I’m combining a few weeks worth of pictures into one mega High Five for Friday – entirely dedicated to the great time we had while my dad was in town visiting for the past couple weeks. We had a lot of fun going to the Bratfest together, my son’s Fun Fair, walking at Olbrich Gardens, going out for Frozen Yogurt ; and also a lot of fun hanging around the house coloring pictures, watching Sofia the First and Word Girl together and catching up on lost time.

One of the hardest parts of living here is being so far from family and friends back East and we always love it when family comes to visit (or when we get the opportunity to visit them). My dad was able to drive up for a nice long vacation with us this year and it was really nice getting to spend so much time together and for him to get to experience our every days in addition to our Super Awesome Fun Days. BB loved sharing all her favorite shows with grandpa and drawing lots of pictures and taking him to ballet classes. MM loved getting to walk to the bus stop with him and see him each afternoon – and grandpa even came with me to  volunteer in MM’s class last week!

Dan and I also got to take a couple of much needed dates while dad was here. We went out for dinner and then bowling with good friends – I think the first time that Dan and I have ever gone bowling together without the kids and we loved it so much that we are hoping to make it a regular thing. We went to see Wicked for the first time – I knew I was going to love this immensely popular musical and I was very right. Dan and I both adored the show and loved getting to spend more quality time together.

A few times we even escaped the house just to go to Target or Menards together – we had dinner at Hy-Vee which doesn’t sound exciting but it was actually kind of amazing. We tried a new to us place for ice cream before Wicked together and loved it and loved that feeling of being out on the town like a normal couple that doesn’t discuss bowel movements all day on the reg. I know that we need to make date nights more of a priority but with expenses being a bit tight, it hasn’t been happening much so having my dad pop into town and continually say, “You guys should go out, go have some fun!” was kind of amazing.

Thanks for sharing the past couple weeks with us dad – we loved having you here!