a birthday gift for grandma

For my birthday this year

several people (mainly my in-laws- thank you!) 

surprised me with a plane ticket to see Megan, Tony and most importantly 

CHARLIE & JOEY

oH mY Goodness!

what a surprise

I flew there just a quick, 

4 days after getting home from our trip to Oregon.

It was a whirlwind & frankly the house hasn't recovered yet.

Still-

 I was so excited to go.

You know you are in Arkansas when you see signs like this:

AHH!

Megan lives 20 minutes from the Missouri border & just an hour away from Joplin.

That's pretty scary to this West Coast born & raised gal!

I've never seen a tornado before, not even close.

I hope Megan never sees one either. 

Luckily- this place is very prepared.

The local airport has been completely remodeled since the last time I was there & when I walked off the plane for a split second-- I wondered if I was in the right place?

After realizing all was well-- I got to look around & WOW- someone did an incredible job.

Well done!

I got to spend a heavenly 6 days playing, and wrestling, singing songs, tickling, reading bedtime stories, giving "elephant rides", and making cookies. Oh boy. It was so fun.

Joey has gotten so big!

He is so sweet- he walks & runs all over the place.

He loved to roll around my suitcase.

Charlie--- TALKS!!

 Whole sentences & paragraphs now.

He has this cute little voice & calls me Nana. 

I'm completely smitten.

(Nana's glasses)

One of my favorite things about this trip to was that we got to visit the places they go to on a regular basis & meet a lot of Megan & Tony's close friends. Now I have a picture in my mind of where they are & I feel a little closer somehow?

We went to church together-

and here we are at the library.

Their library made our beautiful new library look puny! 

The children's section alone was as large as our whole library. 

(I actually love our library... I was just flabbergasted at how amazing there's was)

This is Charlie's polite, yet forced, cheese smile.

He was trying to do a puzzle, for Heaven's Sake!

P.S. this puzzle was hard... I had to put it away without putting it back together, dang!

what's a grandma to do?

There is a large fish tank- donated & maintained by a local pet shop- impressive.

Megan says it's Joey's favorite place. 

He loves to watch the fish. So cute.

Sometimes he jumps up & down & bangs on the glass- uh oh. He's just so smart & inquisitive, of course.

Charlie has been participating in the summer reading program & had recently completed his reading chart. For reading 15 books- um- hello- with the help of mom & dad of course- he earned an ice cream cone at Chick- fil- A

Hooray~ another place they frequently visit & I was excited to go with them.

Chick - Fil- A 

and 

Sonic

Two things that are all over Megan's town & no where to be seen in mine.

I've concluded that -- It's not fair-- it's probably for the best.

 I found myself wanting to stop at Sonic everyday!

More on my trip to see the boys-

tomorrow!

 NANA- MY FAVORITE TITLE EVER