In May, in addition to visiting our daughter and her family, we had the chance to spend the weekend with our daughter's in-laws in Seattle. Typically, our visits do not overlap as we plan them on different dates to help out our daughter with the kids while our son-in-law is traveling on business. The occasion for us being together on this trip was to attend our grandson's first communion. It was actually the first time we had all been together since my wife and I had visited them on their farm in the summer of 2015. And this visit came with an unexpected treat.
My wife and I flew out to Seattle on Friday morning and arrived around lunch time and as always, my daughter had a nice cold locally brewed craft beer for me to enjoy upon our arrival at her house.
My daughter typically keeps our visit a secret, so we get to surprise her boys when we pick them up from school or pre-school. My treat for them besides the surprise is to bring along a LEGO set for each boy that we then get to spend time building together.
Our son-in-law's parents are farmers and this being normal planting season, we knew only our daughter's mother-in-law was going to be able to come for the weekend. But unbeknownst to any of us, her father-in-law was able to get all the crops planted and so was able to come as well. So, when they both walked through the door that evening, the surprised look on our daughter's face expressed the delight all of us shared.
Having gotten up before sunrise for a 7:15 AM flight and having gained two time zones in travel, my wife and I made an early exit that evening and drove to our hotel.
The next morning began the prelude to the festivities. After breakfast, my son-in-law, both his parents (known affectionally as Grandpa and Grandma), and our two grandsons went to a park so my wife and daughter could assemble some of the festive decorations and cook lunch. The park was very large with multiple areas for play and three different walking trails, and our two grandsons split up with their different interests. I spent the time with Grandpa and our oldest grandson. As we watched him play and join in on some of his activities, I had a great chance to learn more about farming from Grandpa. In 2015, he had lovingly provided a wealth of learning for us when we were on the farm. Interesting to me, we even got into discussing some of the details of the technology of farm equipment that he is very knowledgeable about since he works on it himself.
After lunch, we walked up to our grandson's elementary school for their first spring festival since the beginning of the pandemic. With the crowd, we were glad to realize that with an adult to child ratio of 3:1, we had back up to the back-up to the parent to keep an eye on each boy. There were games and carnival food for everyone to enjoy not the least of which was giant handmade ice cream sandwiches.
For the adults, besides watching the boys having a good time, our most fun occurred at the cake walk where we competed too many times for me to even count. We had been told that Grandma was a natural at this often winning and she demonstrated her spirit as she excitedly danced around the circle of numbered squares rather than just stepping from one to the next. But on this day, she was not to go home a winner (although one of the last times, she actually stepped off the winning number just as the music ended), but afterwards she was highly complimented by the organizers for her enthusiasm. We had so much fun at this, that us four grandparents actually stayed for the cake walk even after the parents had already taken both boys home.
That evening for dinner, I realized that this was the first time all eight of us had been together around the table for a meal. It was a special time.
On Sunday morning, my wife and I went over early for coffee and to watch our grandsons come out dressed in their "fancy clothes."
Then it was off to church for pre-mass family photos.
Throughout mass, our grandson was so excited he never seemed to stop smiling.
We had a reserved row all to ourselves to witness the activity. When the time came, the priest invited all 17 communicants up to the alter so they could get an up-close view of the preparations before receiving their first ever communion. It was a special treat for all of us to be there and our grandson's tears of joy confirmed it was a momentous occasion for him as well.
After another delicious meal together, we took the boys on a nature walk at a park. As we wound our way along the spongy (peat) trail, we once again appreciated the 3:1 ratio as our oldest grandson would lead the way…
…while our younger grandson tagged along behind searching for clues of coyotes.
When we returned to the information center just before they closed, I was amazed to find that we had been on the trail for almost two hours.
It was a delightful outing, and the weather was perfect.
That evening, we celebrated our grandson's milestone from that morning with delicious local pizza and an ice cream cake.
After dinner, sadly it was time for my wife and I to make our way to our hotel by the airport for our early morning flight. On more than one occasion over the weekend and as we were saying our goodbyes, I told Grandma and Grandpa that we needed to coordinate our visit together another time since this one had been so much fun. With watching them delight in being with their grandsons and us enjoying our time as well, it was truly a special occasion for all of us to be together!
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