Playing Outside with Papa

The girls and I recently took a trip to Pennsylvania, to visit my parents for 10 days. We were originally to take this trip in March, but due to all the illness in our home, it was postponed until the first week of April. I'm so glad we waited, since we were all healthy when we went, and the weather turned out to be beautiful...not always the case in "Dreary Erie."
We did lots of fun things while we were there. Julie and I spent an evening at Chuck E Cheese with Uncle Doug, Aunt Andrea, Danika and some friends of Doug & Andrea's. It was nice to have that "special" time with Julie, while my parents took care of Alayna. We spent one morning of our trip taking "Mimi" (my mom) to a lab for blood work, then to the hospital to have an EKG. These were all tests she had to have done before starting her new "clinical trial" chemo drug. The girls were very good on this outing, so we rewarded them with a trip to the library where my mom works. They enjoyed meeting my moms co-workers, and Julie spent time in the children's library choosing books and videos to check out.
We also took a tour of the house my dad is now renovating. I really wish I had taken some pictures, so I could post them for you. It's quite a piece of work. My brother works with my dad on the renovations, and they literally have this house stripped to the bare studs. It will be beautiful when it's finished, but that's not the case now. When we pulled up to the house I mentioned to my mom that the house was ugly, so Julie picked up on that. She named the house "the ugly house," and kept calling it that while we were there...sure hope we didn't hurt your feelings, dad. We know it will be spectacular when it's finished. :)
Since the weather was so nice, most of the time, we were able to spend time outside playing. As you can see in the pictures below, the girls were having a great time with their Papa (my dad).

 

The girls playing on the patio...Alayna really liked the ride-on caterpillar that my parents have.

 

Papa taking the girls for a ride in the wheel barrow...this was a HUGE hit!

 

Julie loved when he rode them over rocks and bumps. Alayna kept slipping farther into the wheel barrow with each bump.

 

The view of Alayna when the ride was done.