Sweet Home Alabama

Last week my sister and I took the 2 kids and 3 dogs and drove to Alabama to visit my parents while Ben was in Guatemala on a Missions trip. The drive to and back went very well. Lila did a great job keeping herself entertained, and she did a great job eating in the car. We had to make several stops so we ate in the car to keep the trip to 12 hours! We had a nice relaxing week, just hanging out at home. My parents live just north of the city so it kind of feels like they're in the country. Here's a picture of their house (just for you, Keri!)

Of course, I didn't think to take a picture of it when I was there, so this is from a couple years ago in the fall.

Lila and Grandma Brandt on the front porch.

One great thing about coming to Grandma and Grandpa's house is playing with all the "old" toys... or at least that was something I always enjoyed when I visited my grandparents! This doll I'm pretty sure was my mother's.

Another picture of them on the porch swing.

The weather was SO nice while we were there - in the 80s all week! We enjoyed being outside.

Lila and Grandpa B going to water some plants.

Aunt Janina holding Wyatt.

Wyatt playing with a toy. For some reason, he liked to play with the stacking pole rather than the rings.

One day, Lila, Janina and I walked down the street to a house that had a goat pasture.

There were old goats with long horns, baby goats and every age in between!

The goats made lots of funny noises and would butt each other in the heads.

Both Lila and Wyatt were excited when Grandpa came home from work!

Lila liked to play the "pinano" with Aunt Janina.

Here's Lila and Grandpa playing with our (Janina and I) old dollhouse, which we brought down from the attic. She also played with our old toy kitchen.

Here they are both playing with the toy food. They played very nicely together (which means Lila tolerated Wyatt playing with "her" toys!).

One evening we went down to the duck pond (which is back behind a neighbor's house). The ducks are raised in a large aviary (is that the right term?) and then sold. So we got to see several varieties of ducks and some baby ducklings too.

Wyatt was interested in the mesh walls.

"What are those ducks doing now?"

A picture of me with Wyatt.

And one day we went down to my Dad's office so all the office ladies could see the kids. Wyatt was a big hit since he was so snuggly. Lila liked to draw on Grandpa's white board.

Wyatt's first trip to the office.