Fish and House Guests

Ben Franklin said house guests are like fish: they start to smell after three days. Generally true! But not always. If you are lucky, you might come across a family who welcomes you in and genuinely doesn't mind your smell...even after three days!

A few weeks ago, me (Amanda) and the kids hopped in the minivan for a road trip back down to NC. We were missing our friends, the Rockes, pretty bad. We left on a Tuesday, and Kelly said, "stay through the weekend!" Wow.  I was sure we would drive the poor Rockes crazy before then. My plan was just to play it by ear and see how it went. 

It went awesome.

When we arrived, the kids fell right back in step with each other, playing together and having fun before bed time. It was so great to see Kelly and Dan...that night I could hardly fall asleep because of how fun it was to be with our good friends again. 

We picked right up with our usual routine...meeting friends at the park, going for walks, visiting the mu-zay-um (Calvin's words), and squeezing in the traditional visit to Starbucks. The one huge disaster we experienced was trying to "treat" the kids to lunch at Chick-fil-a. I kept building up the playground and how fun it would be to play there, but when the kids got there, the babies had hit their limit and the play structure was built just a few inches too big for Jack and Corrie to climb. There was so much frustrated crying as Jack and Corrie tried to keep up with their older brothers. 

Jack eventually made it up to the top, where he got stuck and then started crying. Calvin tried to help him down and ended up pulling his pants and diaper completely down! Poor little buddy was stuck hanging over the edge of a big triangle-shaped step! Kelly climbed up to rescue all of the kids and we packed the kids up and headed back home, shaking our heads. 

On another note, here are some pictures from the neighborhood park. One of my favorite parts of our visit was getting to hang out with Jack. We moved when he was still pretty young, and I love getting to know him a little better when we visit. Below is a picture of the first time I heard him say my name. Pretty special. He said, "Look, A-may-da, a sss-tick!" Little guy made me smile so much..."Yes Jack, that is quite a stick you found!"

                            

All of the kids really made me laugh when I saw how they played on the climbing wall. This park is full of slides, but here is what they decided to slide down. Who knew that a bumpy, splintery ride could be so fun?

Hard to believe that Cal and Mac were once this little. Back then, they pretty much just looked at the wall and layed on it.

Speaking of back then, below is a picture of Kelly and the kids shortly before we moved to VA. We thought our little herd had grown so big! 

Just look at us all now! Hey Kelly, Macklemore called...he wants his jacket back! 

And here were the kids eating at the table the last time we visited: 

Amazing how much they have all grown since then!

A few other highlights: 

The kids had the best time with Dan. Just like when Ellis comes home, when Dan stepped in the door the excitement level of the house would go up about 20 notches. We are just waiting for this video to go viral, Dan!

Corrie and Mac loved having greek yogurt in the mornings. Mac thought it was ice cream, and I totally went with that. We just call it breakfast ice cream.

We went to the museum and Cal made an origami cup and bat. That little guy never ceases to amaze me!

Davey and Luke spent lots of quality time together in the baby corner. Such active little guys!

I think we only turned the TV on once the whole week. Pretty cute little group sitting on the couch together!

Putting the car puzzle together was a fun activity for everyone...except Mac, who was content pushing the indoor car around for hours instead. 

Probably one of the most amazing parts of the visit was nap time. I think we utilized just about every inch of the house for those kids to get a good rest each afternoon. We could not believe that the kids actually slept so well. Better than usual, for my kids at least! One time Kelly did have to go up and check on Calvin, who was crying loudly. He had broken his origami bat :-(

Here is Davey lounging in his extravagant bathroom bed. Jack was a sweet helper, talking to Davey and helping me get Davey up from his nap.

Here's Cal visiting Corrie in her little laundry room cottage:

Not pictured is Luke sleeping in his cozy closet villa. Sort of reminded me of sleeping in the entrance to Narnia. But I did get a picture of Mac's first time ever playing soccer with a buddy. Way to go guys!

The other thing I wanted to mention is what a great gift the Rocke's friendship is to our family in so many ways. Every time I leave NC, I leave a better mom and wife...a better Christ-follower all around. There's so much more I could say about that, but I will just say: what a great God we have, who delights in giving His children such good friendships!

Our visit to NC was helpful and needed in some practical ways. Before visiting NC, I was pretty much still a hermit...not really ready to brave the grocery stores and parks with all three kids. Somehow, when we are all together with the Rockes, it doesn't seem like such a big deal. When we got home, going to WalMart with only three kids seemed like nothing!

The other great influence that Kelly had on me this visit was her great ideas for teaching the kids and making activities for them. I got some materials from our trip to WalMart to replicate some of what I learned from her. Here's one of the activities I made:

Yep, before we knew it, it was Sunday already...time to pack up and head back to the mountains of VA. Reflecting back on the week, Kelly and I both said that our week together was a wonderful rest. Somehow, in the midst of squeezing 6 kids, 4 and under under one roof, we enjoyed a rest for our hearts and minds. It's just relaxing when are all together. Isn't that something special?