Visit to Missouri (from June)

At the beginning of the summer, Ainsley and I took a special girls only trip to Missouri to visit my family.  I wanted to be sure to get up there once before I got too far along with this pregnancy and getting to go just us girls was an extra special treat.  This was the longest I had ever been away from Bailey and I missed him like crazy but it was nice to have a calmer visit so that I could invest extra time and energy in conversation and connecting with family I don't get to see as often as I'd like.







While we were there, my mom got out my old American Girl dolls to show Ainsley.  We have gotten some of these catalogues in the mail and Ainsley already loves to look through them and dream just like I used to do.  We have talked about how she is too little to have one now and she calls them the 'really expensive dolls'.  So it was extra special for her to get to play with them while we were in MO.  These dolls hold a special place in my childhood memories and I loved getting to share them with Ainsley and see her excitement.  I will admit that I still felt a bit overprotective of them but she was very careful and had a lot of fun 'setting up their closets' by carefully laying out all their clothes.  The dolls were quite the hit the whole visit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My mom also brought out my old lovey or my boppy as I called it when I was little.  It started off as a blanket that my mom made me but after years of love it is now nothing more than a rag.  Ainsley couldn't believe that it used to be my lovey!  It was neat to see but also pretty gross.  :)

 

 

 

A special part of the trip for me was getting to spend time with my grandparents.  Ainsley, Mom, and I spent the morning with them and Ainsley had a blast playing with all the treasures in their house. My grandfather collects paper weights and they let Ainsley carefully select each one and put it on the light so that it would glow and allow you to better see the design. My grandma was so patient and Ainsley was so careful.  Her favorite was the one with four flowers because at the time she was excited about being almost four. Grandma let her keep that special one on the light even after we left. 

 

 

Here she is playing with my dad and uncles' old toy cars. Again, I was proud of her for being so careful especially since these cars are so old.  She did keep asking where all the girl toys were.  But with three sons, four grandsons, and only one granddaughter... There just aren't many girl toys at great-grandma Norma's house. :)

I also had the treat of going back over to grandma and grandpas house one afternoon to play cards with my two younger brothers.  When I was little I used to spend several days during the summer with my grandparents eating tuna fish sandwiches, going to swim team practice, and playing cards.  I have such fond memories of those days and it was so nice to get to spend some extra time with these two people I love so dearly.



 

Another perk of my parents house is that they live down the road from a you pick farm. This visit strawberries where in season so Ainsley, Mom, and I went picking!  Ainsley had fun finding the red ones hidden in the bushes and we all had fun eating way more than we should have!

 

 

One morning we were also blessed with a visit from Grandma Tina, my late grandfather's wife, and her daughter-in-law and grandson.  It has been quite a while since I've seen sweet Tina and it was such a treat to get to catch up and have a nice visit.



Ainsley might say that one of her favorite parts of the trip was getting to spend time with my parent's dog Molly and their kitty cats.  She loved playing and snuggling with Molly!  She has asked us several times if she could have a dog and George and I have always responded with the fact that they are a lot of work and that they poop and you have to clean it up.  So for quite a while she would say that she didn't want a dog because she didn't want to have to clean up its poop.  I was happy with this arrangement.  But then Ainsley keenly noticed that when she walked Molly with Mom in the fields and country around their house, that Grandma didn't pick up Molly's poop!  Bummer!  Thanks for ruining our system, Mom!  I was still able to somehow convince her that if we had a dog we would still have to pick up its poop because we had a small yard but that Grandma didn't have to because her yard was so big.  That has worked for now although she says that we will just get a dog when we move to the land.... so at least I've bought us a few more years.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

One thing I want to be sure to remember is what Ainsley said one night when we went out to dinner as a family at my favorite Japanese restaurant, Osaka.  The waiter came around to get our drink orders and she looked him square in the eyes and said, "Can I have a cheese quesadilla please?"  Ha!  Too much time in Texas, I guess!  It cracked everyone yet and had us laughing for days.

 

It isn't easy being so far away from family that means so much to me but I feel so thankful for visits like these and being able to spend quality time with them.  It means the world to me that in their own unique ways, my parents, grandparents, and brothers invest the time into getting to know my children.  Ainsley adores them all so it means the world to her as well.  Love you family!!