NH Trip 2014, Part 5

Wednesday
After days and days of perfectly pleasant weather, we finally got a VERY rainy day.  Having this one wash out of a day made us really, really, really appreciate all the other nice days.  One day is about all we could've taken.  These Melder boys need to be able to get outside!!  We would've done some sort of museum or something, but Doug had some conference calls to take that ruled that option out, so we just made the most of it at home.  We had one pause in the rain a little while after breakfast, so we got the boys out for those few minutes.  Grampa did a little repair on our van at that time and Koen was his right hand man/understudy. =)

While we were out, Koen stumbled upon a salamander out in the middle of the road.  I used to find these all the time after summer rainstorms and I've looked forward to the boys discovering these little creatures that we don't see at home.  Koen was so excited and the salamander ended up making the rainy day survivable for this 7-year-old.  Koen randomly named the little guy, Gary.  Yep, Gary.  As if that's a common name these days or something.  Doug and I can't take it seriously, but boy it makes us smile!  

Koen spent the last few moments of our break in the rain making a habitat for Gary in a pickle jar.  Penn, on the other hand, enjoyed riding his giraffe around through puddles.  I was trying to get a smile, but instead got the whole spectrum from sad Penn...

...to happy Penn!

Shortly after my photo shoot with Penn, the rain started coming down, so we were back inside.  Tav had been out with Doug running a few errands and having some quality time before Doug's phone calls.  Now that all 3 were back, the house got loud fast!  The boys did work for a little while on some craft projects in the dining room.  Thank goodness Gramma had some fun craft supplies!

There wasn't too much picture-taking the rest of the day because we were just trying to control the mayhem.  The afternoon went pretty well since the boys all took turns with rest times, etc.  We played some board games and the boys had play time together too before dinner (which was way too loud and out of control, so eventually had to come to a stop!).  After dinner it was just the home stretch to bedtime and then phew, we did it!  We survived the one rainy day.  Praise the Lord that we had so much nice weather.  This bad weather day surely made us appreciate it.  Right after we laid the boys down, the clouds parted for awhile and mom and I were able to get out on a lovely final night in NH walk.  I was so thankful for the fresh air and wished the boys could've enjoyed it too!

Thursday
Our departure day. =(  This is always, always so hard for me.  I just love being home and moreso, being with my Mom and Dad.  It's also just so amazing to get to share the boys with them and watch their relationships grow.  It was a fantastic visit and I'm so thankful for all of it, but it is hard to say goodbye for sure.  Before the emotional farewell though, Grampa kept the big boys preoccupied with Corvette rides.  Koen got to go first.

Tav was a little bummed out that he didn't get the first ride, but we got him to cheer up with some sweet poses with Gramma.  Look at his adorable smile!!

Penn slept in until almost 9am (we aren't sure exactly why, we're hoping his cold didn't turn into an ear infection).  Penn was eating his huge, late breakfast when Tav was still in need of some special attention and I let Tav take pictures with my camera to continue to distract him.  He caught this one of his little brother.  

Soon after that shot, we heard the rumbling of the Corvette's V8 engine.  Tavin rushed out the door for his turn.  He's just a little bit happy.  Ha!

Grampa let Tavin say when to go.  Tavin was all business about it.  So cute!

And there it is, folks, Tav said, "GO!"

How precious is this shot?  You can just see Tav's fluffy blond head of hair next to Grampa. 

I think that was an appropriate final shot of our time with Gramma and Grampa in NH.  Grampa with one of his grandsons, driving off into the distance.  Hopefully we'll be back in the not too distant future.  We love our time with you.  Thanks for all your effort on meals, outings, setup, special moments with the boys from reading, to fires, to snuggles, and more, it was all meaningful and memorable.  Thanks for a great NH Trip 2014!!