A Few Of My Favorite Friday Things

I wrote a post Monday (linked here) recapping our houseful, but wanted to share a few more favorite things from the past week on the blog today. 

While my youngest daughter and her littles went home last Friday, my oldest daughter and her family were here with us until Wednesday. On Wednesday we loaded up in two vehicles, that is the in-laws in one car with dad and the two boys, and then hubs and I in the other car with momma and her little miss, for the trek to the Atlanta airport and their flight to the UK.  

Two kids dragging backpacks of their own, momma wearing the baby pushing a cart loaded with three huge bags, dad pushing a wagon carrying a car seat and then pulling a cart with another two ginormous  bags, and whew! They're rockstars!  

They will be living in England for the next six months, and believe me when I say one of my favorite things currently is knowing I have a trip already booked and on the calendar. 

For the record, airport goodbyes are not my favorite.

Let's talk fun...linking up today with Andrea and Erika for this week's edition of Friday Favorites. 

1. A 'Grand' Summer Bucket List- I like to ask the two oldest grands what they want to do when they visit, and then I make a little bucket list/chart, hang it on the side of a kitchen cabinet, and they can check off as we go. They enjoy the checking and remind me when I forget. 

This year's chart included the usual swimming-boating-fishing type of activities plus a few newbies as well...paddle boarding, the jumbo Connect 4...

...a trip to the Fish Hatchery, and jello pie. 

2. Jello Pie-have you had this? 

In this picture I hadn't spread the whipped cream over the top yet, but you get the idea. Hubs has very fond memories of his grandmother making him jello pie as a child. He told me it was plain strawberry jello poured into a graham cracker crust, topped with sliced bananas and topped with cool whip. I wasn't convinced, but he really wanted the boys to try it. 

First of all, I don't do Cool Whip. I know some people love it, but homemade whipped cream is so easy and a thousand times better. Also, jello pie? I went to Pinterest and found a variation of hubs grandmom's technique, and the boys helped me put it together. 

I was out of bananas so used strawberries instead and they were yummy. Hubs assures me the bananas are possibly more delicious but then childhood memories are hard to beat. The boys helped make the jello, and my 'recipe' had you add a little cornstarch and less water so it was more like that filling you get in fresh strawberry pie. I think I really wanted strawberry pie and hubs had his heart set on the jello version. This one made everybody happy. 

We stirred the sliced strawberries into the mixture, then poured that into the crust. I'd purchased a large box of jello, but the recipe only called for 3 ounces so I mixed up the rest of the jello as directed on the box. Because the strawberry mixture only half filled the pie shell I went ahead and poured the rest of the regular jello on top to set. It worked. 

I have to say, it was so tasty. Surprisingly light and refreshing and the boys thought it was a big treat. Hubs too! 

3. Paddleboarding. Y'all. My six year old grandson jumped on the paddleboard on day one and navigated like a pro from the word go. Even the four and a half year old could manage without a lot of help. We made the paddles shorter after their first try and that was even better. 

The mancub had to literally be pushed off the board and into the water if you wanted a turn. He absolutely loved it, and while he used to spend all day running off the dock he's now spending all day on the paddleboard.  I mean he still loves running off the dock, but the paddleboard is his new favorite.

4. Water skiing-

Friday night we went for a quick boat ride so Daughter1 could waterski. She hadn't skiied in a few years, mostly because she's birthed three children in the last seven, but she is her father's daughter in terms of coordination. Popped right up without even thinking about it. 

Her children thought she was amazing. 

She pretty much is. 

5. My people-

We've had no less than nine people in the house, eating, sleeping, and playing since July 14th. The level of activity from sun up to sun down has been something like mach ten. The volume too. 

There's been swimming and boating and jumping and games and books and movies and outdoor showering and indoor legos and meals eaten...so.many.meals. We've talked and laughed and applied sunscreen and reapplied sunscreen and we've sipped a lot of coffee. We tried to take a few pictures too, but this crew was not having it so we let that go. 

Yesterday it was back to just me and the hubs, and the silence is deafening.  

The house needs cleaning from top to bottom, every sheet and towel is in the process of being either washed or dried and folded, the frig needs wiping down, the windows too because little hands and noses need to press against the glass for a really good look at the world around them. 

Not gonna lie...the transition from full to something less than that takes time. We give ourselves a lot of grace and space to reset the house and our heads too. It takes a few days to get back into the rhythms of regular life, but we'll get there. We always do. 

Girls who grow up and grow families of their own, who keep touching home plate whenever they can... definitely one of my favorite things.