My parents came for a visit last week. While they spent most of the week getting our house prepared to put on the market, we did spend the weekend in Tampa. Even though we spent all day Saturday at Busch Gardens, Ben's favorite part of the trip may have been the overnight hotel stay. Mom and Dad watched the kids while Carl and I picked out ortho chairs for his office. Florida had record lows while they were here, but the 43 degree weather did not stop Grandpa and Ben from swimming in the outdoor pool! And for those of you questioning my Dad's judgement, he IS from South Dakota! At least he had swim trunks - Ben swam in a regular diaper!
Our hotel also had a guest laundry room with 3 washer/dryers and a Tide dispenser! Ben would have been content to spend the rest of the weekend here. The first thing he wanted to do when he woke up on Saturday morning was visit the laundry room. While he and Carl were in there, a nice man came to do his laundry and let Ben put the coins in and start his load of laundry!
Because of the cold weather, we pretty much had the park to ourselves. It was wonderful to wait in no lines and Ben loved the unlimited hot chocolate! Dad, Carl, and I rode all of the roller coasters and we even talked mom into going on one toward the end of the day. She actually loved it and went on a couple more rides before leaving the park! 
Ella was content to be along for the ride and tried to stay nice and cozy.
Ben piloted his own plane for the first time. We gave him a pep talk and told him to hold on tight. I would love to have known what was going through his head during his "flight". We were constantly cheering for him and shouting his name, but he had his serious game face on and did not look up from his steering wheel once! 
Another highlight of Busch Gardens was feeding the birds. 
Our house is now officially on the market. It is surreal to drive up and see the For Sale sign in our yard. It seems like we just moved in! Thanks so much to my parents for working so hard on their "vacation". Among many other things, they cleaned the windows and baseboards (which have not been cleaned since we moved in!!). Below is the picture of all of the leaves and pine needles that Dad collected from our roof, gutters, and yard. Thank you guys for all of your hard work and I promise that it is just as clean now as when you left :-)
Happy Mardi Gras!
6 comments:
cute Old Navy stocking hat-marley is showing off the same one:) Great minds, I mean moms think alike!!!!
Taige - I wish we lived closer so Ella could wear all of your girls' hand me downs!! Tuley and Marley always look so cute!
Gotta love those tourists! Can't believe that it was a week ago today that we braved the Florida weather at Busch Gardens. It was great being with you, and we are so excited that a week from now you will be in Illinois! With l, h, k, & p.. Nana Bev
We cried when we saw the "for sale" sign - we are sooo going to miss you all. Our laundry date was such a success today that we'll have to have another one and think of one that Ella can join us too. We need all the time that we can get before the big move.
Love, auntie maarcia
Forget crying about the sign-I'm just going to steal it and that will take care of that! Maybe I can warn people away. Every picture of Ben today was of his back - peering into the washers and dryers. We had a grea time - he was so good. It's so much fun to be with the kids. Don't even want to think about you leaving. We'll have to have lots and lots and more dates.
Oh, yeah, the above comment is from Auntie Myrna. You know I'm related to Kristin Kinsella.
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