Beloved Backup

As I mentioned in my July 4th post, Doug left town on Sunday and my parents came to help me out with the full house of four boys.  Praise God for that!!  It was quite an intense week behaviorally for the two oldest, so it was great to have some other adults to back me up, keep an eye out and just for me to vent to in the evenings after bedtime!  Let's just say I've said a lot of prayers this week for the future of my boys.  I really could care less about these little trivial day-to-day upsets except for the fear it puts in me that they won't figure it out...how to choose the right path, after God's heart for their lives as they grow into men...it scares me so much.  Anyways, I'm so thankful for loving backup to help me get through a tough week like this.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!!

We had quite a bit of fun in between and even during the crazy challenging moments.  Here are the pictures I got during the week...  

First, a cute picture of Tavin and Penn who wanted to wear matching outfits on Monday.  Too cute!!  These two have been two peas in a pod lately.  They have such a blast together.  They make a MESS of the 3rd floor, but they have such a good time doing it pretending to be mail men, polar bears, dogs, construction workers, what have you.  It's worth the mess to listen to the two of them imagining together for hours at a time.  

Jansen was a big hit with the grandparents (of course), but he was also missed by Daddy.  On Monday, we sent Doug a few happy pictures of sweet Jansen.  Oh my, the cuteness!

Later that evening, I went on a little walk up the street with the 3 big boys and left Jansen on the front porch with Grampa.  Grampa was delighted, Janse was just taking it all in from his view there.  

On Tuesday, Penn opened his birthday presents from Gramma and Grampa (things were so busy, we forgot until then!).  He was again just so much fun to have unwrap his gifts.  I think it could have been a can of baked beans and he would have the same look on his face.  But lo and behold, it was trucks for the beach/backyard and matchbox cars, so these are legitimate happy faces!!

That evening, Koen was hanging with me and Jansen.  Although we are having some rough moments with Koen lately, he continues to be amazing with Jansen.  He will help with him no matter what, Jansen adores him and smiles and giggles on cue for him.  It's very special and absolutely precious.  I'm so thankful for such an obvious reminder of one of Koen's great strengths throughout our days.  Koen had him laughing his head off and I tried to get a video.

And here's a pic of Jansen adoringly looking at his biggest bro.

On Wednesday, we had a super fun day.  It was overcast, muggy and cool, but no real threat of rain or storms in the AM, so we took Gramma and Grampa to the zoo!!  My parents hadn't been to a zoo in decades, so they were excited!  I love getting to share things here in the Burgh that we love with my family, so I was so pleased this fit into our week.  Plus, it was a great way to get outside all together and do something fun.  Poor Janse...he's been to the zoo 3 times in his short 5 months and I'm not sure he's a fan yet, but he's truly a trooper and didn't fuss or seem to mind a bit!  Again, with it being a cooler, cloudier day, the animals seemed in a good mood to move around and put on a bit of a show.  The lions were quite impressive...two males hanging out on the rock.  Just before this though one of them stood up, stretched, yawned and then practically sat on the other.

I had a tough time finding my parents with the boys because I had been nursing Jansen...oh, there they are!

My Dad got a picture of Jansen and I at the elephants...

And then I got a Jansen and Mommy selfie in the elephant house.  Note the look of "why does she keep taking me here?" on Jansen's face!! 

There's a new section of our zoo called, "The Islands."  Koen was so excited to check it out. We only did the outdoor exhibits and look forward to getting back soon to check out the indoor ones, but the outdoor ones were a great preview...so cool!  Check out the tortoise,

and the amazing "clouded leapord."  We had never heard of such a thing! So beautiful!

The cheetah exhibit was another favorite of the day.  Here's mom and dad checking out the cheetahs chilling out in the grass.

Tavin was thrilled to see that the polar bears were back in their habitat.  During our last visit, he ran up to see them only to find they were "cleaning the exhibit" (i.e. mating season and the polar bears were busy indoors) and he broke down in tears.  Well, they put on a show for us this time.  They were playing together in the water, it was amazing to watch these huge beasts act like little kids playing in the pool.  

We checked out the sea lion presentation at lunchtime.  Hawk, the enormous male sea lion, was quite impressive yet again.  Mom and Dad got a big kick out of him!  The boys loved the presentation again too.  It's hard to get tired of watching these amazing creatures interact with humans and show off their God-given abilities.

Grampa helped out and held Jansen who was getting a bit tired of our long visit to the zoo.  Look how sweet, the little trooper and his Grampa.  

We looped back to check out the underwater tunnels in the aquarium.  If there was ever a time for the JAWS soundtrack, this would have been it!!

Tavin was again so thrilled because when we went back through the polar bear tunnel, they were still in the water!  He was literally jumping up and down and yelling.  I snapped this picture just before they climbed out onto the rocks (and Tav got sad).

Happy Jansen (maybe he likes aquariums better?) and his grandparents!!

We basically headed back to our vans after that (with a quick stop to see the tigers again).  The rest of the day was more relaxed, for instance, here's Grampa reading and Jansen playing on the living room floor.  I love having my parents here just doing life with us (and so do the boys!!).

Gramma and Grampa had to leave this morning (Thursday), but not before a few more pictures of course.  They both got their hands on Janse and I had to capture it.  Jansen was super snuggly with Grampa.  How sweet for his goodbye loves!

Gramma got a sweet snuggle too.  She just had to smile (even though she and I always get pretty sad when we have to say goodbye).

They left at 8am and only got home to NH at 7:30pm.  That's a LONG drive!  Thanks so much for making such a long trip to help me out for a few days.  It was precious time to share with you and with the boys and I'm so thankful for your help with them.  They love having you here, as do I.  We are already looking forward to the next opportunity to be with you.  Love to you both from the loud, boisterous, a little out of control Melder household!!!