a trip north

we journeyed up north,
to visit papa coach and grandma nene
for the 4th of july.



we went to the zoo.
we went to the imax at the zoo.
we played and played and played,
with mr.m.'s childhood {vintage} star wars toys-
that grandma nene had gotten out for us.
we slipped on the slip n' slide in the backyard.
we watched Cars 3.
we gorged ourselves on gigi's fabulous potato salad,
{at least i did},
and papa coach's homemade ice cream.
we swam at auntie k's pool.
we ran around with water balloons.
we ate smores.

and,
we went to the amazing children's museum.
we loved playing in the little big play house.



we loved grilling up some carnivore meat,
and smelling dinosaur poop in the special dinosaur exhibit.



and our little nboy {and the bigger boys- papa coach & mr.m.}
had a ball.....
in the ball room.





we got to spend lots of extra time with
our sweet gigi,



and shared lots of giggles, hugs, and hang out time
with our pretty auntie k.



and of course,
there were fireworks!

this year nboy was prepared.
he had told us ahead of time that he had a plan to "cover" the loud noises.
sure enough- when we announced it was time to have our show,
he asked me for the car keys,
and then came outside with our minivan headphones on his head.

impressive planning ahead for our 4 year old.

{and btw, i adore this pose....
this is this boys' trademark stance-
crouched down, one hand on the mouth,
one hand on his head, heals almost together.
totally him.}



and of course, back to the headphones....
as soon as ggirl saw nboys, she quickly followed suite.



and every good trip ends like this:




hooray!
thanks for the fun 4th, papa coach and grandma nene.
{clap, clap, clap}.