Good Grounds

Joel.  Such a giver.  All I had to do was give him a call and say, "Hey brother, will you drive 12 hours in the car with your wife and five kids, all to help Zach fix the deck?"  And they did! We were so glad to finally get our deck reinforced, so that we can comfortably use the sunroom without fearing collapse.  And of course we were ready to spend time with the Mannings and give them a chance to meet Esmé.

 

The Mannings were there when I got home from Florida, so I was able to see two out of three siblings in one day! Pour one for my homie, Jason.  I'm hoping we can see you guys soon.

Joel and his "helpers"

So much engineering prowess in this picture

Anyway, Zach and Joel worked hard and quickly on the deck and got it done in a day.  That left time for games, playing in the yard, and hiking during the rest of the visit. My parents spent a few hours with us on Saturday and took all the grandkids out for donuts and a park trip.  We met up with my parents again on Sunday when we went hiking after church.  Turns out I didn't get any pictures of that, but we went to Triple Falls and High Falls, and it was a beautiful day.  You'll just have to take my word for it.

Ticket to Ride

Pompeii - yes, you get to drop the game pieces into the volcano

I was relieved that the weather was perfect and glad that the Illinoisans were provided a break from negative temperatures and many feet of snow. The Good Grounds Manning kids are so sweet and play nicely together. I love when siblings are kind to one another (and to my kids, obviously!).

Steph and some of the girls on the swingset

Precious Caralee

Uncle Zach making ginormous bubbles

Picnic in the front yard...now this can be done on the deck!

Cadence and Haven are tall and old suddenly!

Gramma in full gramma-mode

Joel and Steph love to be productive, and it really worked in our favor.  After the deck was done, they were ready for another project. Six months ago, Zach and I had bought a massive art piece (ie rusty metal thing) done by a local Asheville artist.  Because we're hip like that.  We knew just where we wanted to put it in the living room, but it would be a little precarious. Read: wood plank balanced on a ladder, balanced on the steep stairs. So it sat in our garage for a long time. With Joel and Steph's help, it finally got hung!

Everyone rejoicing! (Carly is being held up in the staircase, not dangling over the rail)

Lots of action

Esmé squashing Carly

All in all, a delightful and purposeful weekend.  I'm thankful for helpful siblings, precious nieces and nephews, present grandparents, and great memories.