Weekend in Tacoma

Last weekend was a wonderful, albeit jam-packed, couple of days. Saturday morning, we left early to have breakfast at Grandpa and Grandma Moriarty's house. My dad made pancakes, which, by the way, are his specialty,  with sausages, fruit, and OJ. Unfortunately will were a little rushed, but my grandparents had plenty of time to enjoy how big and cute the kids are getting. From there we headed to my mom's house to surprise Grandma Sam with her two GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN that she had never seen. It was love at first site for all parties concerned.....  obviously! She immediately won her way into Matthew's heart with a huge, Spiderman blanket, Tinkerbell for Talya. We watched some old videos from my Young Ambassadors 

and jump roping days and had dinner. Since my sister's birthday was

the previous Wednesday, my Mom and Grandma watched the kids

while Carlos and I went out to a bar with Jenni and her boyfriend and then we met up with Meagan and Jason and partied with some old friends. I got to see Hank Baarslag and Mike McDonald, a couple of close friends from high school who I haven't seen in almost 10 years. It was great for Carlos to meet a couple of people that are a part of my fondest memories. And, naturally, Mom and Grandma were delighted to watch the kids- Matthew and Natalya have both of them wrapped around their fingers. On Sunday, we hang out, listened to stories about Grandpa Sam (who passed away in April of this year- love you Grandpa) and my grandparents numerous travels,  

ate great food (thanks momma), and just plain relished in the time we had 

together. Jen and Vinny surprised Matty with a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese for games, pizza, and Auntie-Nephew bonding time. He was ecstatic and is still talking about the fun they had. As the weekend wrapped up, we had one of my favorite dinners from growing up and strawberry shortcake to honor Jen's b-day. And before we knew it.... it was time to hit the road. I was amazed with all the fun we packed into those two days, there were things we didn't get around to. We wanted to stop by Matt and Nadine's to see them and Charlotte and just couldn't squeeze it in. And it would have been nice to spend a little more time with Meg and Jason also. But there is always next trip- I can't wait!