Weekend from A to Z

Well, this weekend we have 2 special visitors...Abbie and Zac.  Do you get the post title now?

The boys have never met Zac (my sister's significant other or as we call it in front of them, "friend"), but they were OH SO EXCITED for him to come.  First though, they were super psyched to welcome Doug home who arrived back from Nashville late Wednesday night and came bearing gifts which they opened Thursday morning.  Here's the happy Melder boys, reunited once again.

Very exciting day welcoming Doug back and then anticipating this mysterious new person's visit.  We had a fun morning around the house and at Osceola and then were on the porch as quite the welcoming committee for Zac's arrival around 1pm.  As we waited for him to arrive, we passed the time blowing bubbles, playing with cars and of course, snapping some photos.

When Zac got to the house the boys told Abbie to go greet him on the sidewalk and they stayed at the top of the stairs blowing bubbles to trumpet his entry.  Yep, awesome.  Not to mention, Tav had made a sign that was hung on the front door.  The boys immediately felt comfortable with Zac as you can see in this pic.  They were happy to "pose" (oh my goodness, the two of them are a mess between Tav's tummy showing and Koen's leg position!).

Ab looks just a little happy that her "friend" is here!

Amazingly, the boys did head just fine to naptime after such an exciting pre-nap event.  Abbie got Zac out into the Burgh for some lunch and sight-seeing and then we all hung out in the evening.  So fun to have family here and this is my first opportunity to meet Zac, so I'm very happy he made the trip to meet us and be with Ab in this special place to all of us.  

On Friday, we had a lovely family breakfast before a busy early morning of Tav's speech therapy appointment and a few other errands, but eventually Abbie and Zac made it out of the house for some Burgh-ing in the Strip District and Doug and I took our boys for a picnic lunch at Frick's Blue Slide Park.  It was a great time for the 5 of us to reconnect after our hectic week with Doug out of town.  Koen and Tavin had some very special time on the Blue Slide.  Doug trained Koen on how to help Tav and then Koen rose to the occasion and was amazing with his little bro.  And Tav was so happy about it.  He adores and emulates K, but so often there is the classic brotherly aggression between the two of them.  This was a definite high point.  Here's a video to see Tavin being so brave down this great slide with the help and encouragement of Koen.

Penn got to do his favorite park thing...the baby swing.  And this is one of those times when I just can't decide which picture I like best, so you have to look at all of them.  He's just too cute!

Afterwards he and I headed up to join Koen, Tavin and Doug up at the baseball field.  They were wrapping up some baseball practice and headed to a quick soccer game.

Penn kept an eye on the bat while entrapped by the cardboard box.

After this super fun family outing, we headed home for naptimes.  Even Koen took a nap because he was getting to go with Doug, Zac and Abbie to the Pirates game tonight.  Here are the Pirates fans as they headed out this evening.

Before getting to the game, they planned a stop at the Duquesne Incline for Zac's sake.  Gotta get this guy to every classic Pittsburgh stop possible.  But it's such a cool city, that might be a tall order for a quick weekend visit.  =)  Koen was pretty excited to be on this special tourist visit with his Aunt Abbie.

Well, stay tuned for more A to Z fun!