Short But Sweet

Jackson finished up his tour in Guantanamo Bay  and Amy finished up in Italy, they are finally going to be stationed together. That only took forever didn't it? We didn't expect to see them , I knew they had a lot on their plate coming home. They had to wait for Amy's dog to arrive, then off to Arizona to see her parents, get started with the cars and then off to Whidbey Island to see the girls. But he called on Thursday to let me know they would be down for a short visit with the girls - bonus! This time of year is the long stretch we don't see them as they're in school and there's no vacations to plan. I had to cancel plans with Kim and Steve, but they didn't mind, they know how infrequently I see either one of my kids. They planned to leave at noon and arrive around 5 but didn't leave til two and 5 potty breaks later they arrived about 8pm, the girls were excited to be showing Amy and Jack  their things here. We will have lived here 4 years in June (I can't believe it either! In August I'll be at the four year mark at my job!) but they've never been down to see the house.

I didn't take too many pictures - I know,weird for me! I just wanted to enjoy this short time with my family. Bee and Dutch were over the moon to have  so many visitors at once, Bee was hostessing her butt off and managed to sit on everyone's lap. Jack grew up with Vizslas and is used to their overly friendly antics, Amy was playing with them all weekend. We didn't do much, I had no time to plan anything and I think with all the traveling Jack and Amy have been doing staying put was not objected to. The whole house was full! The girls slept in their room downstairs and Bee somehow managed to sleep with the guests taking her hostessing skills to a whole new level. She did get under the covers and shared pillows but no one seemed to mind. Saturday we just hung out, it was fun getting to know Amy better and of course seeing Jackson - we are so proud of him!! D took him and Amy upstairs to play Barbies and C played video games and showed off the Office that they seem to think belongs to them and not Nana. They also managed to squeeze in a tea party even though I was out of marshmallows that they don't like.  But they feel the Not So Hot Cocoa needs them, who am I to judge?

The girls had school on Monday so they drove them to the halfway point to meet Brandi, I offered but Jackson wanted to spend all the time that he could with them. After this they will be down in March for the girls 7th birthday - I know! SEVEN! They came back for the rest of the day and evening and on Monday left to return the rental car and then fly back to Arizona to register the car and get Amy's dog. I had taken a few hours of personal time on Monday so I could see them off but then I took another two vacation days this week. Even though I've had time off - it was all non-stop. Christmas, over 2 weeks with the girls, the flu, emergency surgery.........I feel like I need a little time to regroup. Today David and I did Costco (we're completely out of fruit and Vegetables) and I took the hydro unit completely apart and scrubbed the bejesus out of it. Yes it's a pain but I only have to do it a couple of times a year and I think I finally figured out a faster way to do it. Tomorrow I have a few phone calls to make but I am going to take one day to do Absolutely Nothing Of Value. Because we all need to breath once in awhile.