Colorado Boys Come to Visit - Travel and Day 1 - With Texas grands too!

I get my BOYS today.  I absolutely could not be happier.  First things first, I am off to the airport for my flight to Denver, I have a little project packed along to keep my busy after the flight as I have a bit of a wait until Amanda and all her boys arrive.  Once I arrive in Denver, I settle into an alcove and stitch away on my little snowman face block that will go into my Christmas quilt.  All he needs now is his nose which will be appliqued on.

I get word that everyone is at the gate so I head that way (since I'm across the way - it takes me about 2 minutes).  I find my boys eating lunch and playing while watching the planes.

Woohoo --- hugs all around and the fun it about to begin.

Yep, this is a dang good picture isn't it?  Ryan wants to pose for me but keeps putting himself against the sunlight.  Am I supposed to do a silhouette?   Luckily Grandpa can lighten it up even though it appears that I wiggle while taking it.

We have a quick flight (literally) where Raef and Caleb are on one side of the plane and I am on another with Ryan.  They are all so well-behaved that several of the other adults around me make comments about it.  Yay!  It always makes traveling so much better when things go well.

Grandpa meets us at the airport and we are off to find the baggage.  It seems to take longer than usual and pretty soon everyone is tired of standing and waiting.  

Once we have the bags, it's off to the house where Grandpa has everything read to color Easter eggs.  It is tomorrow, after all.  Within no time, the boys are dressed in Grandpa's t-shirts and ready to be creative.

Oh the fun we can have.  The boys select a couple different methods for coloring and are soon dipping  and drawing away.  It's fun to watch the colors that they choose to use.  Does it reflect on their likes and dislikes?  Grandpa shows the older boys how to hold the egg in the coloring to make two-tone eggs and soon fingers are dyed as well.

Caleb channels all of his powers of concentration and "draws" the color on with a paint stick.  This works so well for him and in no time, our cartons are full of colored eggs instead of white ones.

Yay!  It's ready for the Easter Bunny.

Time for some quick pics to send Mom.  She needs to see the fun.  Gotta say -- these are choice.  Time for bed -- it has been a long day.

Good morning and Happy Easter!!!  Caleb discovers that the eggs are missing and a carrot has been chewed on.  Raef swears that the Easter Bunny was in his room watching him and all are ready to hunt down eggs.

As per tradition in my house, the youngest gets to go first and find his allotted amount.  Off Caleb goes.  He is so excited that it is contagious.  I think I have perma grin just watching him and each time he has two hands full, he brings them to me and goes in search of more.

Once he has his quota, it is time to release the other two.  Off they go and  do a pretty good job of finding them all, but the Easter Bunny was pretty sneaky and thus Grandpa has to be brought in to help find the last one.  Caleb has just as much fun watching his brothers find eggs as he did himself and he is really good at not telling when he knows where one is.

It's been MANY years since Easter Eggs were hidden with me around and even more for Mister.  Once the eggs have all been accounted for, it is time to hunt down Easter baskets.  The best part is that Caleb never spotted his basket prior to now.  How fun.  I am going to let the pictures tell the story all on their own.  It is way cute.

The rest of the the morning is spent playing with the treats found in the baskets.  Yay!  Love new toys.  It's great fun when someone discovers how the pop up ball toy works.  Look out people -- balls are flying everywhere.

Okay, let's get people fed.  Breakfast is waffles and I have a helper.  Love helpers.  I am rockin' the pj look, don't you think?  After breakfast, the boys take the pull back jelly bean cars to the hallway for races.  It is a perfect race track and soon they are off.  I have no idea who wins, but the race gets reran several times.

Puzzles are in the baskets as well and some time is spent doing them before the regular toys make an appearance again.  These three go from spot to spot to spot in the den, creating new fun in each place.  I'm thinking it's time to get ready for company shortly.  Jen and family are on the way and the house is going to be full to the brim.  I AM thrilled.

The house is picked up, we are all showered and dressed, and now it if time to just sit and play together for awhile.  First request:  FISH!  I love this game almost as much as my grands do and with Caleb as my partner, we are unstoppable.  Well, not really as we get beat pretty dang bad.

As we are playing, the cousins (along with Aunt Jen and Uncle Louis) arrive.  Yep, the den is now full to the brim and there are more players for the game.  Caleb takes a shine to Bekah and has a great time playing with her.  At one point he manages to get her giggling like crazy with a comment he makes.  (yep, what happens in the den stays in the den)  Giggles all around after awhile.  Too funny.

While we are playing and visiting, Easter Bunny helpers Grandpa and Uncle Louis have hidden plastic eggs filled with money out in the yard.  Yep, gotta go for money to get the older ones out hunting.

The back yard is alive with grands moving about looking for their treasures.

The smallest one is let loose first, while I hold the others back --- as a result he is alone for a whole minute in the backyard -- then the hoard descended on him.  In that minute, though, he was successful.  Yay!  Good planning Gammy.

I've made it a little more challenging as well.  Some eggs are marked with a star and they can only keep one without a star and one with one.  Yeah -- can't make it too easy.

Now -- that's a unique hat Josh.

And now -- the rewards!!!  A couple of eggs have X's on them and were just for Caleb.  Each one has about 50 pennies in it.  He is in heaven.

It's time to finish dinner and that sends some people off to the back rooms for some relaxation. Others, well, find opportunities to get in some great cousin time.  Tickles all around.

We opt for a "boys" table in the kitchen and four take up residency.  I'm pretty sure that there is more laughter than eating going on here.

Meanwhile, at the other table people are actually eating their dinner.   When we finish, Mister starts in on the dishes and lets me sit and visit for awhile.  I love these moment so very much.  Great stories from the younger generation keep us all in smiles for quite some time.

After dinner, Jen and her family have to make the 3 hour trek back to Abilene so must depart.  So sad, but it was great to have time with them.  Once they are on the road, we decide to walk over to the school and get the wiggles out a bit before settling down for the evening.

Playgrounds are the perfect place for that.

Yep, Caleb that is most assuredly the correct way to go down a slide.

Raef and Ryan start a game where they get all the swings going and then try to run from one end to the other without getting hit by a swing.  Oh I know -- leave me alone -- I realize that it's not safe, but they are boys and are having fun.  At the end Caleb tries to get in on the action as well.

All too soon, it is time to go and as we are walking home, Grandpa spots a small toy on the sidewalk and picks it up.  He they plays a game with the boys to show them what he has.  I think they like it and thus the tug of war for ownership begins.

It's been a great day, but definitely a busy one.  Time to settle in for some quiet time.  We are going to watch all of the Harry Potter movies while the boys are here.  Tonight is #1 and then bed.  Whew.