Visit to the Benders

I am way behind on blogging but the weekend of July 13-15 we took a brief road trip to Des Moines, IA to visit our friend's, The Benders.  They have almost 2 year old Elizabeth and 5 month old twin boys Evan and Zachary.  Ally was so exited to play with Liz and we were excited to meet the twins for the first time and catch up on some adult conversation.  Adam does business in Peoria sometimes so we see him now and then but we haven't had a real chance to get everyone together in a while. 

We made it in time for dinner on Friday and the girls ran around and we all took turns playing with the boys. Saturday was really hot so we made some adjustments to our plans and just hung around the house. Adam put out the kiddie pool, sprinkler and bubbles for the girls and they had a blast.  In the evening we got everyone fed and the boys in bed, a wonderful babysitter came over to play with the girls so we could have some adult time.  Adam and Crystal picked a great restaurant downtown so we got to walk around the city a little bit and enjoy a nice dinner.  We had no idea the city was so large but the downtown was very cool.  They love it there and its easy to see why, there seemed to be so much to do and very kid friendly.  On Sunday we played some more after a pancake breakfast then headed home in the afternoon.  Ally loved playing with the babies and was very gently with them.  She was a little disappointed they couldn't really talk or follow her around but after awhile she got used to it and started bringing them toys and books to play with.  She even helped feed one of them.  She was very concerned if one of them cried and enjoyed teaching Liz how to jump on the bed.  Hopefully we were helpful and gave the Benders a little break.  It was tough to manage 4 under 3 just for a few days so I can't imagine how people do it with multiples and kids close in age like that.  Adam and Crystal seem to have a good system worked out and the kids are doing great.  Hope we didn't leave Liz with too many bad habits either.  Wish more had more free time to visit friends more often.  Getting kids together is really fun and we miss so many of our friends, but its tough when we are all so busy all the time and spread out. 

Ally holding Zachary

Playing in the pool

Fun with bubbles