Visit from Grandma, Aunt Betsy and Ella

I am a little late in posting this but it is better late than never. My mom, Betsy and her one year old daughter, Ella came and visited July 22nd through the 25th. We had so much fun we exhausted poor Ella. Talia and Tucker just love it when family visits and had so much fun with everyone. Ella is very patient with everything that Talia and Tucker want to play with her and do with her. They arrived Tuesday and my mom made me a birthday cake to celebrate my up coming birthday. It was the delicious triple chocolate cake that my sister-in-law makes and it was wonderful. It was nice not to have to make my own birthday cake. Wednesday we went swimming at an indoor pool in Portland. There was a 3 story high slide and that was the big hit. Talia, Tucker and Betsy also tried the rope swing. The only thing Ella wanted to do was go down the slide and so Betsy and my mom took turns taking her. I forgot to pack my swimming suit so I had to sit out. I was photographer that afternoon and it as fun.

Thursday was Tucker's birthday party which I wrote about in an earlier blog. Thursday after Tucker's party the fun did not end. We met Trent at the river to go boating and it was perfect weather and it wasn't too busy. Everyone that wanted a turn behind the boat was able to go and the kids loved playing on the beach. My mom and Betsy stayed on the beach for most of the time and I drove or was the flagger in the boat for most of the afternoon and evening. Talia and Tucker caught a frog which is kind of a funny story. Talia and Tucker found a hole on the beach and Talia convinced Tucker to put his hand in it. Tucker stuck his hand hole and screamed when he had found a little frog. Amazingly the frog survived playing with the kids for quite some time and was able to hop away to freedom. Betsy got some pictures of the kids on the beach with the frog and I am hoping she will post the pictures soon (hint, hint.) Friday morning we got up early and went blueberry picking for a couple of hours. We came away with over 30 lbs between the all of us. Talia was a good help. Tucker only picked blueberries when I made him count them and he figured out that wasn't very fun after the first few hundred. You would be surprised at what a hundred blueberries look like (not very much). Ella would walk around and steal blueberries from every one's bucket. I am glad that I won't be changing her diaper for the next few days. Our company left soon after we got home from berry picking. Ella had her fill of fun and was ready for a very long nap. It is tiring when you are having so much fun. Thanks for coming and visiting us mom, Betsy and Ella.