Great Grandpa Birthdays...

We spent this last week celebrating TWO great grandpa birthdays. 

On Tuesday night we all went over to my Aunt Deanna and Uncle Brian's house to celebrate Grandpa Fox's 86th birthday.  Emily changed her clothes right before we left into this beautiful princess party attire..

Grandpa is pretty shy but he let me sneak in one birthday picture of him while he was holding Charlie...

Grandma Emily entertained Jack by drawing trains and letters of the alphabet for him...

We ate the most delicious homemade soups and then gorged ourselves with cake and pie...

and there were LOTS of helpful hands waiting to hold Baby Charlie...

Jack made himself at home and definitely made the rounds with all the family...

Emily and Cousin Ayuka, both well dressed in their party dresses, played and played and played....

On Saturday we headed down to Port Orchard to celebrate my Grandpa Mandeville's 90th birthday.  Jack was pretty sick so it was decided that he should stay behind to help prevent Grandpa from getting infected.  We drove to Fall City first to pick up Auntie Jenny and take a little break from driving.  Charlie did well for the first two hours but the break was definitely needed as he woke up from his morning nap.  The weather was intense and the drive through Kent/Tacoma was s...l...o....w.  The full trip usually takes us about 2 1/2 hours total but it took us over 4 hours to get there.  We stopped a few times to feed Charlie to help relieve his cries but for the most part our drive was slow due to so much water on the freeways and the MANY accidents along the way. 

When we finally arrived in Port Orchard we picked up Chinese food from Grandpa's favorite restaurant and headed to their house...

Grandpa was looking pretty good.  He is undergoing an experimental drug for his cancer since chemo would be to hard on him at this point.  He now on oxygen full time as well as he developed emphysema from the smoking he did while he was in the Navy many years ago. With all of the adversity going on in his life Grandpa remains so true to his character.  His face sports nothing but a smile at all times and he loves nothing more than getting out and being with family.  He has faith and is hopeful and spends each day living life to the fullest.  He truly is an inspirational person in my life.

We spent a few hours visiting and eating while Emily slept the entire time.  After such a long drive I was bummed that she wasn't able to interact with them but she was in one of her deep sleeps and nobody could wake her.  As we left her eyes began to flutter a little, she kissed both Grandma and Grandpa Mandeville goodbye and we headed back to Fall City to have a sleepover with Auntie Jenny.

The drive back in the dark was one of the worst I have endured.  Even with GPS I took two wrong turns.  The roads were dark and wet and the rain was pelting against the windshield with such incredible force that it made it almost impossible to see a few feet in front of the car. Eventually we made it back to Auntie Jenny's and enjoyed our evening together...

I think he LOVES his Auntie Jenny....

...and Ariel (Emily's mermaid doll) apparently LOVES Buster....

Times like this remind me of how important it is to be with family and thankful for the times we have with them.