Memories: Old and New

This past weekend we took the kids up to Binghamton, NY for a memorial service for Rick's grandfather. As you may remember, he passed away back in May in Florida, but this was going to be his final resting place. It's too bad that it takes such occasions like this to bring family back together, but I must say it was really nice to see everyone. On Sunday we had a memorial service with family and friends and then on Monday we said our final goodbyes and layed his ashes in the ground. We shared lots of old memories with each other. Although I don't have too many, I'm glad I have a few to hold on to. He really was a sweet man.

I wasn't so sure how the weekend was going to go as far as the kids go. You never know. The plane ride, of course, was a huge hit for them, however, not such a hit for Mommy and Daddy trying to contain one little munchkin in particular! That kid hasn't sat still since day 1, I don't know why I thought this would be any different. This was Ryan's 1st plane ride, so it was a momentus occasion :)

As for the rest of the weekend, they both ended up having a really great time, especially when they got to play with their 3rd cousins :)





And when we were pent up in the hotel, G-daddy and Nana took them on adventures up and down the elevator (always a favorite) and on rocket ship rides through the hallway on an office chair. Creative play at its best!

We did manage to sneak in a trip to the park and a trip to the zoo. They had this amazing little storytime discovery garden full of fun things for the kids to explore. Here's this week's My Kids and I: 25 weeks and counting....









Throughout the park were these mailboxes full of laminated books that you could sit down and read (we didn't read any, we just liked to take them in out of the mailbox over and over again). My kids just LOVE mailboxes for some reason.



And they finally made a chair just right for G-daddy! Here he is with the boys....



As I mentioned, we also hit the zoo. We started out at the carousel, the same one that Nana use to ride as a kid :)



Then we hit the exhibits, except no one mentioned that this zoo was practically on the side of a mountain! Poor G-daddy got a workout pushing those kids up that hill in their little fire engine!



They didn't exactly have your run of the mill animals. One of the 1st animals we saw was a sloth. When we got to the speckled bear, I was beginning to wonder if Diego was around the corner coming to the rescue.



Of all the animals, I would have to say that Ryan liked the tigers best. He would not stop roaring. So cute!



And here are G-daddy and Kyle looking for the reindeer....



Again, despite the circumstances, we had a good weekend. We not only got a chance to look back on some old memories, but we were able to make some new ones too!