Gramma & Grampa Beat the "Blizzard"

This week Gramma and Grampa were slated to come for a visit.  Doug and I have to go out of town (with Penn) and so they were coming to watch Tav and Koen.  Their original plan was to arrive on Wednesday, but due to the large storm predicted to cross right through their long trek from NH to Pittsburgh, they decided to come a day earlier.  I was quite thankful for the storm as one more day with my mom and dad was a huge blessing, not to mention it made packing up a lot easier!  What didn't make preparing for our trip easier was Koen's school (and most of the schools in the greater Pittsburgh area) cancelling school.  Ugh.  I felt really bad for him actually.  He was hoping for a delay where he would have the best of both worlds...time to play in the snow and then he would get to attend school full day instead of half day.  Not to mention his Kindergarten class had been planning to video a play of the story, "The Mitten."  It was great to have the extra hands around with all 3 Melder boys at home for the day.  Here's Tav and Gramma working on a puzzle.  Tavin was being quite a clown.  He is gleeful with Gramma and Grampa around this time.  It's so special!

Grampa had some bonding time with Penn in the AM as well.

During Penn's nap, Grampa took Koen and Tavin outside in the snow.  To the credit of the schools that cancelled, yes, we did get snow, but by 10am the roads were completely clear and the temperature was approaching 40 and it was sunny.  A delay would've worked perfectly.  Oh well.  Got to make lemonade out of lemons...or snowmen out of snow!

After lunchtime my Dad took Koen out for some sledding at Mellon Park.  They had a great time just the two of them.  Koen loves to be one on one and often just comes to life in a calm, refreshing and reflective way. I was so happy Dad could see that side of him.  When they got home they started yet another adventure...playing Battleship!  I had totally forgotten about how you can play it with a simple grid on a piece of paper.  It's perhaps a little ahead of Koen right now, but he was so excited about the concept, the game with Grampa and using a pencil and paper (not to mention dropping bombs!) that he was very patient and by the end of the game was really getting the gist.  Kudos to Grampa for his patience as well!

With Penn soon to be heading out on an adventure with Doug and I (don't worry, posts to follow soon), Gramma and Grampa were eager to get their hands on him.  Dad got some great smiles out of him after dinner.

Mom and Dad, thanks so much for coming down a day early.  I was so thankful for that extra time with you myself and it was such a help having you around the day before our departure.  Can't wait to get back and be all together again!