Bye-bye, George!

My Dad flew into town on Saturday for a short stay to see my newest nephew John. His first stop was our house, where we sat on our front porch and chatted since it was our first lovely day in awhile. When Joshua woke up from his nap, he went straight to Dad and gave him a big hug.Dad asked to hold Caleb - who he said had changed the most since he was here last - and Caleb tried to touch his beard. It must have felt too scratchy because he pulled his hand back immediately and burst into tears.Saturday after church we went to Jen's for pizza and hung out outside while the kids played. On Sunday morning, we met Dad at Bridgeport Family Restaurant, his favorite for breakfast. Afterward he hung out with my Uncle Jim for the day, and we saw him later that night for a cookout at my sister's house.Monday morning, Dad treated us to Shady Maple for breakfast (which I would NOT recommend for those of us who are trying to lose weight). The food was good, though, and the kids were all well-behaved. They had given us a room in the back that wasn't being used, which was sooo nice. The thing that helped me from eating too much was watching all the kids while everyone else went up to the buffet. Dad & I ran some errands after that, including checking out Aldi's grocery store that Dad swears by.That night, we met the entire family at Hoss' Steakhouse. Each time Dad's in town, we try to have one night that everyone can go out to eat. Since Shawn's birthday was Tuesday, I requested we meet Monday night. The picture above is a view of our table. Once again, we were given a room to ourselves.Since I had my camera along, we stopped to take a few pictures before leaving. Here is Grandpa Georgia (who Joshua called 'George'...it made us all laugh. He sometimes said "Grandpa Georgia" and sometimes just "Georgia" but for the most part, he affectionately called him "George") and all seven of his grandchildren. Jen's kids are on the right (Grace, Faith, John, Daniel and Emma in order of appearance from left to right, top row to bottom) and my kids are on the left.Then I asked if we could get a quick picture with Dad & us girls. My sister Becky is in blue and my sister Jen is in black & white.And while we were at it, we got one of my family with Dad. Why not? On Tuesday morning, we met at Bridgeport (or what Dad calls the Greasy Spoon) again for breakfast, and afterwards we went to Stoner Park to let the kids play for awhile. Aunt Missy watched the boys that night so that I could take Shawn out for his birthday (thanks so much!), so we missed seeing Dad his last night in town. He flew out Wednesday morning.Dad is planning on retiring soon - I forget exactly when his last day will be. I think maybe in June? So, I'm not sure if we'll see him again soon or not, based on his income. But, hopefully we'll be able to go down sometime or he can come up again. We enjoyed visiting, even with hearing the same stories over and over again. Haaa!!! :) :) :) :) This morning Joshua said "let's go see George!" Glad to hear you made it home safe, Dad! We'll miss you, 'George'!