Labor Day fun with Mom and Dad Hock

We just wrapped up a wonderful Labor Day weekend with the Hocks. We had not spent quality time with them since Easter and we were happy to have them with us for the nice long weekend. We tried to pack it full of fun, food, and relaxation. Here are the highlights...

They arrived Friday morning at 930. We took it easy for a bit and just enjoyed the apartment. Houston enjoyed showing off his basketball skills and enjoying the new books that grandma brought for him (I think we had a couple of them memorized by the end of the weekend since they were read so much).
Another gift that Grandma and Grandpa brought got a lot of use just in the first few days. Houston loves baseball hats. Not "cutesie" hats, but baseball hats, especially daddy's Giants hats. Grandma must have been inspired (or pressured by both me and Michael) because she brought the cutest little Giants hat I've ever seen. He wore it EVERY where to do EVERYthing: on walks, down the slides, to play baseball, to do the dishes, He LOVES it and I still can't get over how cute he looks in it. Thanks grandma and grandpa for the gifts!
After Houston's nap, Friday afternoon we headed for Coeur d'Alene. We walked around the park for a minute before hopping on a 90-minute lake cruise. It was a beautiful day and a very relaxing little ride. They had a narration and music telling us interesting things about the area and lake. We floated pass many beautiful lake houses, the floating green, and some floating restaurant that we could never find.
After our cruise, we headed to dinner at the resort. Like my mom, I am a sucker for a meal with a view so we went to the same restaurant we had last year with my parents in hopes of a fine sunset and a delightfully ginormous sundae... it did not disappoint! I'm quite a fan of that place even though we have gotten the same put-out waitress both times :)
We headed home to crash after our long first day.

Saturday we woke up and headed for the tennis courts. Michael and Mike enjoyed a few rounds while grammy, Houston, and I played a little baseball. Then grammy took Houst to the playground for a bit which I'm confident racked up HUGE grammy points!
We headed home for Houston's nap then back out again to enjoy Spokane's "Pig Out" downtown. It is a huge food festival at Riverfront park. Although we weren't interested in the food, we always enjoy the beautiful walk from campus to the park to see festivities going on. It was packed so we didn't stay long, instead we continued our walk and took time to enjoy the statues along the way and on campus.
Saturday night we introduced Mike and Eileen to I'm the Boss. It was one of the BEST and LONGEST rounds I've ever played. Michael taught Mike all of his strategy and then was blown away when his dad actually listened and USED it on him. Mike worked us all and was 4 pts away from getting the box top.

Sunday we headed to Church. After Sacrament I asked Eileen to take Houston to nursery so I could actually go to my 12 week Sunday School that I have missed quite a few times because I usually stay and help out in nursery. Not because Houston wants me to, but because I want to! They are ALWAYS understaffed in nursery. It is only 18 mos-2 yrs and they have about 15 kids and there is usually just 1 sometimes 2 people in there. So I sometimes stay for a bit til they get more help. Well, Eileen became the "help" and stayed the whole 2 hours in nursery helping the one lady in there! She earns HUGE grammy points and was quite wasted I can imagine after.

We headed home for a yummy pot roast dinner then got into "our uniforms" for the game. Many of you know that game days are taken seriously as relaxing and enjoyable family time in our house. Michael issued uniforms and we started our game. NOTE: You are always welcome to join us on game day- we do have spare uniforms- however you will notice that the hats might not always fit as they are all Michael's and he has an unusually small head so we do not make any promises that they will fit. I will say that Mike looked great in his jersey and he said it was the first one he had ever worn. There are times I think to myself, "Wow, Michael is just like his dad" and other times I think "Wow! How are you two even related?". This was one of the latter.
(The upper left picture might have been from the night before. It was Michael giving an bit of an ab class to his parents as they were discussing new ways to shed pounds after Michael heard some of his parents aging symptoms (high cholestrol, pre-diabetes, etc).

Monday morning we woke up and headed to the local orchards less than 20 minutes from our house (if you don't get lost:). Houston and I went up to the pumpkin patch last year and I have been looking forward to coming back to pick this year with Michael. Well, we finally did it. We picked raspberries and peaches. As soon as he realized we were picking the red things, he was ON it!
We did have to retrain him on his "one for you, one for me" policy (upper right). And by the time we got to peaches, he mostly liked grabbing the "balls" (aka peaches) off the ground and throwing them.
We headed back after collecting our crop and enjoyed a fabulous lunch (including fresh peach smoothies, hamburgers, pulled pork sandwiches, a DELIGHTful hazelnut brownie, and a fresh peach pie) and some time at the park. It was EXACTLY what I had hoped for from our morning at the Orchard.

We came home to take naps while the boys went back to play tennis. We finished the night talking and eating more peach pie and raspberry parfaits (well more just pure raspberries with cool whip).
It was a WONDERFUL weekend! Thank you so much Grammy and Pa Hock for making the trip. We enjoyed it to the max! We love you and look forward to our next party in November!