A visit from Papa

Well, as per usual, whenever we have company, we try to pack in as much fun into the short time they are here as possible, leaving us completely exhausted.

Papa came for a surprise visit on Sunday evening.  It was awesome to pack the kids up into the vans with the idea of 'going for a drive' on a Sunday evening, and maybe going to the train station to check out some trains.  The kids were all for it and were especially excited to be staying up past their bedtime for such an outing.  When we got to the train station, Papa's train had just arrived.  He was quietly waiting for us in the lounge.  We walked inside and the kids wandered for a minute and then saw him.  Great reunion!  Logan's first question, after giving Papa a hug, was, "Where's Grandma?"  We called her on the way home from the station.

We knew we would be brief at the train station so we didn't pay for parking.  After giving our hugs to Papa, we said, "Ok guys!  Let's go!"  Max turned to me and said, "We just came here to say hi to Papa for 2 minutes?!"  I guess it wasn't obvious to him that Papa was coming to stay.

Papa came with a full-sized suitcase, which was mostly filled with presents.  Valentines gifts, birthday presents for Logan, and presents from Great Grandma.  His suitcase was definitely lighter on the trip home!

Monday morning the kids were super excited to jump into bed with Papa and have a cuddle.  We had breakfast and the kids opened Valentines presents.  Lucy got a giant "Princess" pillow, a chocolate 'L' and some other valentines chocolates.  Max got a Spiderman Lego set, a Yahtzee card game, a chocolate 'M' and chocolates.  Logan got a game called "Sqworm" a chocolate 'L' and chocolates.  We played "Sqworm" right away.

After lunch we went to the toboggan hill to enjoy the beautiful weather and the mountains of snow we got over the weekend.

Tobogganing quickly turned into a snowball fight, with everyone ganging up on Tyler.  Surprise surprise.

After Tobogganing, we headed to Toys R Us because Papa had strict instructions from Grandma to get birthday presents for Logan and Max while he was here.  Logan chose a set of 3 motorbikes and a monster truck.  (And hasn't let go of them for more than a few minutes since).  Max got two games, Mousetrap and Star Wars Guess Who.  Both are already a hit.

After Toys R Us we had a few minutes to kill before dinner, so we went to the Locks to do some exploring.  On Sunday morning, the Locks looked particularly amazing with Hore-Frost all over the trees, but later in the day most of it had melted away.

We went to East Side Mario's for dinner and then headed home to play Max's games.

(Lucy is having fun, despite the look in this picture.  He tooth was just hurting)

Tuesday morning saw Dad off to work, so we played at home with Papa for the morning.  Good thing we had so many games to entertain us!

After lunch we bundled up again and headed downtown to Market Square to do some skating and the ice-slide.  Max was teary even before we left, knowing that it was almost time for Papa to leave.

Max's skating has improved immensely this season and he ended up having a race against Papa and Dad to see if he could make a lap around the rink before they could make 5.  He ended up beating them by a long shot and finished his lap before they could finish 2.

The ice-slide was nice and slick because the weather is a bit warmer and melting things a bit.  It was awesome.  Plus, we had the place to ourselves.

The kids had fun collecting chunks of ice to make 'ice treasures'.

We came home, had dinner and hurried to get Papa to the train on time.  Max was all tears.  He kept asking if there would be time when we got home from playing to spend more time with Papa before dinner.  Unfortunately delaying dinner didn't delay his departure.  But at least Max got another game of Mouse Trap in before Papa had to leave.

The hardest part about having visitors is having to say goodbye.  We had a great time with Papa.

Logan was so exhausted from his 2-days of Papa (with no naps) that he fell asleep on the way home from the ice-slide and stayed asleep on the living room carpet amongst games of MouseTrap and Guess Who.