The Stewart visit

Kathy's kids arrived with a checklist of thing they wanted to do- all the snow things they have read about in books. We did our best to meet all the requirements. First up was sledding. I believe the below picture gives you a good idea of Marc's sled run creation. The first big snowstorm, for us this year it was the foot of snow we received the Friday before Christmas, Marc snowblows a HUGE pile of snow. In the past he has done this in the backyard but because of the new septic digging up our entire yard he decided it was best try it out in the front yard this year. This huge pile is the starting gate- high enough that it will give them a good start. Then he lovingly creates a very fun run. On this one they bank twice before coming to the end (bank #1 stops them from heading into pricker bushes and our house). At night after grooming his run Marc will often poor buckets on water in order to ice it up so they go fast and to protect the integrity of the slide. This is Rebecca heading into bank #1- Kathy told her "smile for the camera" and she did the whole way down.

Here's how it works. You get on your saucer, tuck your feet in and get someone to push you- go Justin!

Then you scream as you go down- not mandatory but definitely a common occurence.

Here is Kathy on Friday trying to calm Rebecca's fears before one of her first runs.

Mimi came up on Friday to visit and she couldn't stand it, she had to give the run a try too.

Look! She survived!
After this particular run Rebecca got up and yelled- AWESOME!




Also on the list was throwing a snowball- check.

Making a snow angel- check!

The last thing on the list was catch snowflakes on their tongues. It did snow while they were here and I think they did this but I don't have a pictures. Grandma Sara and Grandmommy stopped by on Saturday for a visit too.
Do you know what Kathy and I did most of the weekend? This puzzle. I actually gave this 1,000 piece puzzle to Jessica for Christmas- not sure what I was thinking. She isn't even a real puzzle kid. Do you know who is a puzzle person? Kathy! So she and I sat over the puzzle visiting for most of the weekend. Kids came running past occasionally- they knew where to find us if they needed us and we finished it before she left!

Kathy had brought Webkinz for each child as an in case of emergency option, but we never had to pull it out. So the last night she gave all the kids their webkinz. They were so excited they decided to line up all the Webkinz they own on the steps.
By Tuesday morning the visit was over but everyone agreed it was the best visit we have had.

P.S. Kristin, Kathy did not have to purchase any snow stuff. Since my kids are older when they outgrow their winter clothes I keep them until Kathy's kids have outgrown them too. That way when they do come for a visit they don't have to worry about "the stuff". I did borrow a pair of boots for Kathy from a friend- thanks Jenn!

P.P.S. I was giving Kathy a hard time for not updating her blog. She believe I am one of the few people that actually reads her blog. I told her I thought some of my blog peeps checked her out occasionally too. If you do read Kathy's blog- leave her some love in her comments section next time- Gainesville Stewart News