Linda Part 1

My niece Linda from Texas came to visit and spent the week with us. She was a good sport as I put her to work lifting the boys, hauling the stroller in and out of the van and loading the dishwasher for me while my back continued to heal. She even had a smile on her face while helping me schlep around town. She learned how to clean up toddlers after they've eaten yogurt, how to get the long double stroller up over a curb, and how to answer when people ask, "Are they twins?"

Josh picked her up from the airport Monday and brought her and a big bag of Panera sandwiches home for lunch. We had Family Night and took the boys on a walk before putting them to bed. We stayed up late talking about Linda's life (did I mention she's a good sport) and got to bed before it got too late.
On Tuesday we got up bright and early and headed out to the National Cathedral in Georgetown. Linda navigated the double-wide stroller around the pews while Sam and Michael kept pointing saying "Church!" and "Moroni!" They liked it and knew it was a special place.They especially enjoyed the Children's chapel with pint-sized pews and a cool door to knock on. Here they are completely fascinated by the Gothic style arches. Just kidding. I think Sam's expression can be read as "enduring to the end." Don't worry, Sam! Good times ahead! After that we came home for lunch and nap time. We all had a nice long nap! We made dinner and took the boys swimming for the 3rd time all summer. It's just better to have an extra person helping at the pool! Then we headed out to Nielsen's Frozen Custard in Vienna. Yum, yum!

Wednesday morning we slept in a little, thank you Sam and Michael!, and went to the fabric store where Linda picked out this adorable fabric for an apron. After lunch while the boys were asleep she cut it out and got most of the border sewn on.
Here are my helpers in their aprons. I finally finished Michael's and he was so happy he ran toward it and gave it a hug. I guess he'd been feeling a little left out after all. That night we went out to California Pizza kitchen with another trip to Nielsen's Frozen Custard for dessert! Josh insisted. He is hooked on their peach custard and wanted to go again tonight but the boys were too tired. Ha!Thursday was an adventure. We drove over an hour to get to the Prince William County Fair to see the animals and found that the gates didn't open for the public until later that afternoon. The website had a whole list of events during the day so I thought we could get in. Sigh. We had my friend and her 2 kids in the car with us so we drove the 7 of us to Frying Pan Farm and still got to see some animals. These are the first farm animals the boys have seen and they loved it! Sam could have spent all afternoon petting this goat. He was very gentle and liked looking at him.

Here's Michael looking at a real live horse! He pretends everything in our house is a horse and sits on things saying "neigh!" Lo and behold, a real horse and he just couldn't believe it. Linda had a hard time getting him out of the barn.

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I'll have to do the rest of her visit on a separate post because it's getting to be hard to drag the pictures all the way down to the bottom of this one! Maybe a better blogger could do it, but I give up in favor of the Women's Gymnastic floor exercises! Go Nastia and Shawn!!!