped and let us visit what is the largest Buc-ees store in Texas, the second largest in the world.  We got to experience a little bit of Texas!

In front of the largest Buc-ees store in Texas, right in New Braunfels, TX

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  Inside of this gigantic convenience store