Keeping Up with the Etheridges: Spring Visit

I just can't imagine what Allen must have thought. One minute he's playing with his Mom & Dad around the house... he goes down for a nap in his room for a few hours... and then the next thing he knows Moe-Joe & Dad-Oh are on his bed staring right at him! I bet he totally thought that he was dreaming! Either way, I'm sure he was perplexed... becuase his reaction to seeing them wasn't what we all expected. Sure it had been several months since we had seen them last, but I definitely didn't expect for Allen to act like he didn't know who they were! Needless to say, it took him a while for him to fully wake up and grasp the fact that his Moe-Joe & Dad-Oh were here to play with him... and for more than just three days too!!!

Happy to see & hug his Moe-Joe!

After an eventual warm reception, it was too nice of an afternoon to not be outside playing... so we all went out to the backyard and did just that.

Moe-Joe (accidentally?) hit Dad-Oh in the head with the ball...

and Allen apparently approved and congratulated her with a high-five.

Dad-Oh obviously didn't think it was very funny

and didn't appreciate Allen laughing at his expense!

Sometimes we forget how easily amused an 18-month-old can be... Dad-Oh simply tossing the ball up into the air made Allen laugh hysterically!

Allen eventually got bored with the ball...

so we brought out some reinforcements:

The pinwheel was fun...

But trying to catch Moe-Joe's bubbles was even more fun!

Allen just couldn't resist playing with his balls (gee, that sure doesn't sound right!), and insisted Dad-Oh do some more hilarious juggling.

The fun continued inside where Dad-Oh proceeded to teach Allen how to blow on a beer bottle to make it whistle (It's a guy thing!).

We wrapped up an exciting day with Moe-Joe

reading Allen a bedtime story... which he liked very much!

The next morning Moe-Joe & Dad-Oh took the little guy off our hands for a while and ate breakfast together, played, and of course took a nice long walk around the neighborhood.

Apparently it was a busy and exhausting morning... because once noon rolled around, Allen, Dad-Oh, and the cats all decided to take naps.

"Okay, I'm up... ready to play again Moe-Joe!!!"

Allen loves it when his Moe-Joe prepares his lunch for him!

That afternoon we decided to get out of the house

and visit/feed the ducks at the duck pond...

Enjoy a nice stroll around the pond while taking a few family pics...

And of course a mandatory pitstop at the playground was a must!

The next morning Moe-Joe surprised Allen...

with his very own set of golf clubs!

We headed out to the backyard and gave it our best shot at trying to teach him how to swing and hit the ball, but he didn't quite catch on as quickly as we had hoped.

After a little golf in the morning, we decided to go to the park...

where we ate a nice big lunch and played as hard as we could.

First thing Allen wanted to do was have

Moe-Joe & Dad-Oh push him on the swing!

"Higher Dad-Oh... higher!"

And just when we thought the swing was his favorite...

Moe-Joe introduced him to the super fun slide!

kind of a random pic here... but I only include it because it was taken immediately after Dad-Oh had tripped over (some sand?) the raised edge of the rubber floor where it meets the sand and fell pretty hard! Allen was oblivious... but the rest of us got a really good laugh out of it! (Sorry Dad-Oh.)

When Dad-Oh wasn't tripping over himself...

he was busy spending some quality time with his Grandson.

"Mom? ...Dad? Moe-Joe? ...Dad-Oh???

Oh come on... my poopy diaper can't be that bad!?"

Surprisingly, Moe-Joe, Dad-Oh and Allen

were all up for a friendly game of dodgeball!

Or in Moe-Joe's case... not so friendly game of dodgeball!

You wouldn't think it'd be hard to keep Allen entertained... being at a nice big park and all, but without his afternoon nap, the attention span dropped while the crankiness level rose. But as sure as the grass is green, we came prepared... balls, bubbles, and golf clubs galore!