A Nephew and Niece Weekend

This was another non-working weekend as we had family up from the valley.  One of our nephews and his wife recently bought a house in the Show Low area, where they have been living ever since he got a job with the police department.  They invited family and friends to a Halloween/house-warming party and we decided to attend.

Other family members were planning on going so we invited another niece and her husband (along with their adorable daughter, Mia) to stay with us since it is such a long trip to Show Low from the valley.  It was fun having them at the house again (they have been here before), but Mia was older now and our niece was pregnant with their 2nd child.  They seemed to appreciate the downtime as well as the entertainment we provided for Mia.

Just got here and already crashed

Parents getting a chance to lounge around

They brought a tricycle up with them for her to use, though Mia was still not skilled with pedaling it yet.  Mike used an adjustable hiking stick we have to push the tricycle while she was on it.  We were able to go on a long walk around the neighborhood, even up and down some hills.  Mia really enjoyed the trip.  She was very sad when it ended.

Most of the time we just spent relaxing, but we had to start getting ready for our two hour trip to Show Low for the Saturday night party.  Mia got dressed up in her new costume for the event.  The trip over was uneventful, though we had some trouble getting a computer to work for the on-the-road entertainment.  Eventually the issue was resolved and on we went.

A cute little purple witch

The party was fun and we enjoyed touring our nephew/niece's lovely new house and meeting their friends and co-workers.  One of the friends owns a Karaoke business and brought all their equipment.  Mike even got to sing a couple of songs before we left.  We could not stay too late because we had a two hour trip home and Mike is always worried about elk and deer on the road at night.  Just before we were about to leave, another family came to the party with some kids and Mia got to play for a little while. She especially enjoyed playing with our nephew's niece who was dressed up as Elsa (from Frozen). Mia was very sad to leave Elsa so we stopped off at McDonald's for her to play a little bit and to get drinks for the ride home.

The next day was quiet and relaxing and we took Mia on another tricycle ride.  She really loved getting pushed by Uncle Mike.  After that it was time for them to pack up and go home, which made us all sad.

Rocking out, but it is really quiet for the adults

One last crash before heading home

Stats: 0 Home Depot trips; 1 Walmart trips
Remodeling expense 10/15/14-10/20/14: $0
Remodeling expense to date: $43,209