Just 4 Webbs again

Howdy folks,

Nana and Papa are flying out Wednesday morning and we've had an excellent time with them. The 4 Webbs loved temporarily being the 6 Webbs even though it was only one short, short week. I always go back and forth in reflection of how good of a host we were after guests leave our house. On one hand, I want to make sure guests have enough activities and experiences so we have chances for those bonding moments. On the other hand, I want to make sure we spend time doing absolutely nothing so guests have a chance to relax on their vacation and we can just talk. As for this trip I have no idea if we struck a good balance, but I sure had a great time. The days and events blur together like looking through a kaleidoscope so you'll have to bear with me as I try to organize the pictures and stories. I better start with the last picture of the trip...


Here is Nana (my mom), Papa (my dad), and GAM (Great Aunt Mary) and of course Easton and Layla. I wanted to get a picture like this because it's been a long time since my dad and aunt Mary were in a picture together and I wasn't able to get many pictures during this week of both babies with both of my parents. So there you have it. Anyway, Mary came over for dinner, which we hosted on the patio table in the backyard because we have no table inside our house. The tiny area where the kitchen table should be is overrun with bouncy seats, high chairs, and other baby paraphernalia. Dinner was great thanks to Kendra's culinary skills and Food TV network.

This morning we packed up the car and drove to the desert botanical gardens for a long walk amongst the cacti (that's the singular form of cactus for you city folk). We saw big groups of interesting, twisted plants like this one:


Easton and Layla were outstanding babies as they stayed up well past their nap time to accommodate our adventures. We tried to be good parents and protect the eyes of our babies, but apparently these sunglasses were not stylish enough for Easton because he immediately pulled them off. They are both looking at Kendra who was trying to convince them, "all the cool babies are wearing sunglasses!" It didn't work. we ended up putting hats on them...


We found a new house in the Phoenix area that we can afford! We may put an offer on it tomorrow. The only hurdle is convincing the Desert Botanical Gardens owner to let us live inside the park.


I'm just kidding about the offer on the house. This is an example hut of some Sonoran desert indian dwellers from long, long ago. Although I'm sure the idea of only cleaning 200 sq. ft. worth of a house is appealing to Kendra. One final picture from our botanical trip. I call this picture, "Nana thinks I'm out of my gourd"


Nana is holding a gourd from a gourd plant that grew up into a nearby tree... OK, that about sums up the "gardens" trip. Back at home we spent many hours during the week just playing with the twins and watching them interact. Easton was perfectly content to sit with Papa who made funny noises with his mouth.


Here's a common scene lately where Easton is prepared to commando crawl and Layla is trying her best to stand up. You'll notice the TV equipment is safely enclosed behind a glass door. As soon as that door opens, both babies make a bee line straight for the "shiny lights and buttons" like a moth drawn towards a bug zapper.


Even with Nana and Papa plus Kendra and I, we had a difficult time corralling the twins and keeping them from wandering off into the kitchen or front room. We need some baby gates! Anyway, Papa is a much more easy-going guy than the man I grew up with. I don't remember him for his spontaneity or adventurous spirit back when I was a kid. However, now he's actually a lot of fun and a great grandpa. Kendra and I decided to go for a late night jog around our neighborhood and I asked Papa if he wanted to join us by riding my mountain bike along side of us.


Well as you can see he said, "Sure! how do you shift those levers?" and away we went. He strolled along side us with a smile as we gasped for air like burglars running from the cops. Even Papa can't remember the last time he rode a full-sized bicycle so I was proud of him for going with us.

For many reasons, some of which I don't even understand, I'm having a very difficult time saying goodbye to my parents this time. More than at the birth of our twins or when Nana came out when the twins were a month old. It's hard to look at my feelings tonight this way, but here's a quote from the movie Annie: "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

I better get to bed and hopefully have a more coherent blog to post tomorrow night. For now I'll leave you with a picture that I couldn't wait to post because Easton is just so darn cute! He's learning to pull himself up on the furniture and as you can see he is very proud of himself for such an accomplishment:


That boy is getting stronger and cuter every day...