A week's worth of visiting!

My parents came! We went to the airport and waited,

and waited.

AND LO, THEY FINALLY ARRIVED.

We dug out Eleanor's old wheelie bee.

The splash parks opened up the second day of their visit, and while the other kids romped, all Eleanor wanted to do was 'paint' the animals.

All Geneva wanted to do was point at things, and not go in the water because water is like death.

We dressed Geneva up super fancy, and she kind of didn't hate it.

Walking baby can't stop walking.

Eleanor found a book of beards.

Geneva keeps bringing up a foot during meals, and it's hilarious and adorable but also very poor table manners.

So I put a stop to it, but as soon as she got out of the chair she was all, PUT MY FOOT UP ALL I WANT.

We did acrobatics.

We did painting.

Joel and I went on a date where we stopped to get coffee and sat on the patio.

And then went for burgers (I had the caramelized banana, bacon, and peanut butter aioli burger).

And then saw Mad Max (DUN DE LE DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DE DE DUN DUN DUN DUN IT WAS SO INTENSE DUN DE LE DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN) and walked home in the semi-dark.

GOOD DATE.

Then follows like two days of mom and dad taking the girls to the park while I run around town dropping a dress off to be hemmed, getting a necklace fixed, dropping things off at the thrift store, ALL while nobody whines to me from the backseat. I organized my crawl space, I put away my winter boots, I finished my niece's birthday present. EFFICIENCY.

We went to the Children's Festival and Eleanor got her face painted (duh).

Ohhhh, she sits so still. It's...a guitar? I think?

Eleanor doesn't even know.

Me and my one girlfriend have been trying to make our daughters be friends for like a YEAR but they're pretty opposite temperaments. BUT LOOK AT THEM COLORING SIDE BY SIDE.

Geneva was like, Look at me, tambourine. Rah. Rah. Rah.

We stopped by the ice cream bus on the way home and SUDDENLY: PRINCESSES.

Eleanor was dumbstruck. Eleanor has never NOT talked the ear off of a stranger except the princesses, to whom she can barely speak.

And then we went to the farmer's market, and the good face painters were there.

Geneva was like, I cannot do this, I am too sick and too teething and too little, I'm out.

It was Eleanor's turn to pick our farmer's market treat, and she'd never had a candied nut before. Eleanor has a weakness for samples, and also nuts.

Geneva woke up and was waaaaaay less miserable.

We passed by the Children's Festival on the way home, and ran into a clown! on stilts! Eleanor was DELIGHTED!

When my parents came to visit last September, we went to Tony Romas and had an onion loaf (and other things). Teeny Eleanor was like, Slurrrrrp.

Geneva was just a morsel of a person, then. Now she is a crawling, standing, babbling tiny beast and SHE WILL EAT AN ONION LOAF ALSO PLEASE.

Eleanor is still like nahng nahng nahng.

The Children's Festival was having a sunset party on Saturday night, and it was FREE, and we were done dinner so why not.

Sunday evening, we dropped Papa and Gigi off at the airport, and came home to an empty house, and I put the girls to bed and went back in three times to console Eleanor, who was 'too sad to sleep.' Every time we have visitors or go home, it's sadder to leave because Eleanor is older and wiser, and loves so much harder.

Worth it, though. Always worth it.