The Houghs: Grandma and Papa John, Pt. II

Five days into Thanksgiving Break, gangsters. How's everybody doing?

I'm getting some much needed rest, my yard is looking more 'business casual' and less like Aqualung, and the inside of my house looks completely different now that we have everything finally hung up on the walls and some new lighting installed (see below). On top of it all, we're getting some good quality time in with the folks, the kids are (somewhat) behaving themselves, and I still have another four days off of work ahead of me.

Huzzah.

Behold the second installment from Grandma and Papa John's Visit:

Painting in the Play Room

Getting some composition critiquing from Pinky

Grandma assists Abby with her 'Rollercoaster' painting ('rollercoaster,' in this house, means 'scribbly mess.')

Practicing letters and numbers

asdfasdf

Jesus, This picture still makes me cringe just looking at it. Anyway, this picture, as you'll remember, was from over the summer. The reason I'm posting it now is to draw your immediate attention to the bookcase to the left, there. See it? Kind of a mess. And I've added about a hundred books since this picture was taken. Drastic measures were called for. . .

Kris and I had wanted to box these shelves in with some white board in order to frame it and make it look more like a bookcase instead of just shelves on a wall. This would require some saw work and a basic understanding of construction. I, unfortunately, have neither. . .

. . . fortunatley, John had both.

Boards for the bookcase.

John bought a saw for his business while he was down here, that way he could use it to construct the bookcase. I was pretty happy with this arrangement.

While Papa John was assembling aforementioned bookcase, Grandma and Alayna worked on Alayna's homework (with Pinky, obviously).

(We had to talk Pinky down from jumping. He's got a lot of shit to work through these days.)

After framing the bookcase, John added some lips for the shelves and installed some track lighting on a dimmer switch. Needless to say, the bookcase looks totally awesomer now.

The usual.

Playing dress up with Pinky.

See the mountain of books in the background? A temporary - and minor - inconvenience while the bookcase was being assembled. I was looking forward to actually organizing the books once the shelves were finished - something I didn't get to do last time.

Kris and Grandma take the girls to the Ginger Mill park. . .

Taking the Hill. . .

Abby, pissed as usual.

Abby and Pinky check out the Gooses.

The LONG process of organizing the bookcase (alphabetically, chronologically, by genre, etc. etc.)

In the evening, we decided to take the girls to the Gaylord Palms resort in order to view their Lighting of the Christmas Tree. . .

This resort's main lobby is impressive enough as is, but they really go all out for Christmas. They're like the Griswolds, if Clark owned his own hotel. . .

The Cannonball and Pinky, awaiting the Lighting of the Christmas Tree.

Abby was freaked out by the large dark, loud room, so we all had to take turns consoling her throughout the evening. . .

Waiting for the show to start. . .

The Dynamic Duo

A group of flamboyos entertain the crowds prior to the Christmas Tree lighting

We actually didn't get to see the tree light up - Abby's meltdowns forced us to walk around the lobby instead.

There was plenty to look at throughout the resort, though - and eventually we got to see the lights once Abby had collected herself.

The Gaylord Palms - lit up.

(Abby wouldn't pose. Go figure.)

Now begins the gratuitous number of Christmas-y pictures. . .

Checking out goldfish, or koi, or whatever the hell they are. . .

Yet another meltdown begins. . .

. . . aren't those red flowers insanely poisonous? My kids are just dumb enough to eat flower petals, so this sort of thing always concerns me.

Checking out market wares. . .

Alayna was convinced this was interactive (it wasn't.)

Inside the Gaylord Palms. . .

Heading back to the car - the kids were exhausted.

The next day, Abby began to show signs of an oncoming fever. At first, she was just quiet and didn't want to eat anything. Later, she got a temperature, and eventually, she was doing random crap like napping on the floor.

. . .the Hough Family Thanksgiving Curse was back.

The Bookcase. Finished.

With Abby sick and out of commission, Papa John and Grandma decided to take Alayna out and about with them while they ran errands, shopped, etc. Consequently, Alayna got to hit up Menchies. . . which, outside Chuck E. Cheese and Toys R US, is probably the greatest place in the universe to a four-year-old.

Doped up on sugar.

Later on in the afternoon, Abby - freshly drugged up with meds - was feeling better, so we took the girls back out to that park around the corner. . .