Grandma and Grandpa Come to Visit

My parents chose the coldest and least hospitable week of the summer (mid-June) to come visit us in Alaska. I don't think they believed us when we said that we'd been having glorious weather! We were glad to have them anyway, for the six short days they could come. Tallis really enjoyed having so much attention!

We started out their visit by spending a night at the Drifter's Lodge in Cooper Landing. It was a comfortable and friendly stay and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Grandpa went on a day-long king salmon fishing trip the following day (no catch, dang it!) while Grandma, Tallis and I bummed around Soldotna and made Courtney a Father's Day gift in the bathroom at Safeway! (Courtney was working and would join us later that night.) We certainly made some memories there, using the changing station as a table and dipping Tallis' hands and feet in glittery fabric paint to decorate a tie! Clean up was a big ordeal, and there were people outside wondering why in the world that bathroom was occupied for so long, with such strange noises coming from inside. Well, they didn't kick us out, so I guess it was a success. (I should probably take a photo of the tie to put on here, and maybe I will at some point, but right now I just want to get this blog updated!)

After picking up Grandpa from his fishing trip we went to the Caribou Hills and stayed two nights in the cabin owned by the extended family of one of my best friends in Anchorage. Why I don't have a good photo of it, I don't know.... The coolest part was the wood-fired hot tub on the deck, which we used both nights. We spent a little time on the 4-wheeler, too. The 4-wheeler was our means of getting to and from the cabin, once we parked at the end of the road. Here you see us on the snowmachine trailer that was rigged up for passengers. A cozy trip!



We took a day trip from the cabin down to Anchor Point and Homer, to check out the fishing for Dad (he never did get to put a line in the water again...) and do touristy stuff. We took a lunch break at Anchor Point, "North America's Most Westerly Highway Point", and watched the fishing boats come in and out.



Grandma got a feel for one of our most "loved" baby tricks - feeding the parents! Since we would feed him all the time he started to think that he'd do us a favor and feed us, too. Not so fun, but cute!



Back in Anchorage, we took Grandma and Grandpa up to Glen Alps, the site of the caretaker cabin we were hoping to get a position at for the winter. (Which did happen - yay!) It was a cold and windy day, but we got some photos at the overlook.





We also took them to church with us, and took advantage of being all dressed up to get a simple family portrait taken. Don't we look so good? ;)



We also did some simple touring of Girdwood and had dinner at Chair 5 one day, and Dad and I worked on a leak in the RV shower (good timing, that it started the day before they arrived! I don't know how we would have figured it out without him!). We also took them with us to JC Penney for a long-overdue photo shoot of Tallis, and got them to sit in a photo with him, too. They were good sports, going along with our plans and timing.

Tallis took a full 5 days to warm up to Grandpa (he's always slow on the uptake with men), and it was bittersweet to see them enjoying each other's company on their last evening with us. Made me wish they could stay that much longer! I felt myself getting misty-eyed when we took final photos.



Tallis warmed up to Grandma much more quickly. He was glad to have her there. The next morning after I had dropped them off at the airport he was so excited to see them and wanted to be taken up to the bedroom to say hi, and was disappointed when it was just Courtney and me. Boo-hoo. Poor kid.



One thing Grandma pulled off wonderfully, which it took me several more months to accomplish, was getting Tallis to kiss her. She just charmed him into it! I don't think I got a kiss from him until late in the fall! I love this kiss, especially since first Tallis spits up on her, and THEN he kisses her!



The epilogue to this story? We heard so often from Grandma how much Tallis needed a haircut that we finally hunkered down and did it a couple weeks after their visit. Here's the result the day after - yikes! (The hat-head in this photo doesn't help with the impression!) We didn't recognize him at first, as the buzz cut made him look like a bruiser and not a sweetie! I've since started improving my hair cutting abilities, but we're still working on it!



Thank you SO MUCH for coming out of your way to visit, Grandma and Grandpa Hess. We love you!