Devotion, Dessert, and a Dalmatian

Grammie and Poppy arrived Saturday for a 3 day visit!  We were SO excited that we waited by the dining room window for them!  I sure do miss my mama and daddy!  We spent the day playing games and hanging out.  We went on a freezing cold brisk and refreshing walk/bike ride before the guys helped with dinner (Poppy is becoming quite the chef in 2010) and we enjoyed sun-dried tomato salmon with veggies on a bed of rice.  Proved to be pretty good.  I was surprised Riley went to sleep willingly that night.  I think she had been so excited that they were coming that she just wore her little self out!  She had been counting down the days one by one from about 14 days out.

 We Riley had planned to take Grammie and Poppy bowling and they were more than happy to do whatever Queenie had planned.  Mom and dad bowled "back in the day" and got into the swing of things after just a few frames.  Dad and Mike teased mom about her bowling stance and Mike and I thought dad had a little "Fred Flintstone twinkle toes thing" going on.  

After 2 games, we decided to move on to Macy's.  Amazing how mom and I always manage to get a little shopping in!  I miss my shopping buddy SO BAD!  Macy's proved fruitful as I walked away (really more like skipped happily) with a new pair of Lucky Jeans (Grammie had a FABULOUS coupon) and a few shirts-all from the clearance rack!  WOO HOO!  It was almost dinner time and the fellas were a bit hungry, so we went to Red Robin for a Valentine burger.  We decided our steaks that had been marinating all day would be even better if they marinated until Monday night!

 As I recall the visit, it sure seems like we ate a BUNCH!  Our steaks we planned for Valentine's Day dinner were wonderful on Monday night and we followed it up with our traditional Valentine's Day dessert... fondue.  SO YUMMY!  Notice the rubber ducks and golf tees Riley felt the need to disperse to each place setting.  Does anyone else have a child who loves to distribute random things?  

Telling anyone goodbye is more difficult now that we've moved, and it's especially hard for our very dramatic loving Riley.  We were lucky that Tuesday was "Disney Day" at her school and she had to dress up as a dalmatian.  This provided a little distraction (although the morning wasn't totally tear-free).  Her school contributed to Make-a-Wish and a student was granted a trip to Disney so they turned the day into a celebration.  All of Kindergarten was supposed to dress up so that the dogs from 101 Dalmatians would be represented.  Here was our little puppy complete with purple rhinestone collar and bone shaped name tag:

 

It was hard to "get back to normal" once mom and dad left and I so loved having them here.  I'm so glad they are blessed with good health and flexible work schedules so that they can visit.  Of course it also helps that they have an enormous love for this little dalmatian!