We are Family

I am a little late posting this, but I wanted to write about the great time we had with my family last week!

They came for the beginning of Austin and Kyla's spring break, Saturday - Wednesday.  We had PERFECT weather (except on Sunday) and it is so great to be able to host them in our home!

Saturday, they got there while I was at work.  When I came home, I walked in to find my mom, Austin, and Barkley all sitting on the stairs waiting for me!  We spent the night inside, eating dinner and playing games.

Sunday morning we all went to church together and had lunch at my house.  It was a rainy day so we all took Sunday naps and relaxed most of the day.  That night, Steven went to youth group and I went to run some errands with my family.  My dad is so gracious to help us with home improvement tasks while he is here!  We went to Lowe's to get some supplies so he could fix our outdoor spickets and mailbox problem.  :)  After, we went to Steak N Shake for Kyla's birthday dinner.

Monday was a perfect day to be outside, so we went to Downtown St. Charles' river walk.  They also have lots of unique stores and restaurants, so we were able to check them out after walking a bit.

We took Barkley (he's so spoiled) and several of the restaurants have outdoor seating where he was allowed to come with us.  I think we found our new place to take visitors... the Millstead Inn had great food and outdoor seating!

I had to leave early to get to work at 4, and took Barkley with me.  We took Steven's car which doesn't have air conditioning and poor thing was panting the whole way home so when I had a few extra minutes to get Happy Hour from Sonic, I got him a $1 ice cream cone.  I think it made him much less miserable!

When I came home from work, we got to use our NEW grill for the first time!  Steven made us hamburgers and brats!

Tuesday was another fun day.  We went to St. Louis for the afternoon.  We got to visit the Arch and the City Gardens.  (I love that there is so much you can do here for FREE.)

Austin taking coins out of this water area... but he had to throw them back in!

We got back in time for Mom, Dad, Steven, and I to go to Discipleship at 6:45.  Of course we got there a little late because Barkley got out and we had to run around the neighborhood to catch him!  D2 was great as always, and then we came home to use the grill again for a late dinner.  We had grilled chicken, veggie kabobs, and mac n cheese!  We were able to eat outside and use our patio set for the first time!

Wednesday morning, Dad went with Steven to play basketball with some friends and I took Kyla out for her Birthday.  We went to the Painted Pot, a place that has ceramics that you paint and then they fire them up for you and you get to keep them!  She selected a cute cupcake box to paint and we had some good, girl one-on-one time together!

My family had to leave a little bit after lunch that day.  We were so glad to spend several days with them!