Mother's Day Weekend Visit to Nana & PopPop

Weeks ago Doug had the idea of taking Koen and Tavin out to see his mom and dad the weekend of Mother's Day.  I thought it was a lovely idea since it's been awhile since they went out there (and the boys just love it) and I loved that he'd get to see his mom near Mother's Day.  So on Friday, Doug and Tavin picked up Koen from school at 1pm and they hit the road.  They arrived in time to have dinner with Nana and PopPop, Uncle Scott and cousin Katelyn and enjoy running around with the dogs in the yard of course (oh my goodness, the boys were talking about the dogs so much before they left!).

On Saturday, the boys spent much of their morning outside.  Dave stopped by with his kids for a late breakfast and the boys again loved spending time with their cousins.  This time they got to play some baseball.  Tavin just got a baseball glove on Friday morning as he didn't have one and playing catch is a new Melder boy favorite for passing time in the backyard.

Koen and Tavin had also brought their bikes as it is nice and flat around Nana and PopPop's and Tav has been begging to learn to ride a bike.  Doug was working on prepping the car for packup and PopPop was the go-to helper for Tavin's first bike ride.  Tavin was so proud of himself and was concentrating so hard.  He just had his head down the whole time smiling and staring at his pedaling.  Check out this video.  Congratulations, Tavin!  You can ride a bike!  (Koen would insert here, "Well, with training wheels.  He still has to learn to ride without them."  Oh big brothers!)

While the big boys were away having all this fun at Nana and PopPop's Penn and I were doing our thing at home.  My friend, Meaghan, had stayed the night on Friday to keep me company (this big house just freaks me out when I'm here by myself!).  While she slept in on Saturday, Penn and I had some precious one-on-one time.  We ate breakfast, played a little and then headed out for a long walk of errands that ended at the playground.  He was happy to bust out of the stroller.  This was an unexpected stop which explains why he is wearing his pajamas!  Oops!

So as you can see time with Penn Rye is pretty fun and sweet.  He just melts my heart.  After we got home we quickly got ready to go to a baby shower with Meaghan.  Penn was on edge after discovering a visitor in our house when we had returned from our walk and so it took him awhile to warm up to everyone at the shower, but after he inhaled tons of delicious food, he was ready to party and had a blast being cute and silly.  Meaghan and I pretty much had to pry him away from the fun to get him home for his nap.  Meaghan then headed home and I enjoyed a quiet afternoon of folding laundry while watching a movie before my big boys returned.  They got in at about 4:30pm and Doug left for work soon after.  The boys and I had a nice night talking about their trip, unpacking, playing some games indoors since it was rainy outside and then getting everyone to bed on time as they were very tired!!  It was a quick trip, but as usual, one filled with some special memories with Nana and PopPop.  Thanks so much for entertaining Doug, Koen and Tavin.  They had a lovely time.  And Happy Mother's Day to you, Nana!