The Adventures of Jadon and Kalina: Grandma and Grandpa Sladek Visit

Three days after we got home from Park City, Grandma and Grandpa Sladek came to visit us. They arrived late Friday night.

On Saturday morning, Jadon, Andy and Grandpa went to see the Planes Fire and Rescue movie. Kalina, Grandma and I had girl time. We painted our nails and Kalina had fun decorating them with her nail art supplies. We all met for lunch at Red Robin. We had a nice afternoon at home. That evening Andy and I had dinner function so Jadon and Kalina got to spend lots of time with Grandma and Grandpa. They enjoyed making homemade pizza for dinner and playing while we were gone. We are not able to leave Jadon and Kalina with many people so we are thankful that we can leave them with our parents!

We had a fun Sunday at Emerald Downs, a horse racing track south of Seattle. It was Food Truck day so we enjoyed some different cuisine. Kalina and Jadon had fun betting on the horses. Kalina’s picks were based purely on good sounding names and what color the jockey was wearing. She did surprising well with this method. She and Grandma won something on four of the six races we watched. Not bad! Jadon discovered the stairs where we were sitting were half size. He and Kalina spent quite a bit of time just walking up and downs the stairs, because they could!

On Monday we went to Snoqualmie Falls. It was beautiful! After lunch, we went on the Boehm’s Candies and Chocolate factory tour. Yum! It was not too long and it was pretty interesting.

We had a long day on Tuesday. We left around 6:15 AM and took the 7:10 AM ferry to the Olympic Peninsula. We drove to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. It was a beautiful day and we saw a ton of deer. Jadon, Kalina, Grandpa and I went on a short hike (they had a paved trail). We had lunch at the lodge and enjoyed the scenery, but not the bugs. While we were there we met another little person, and she had diastrophic dysplasia like Jadon and Kalina. What are the odds of that happening! We had actually met her years ago and it was nice to run into her and her family again. We surprised Jadon and Kalina and stopped by the Olympic Game Farm on our way home. That place is always fun! The elk were especially friendly on this visit. We also stopped at a lavender farm on our way to the ferry terminal. We made it home for a late dinner after a long, exciting day.

On Wednesday morning we went to the Space Needle. You couldn’t ask for a better morning. We had spectacular views. We had lunch at Duke’s and then went to MOHAI (the Museum of History and Industry). MOHAI is one of our favorite museums to visit. Even Jadon and Kalina like it.

Thursday was our baking and music day. Grandma made two cheesecakes – one for Andy’s birthday and one for the MKA dessert auction. I made eight batches of scones for Andy to take to work for Friday treats. Grandpa spent lots of time practicing with Jadon. He taught him tons of different drum rolls. Jadon picked up on the technique without much difficulty so they made lots of progress. Grandpa is such a good teacher. Too bad he does not live closer so he could give Jadon lessons all the time! Jadon and Grandpa had fun playing some duets, too. Kalina had fun teaching Grandma how to play games on the Wii. They was a lot of laughter coming from the tv room.

Friday was Andy’s birthday! While he was busy at work, the rest of us took a trip to Bellingham. We took the scenic route, on the Pioneer Highway and Chuckanut Drive. We stopped along the way to take lots of pictures. We visited Village Bookstore and wandered the streets on downtown Bellingham. We had a nice lunch and stopped for ice cream on our return walk to the minivan. We had a nice birthday dinner with Andy and enjoyed his birthday cheesecake.

On Saturday morning, Jadon, Andy and Grandpa went to the driving range. Going to the driving range is Andy’s annual practice for his company’s golf outing. While they were there, Kalina, Grandma and I went to Glazed and Amazed and painted some pottery. Grandma and Grandpa graciously agreed to watch Jadon and Kalina in the evening so I could take Andy to a special birthday dinner at Canlis. We had a nice time and a delicious meal. Jadon and Kalina enjoyed their last night with Grandma and Grandpa before they headed home.