A visit from Bibi and Babu

It's a bummer when your grandparents live so far away. But it's great when they are educators and have flexible schedules in the summer! Bibi and Babu visited for a long weekend, and we packed in a lot of fun while they were here.

They got on the road bright and early Friday morning and made it to our place by early afternoon. After Brandon got off work, we headed out to the apple orchard!  I don't tend to think of the apple orchard until Fall is in full swing...and last year when we made a trip out there, it seemed like we were too late! A little pre-visit research revealed that certain apple varieties are ripe/ready to pick as early as late July! Since it is so early in the season, and it was Friday afternoon, we basically had the orchard to ourselves.  After trying a few samples, we decided on two varieties: William's Pride and Pristine. We grabbed our basket and headed out the trees.  It was beautiful weather for a stroll through the trees.

Jonah mostly enjoyed picking up rotten apples off the ground and putting them in our basket (so helpful!) and playing in the dirt with a stick :)

  

After our basket was sufficiently full, we headed back up the hill.  We brought home our bounty, some of which made its way into a pie later in the weekend.  Yum!

On Saturday morning, we all loaded in the Civic (tight squeeze!) and drove over to Moline, IL to visit the Niabi Zoo! This was our fist visit, and it did not disappoint. It turned out to be the perfect size - we managed to visit all the exhibits (which helped Brandon relax...he hates to leave things unfinished) before Jonah had a meltdown.

Elephants!

Feeding the fishies

Koi pond - Feed me!

Babu feeds the birds....I think this was his (Babu's) favorite part of the zoo!

Tortoise!

At the zoo with Bibi and Babu!!

This guy....

 

...was terrifying!  That is a Rock Hydrax. That is no stuffed animal.  He didn't move the whole time we stood and watched him.  But he was real.  And I'm still having nightmares about this. Mostly the part of the informational sign that said, "Although they are only about 12 inches tall and weigh less than 10 pounds, fossil evidence indicates that the Rock Hydrax was once the size of an ox."  Can you imagine that thing the size of an OX?!?

We finished up our Saturday attending church at the new Saturday night service our church started in downtown Iowa City.  We are excited to be a part of what God is doing in Iowa City.  It is hard to think about leaving this community we have lived in for the past six years...but I suppose it is way too early to start thinking those thoughts.  Another post for another day...

On Sunday, we had plans to enjoy brunch at Iowa River Power Restaurant (BEST brunch in town!), so in the morning, Brandon busied himself with making sure no one ate anything beforehand (have to get your money's worth!). We were even able to hold Jonah off until 10:00 with a few bites of banana, which surprised me.  After brunch, there were naps all around.  Then we headed out to the beach!  Turns out Sunday night is a great time to hit up the beach.  A few other people had the same idea, but it was pretty quiet.  The men hit the water for a while, then Jonah contentedly dug in the sand for a while, then we all headed home to clean up (it is not a very clean beach...after all, it's no Pure Michigan).  After Jonah was in bed, we all enjoyed the fruits of our labor at the apple orchard, in the form of apple pie (and chips and queso).

On Monday morning, it was time for Bibi and Babu to head back home. They are gearing up for school to start again, but we appreciate them driving all the way to Iowa for one last summer-time visit!  Good to see you, Bibi and Babu.