Nonni

Grandma Copple and Papa Jim arrived on Wednesday!!!  It's so good to have my mom for a few days, and even more excited are the kids to have real live grandparents.  In Italian culture and society grandparents have a HUGE role in helping raise the kids, especially while the parents work.  It's almost more normal for kids to go to school and get picked up by a grandparent.

Jordan's life long dream is to have a grandpa.  He makes up stories all the time about things he does with his grandpa, and even more he dreams about having a grandpa picking him up from school.  So Wednesday he got his wish.  Grandpa Papa Jim came and picked him up from summer school.  I've never seen such a big smile on his face!

sand balls

 Thursday we went to Ravenna, and while the grandparents were sight seeing, I hung out at the beach with the kids.  Fortunately it was a weekday and there weren't many people there.  And the water was really shallow for quite a ways out so it was easy for the kids to play safely in the water.  Jordan figured out that you can make sand/mud ball and throw it just like you would a snow ball.  Worse effects though.  Trust me!

 They played 3-4 hours in the water and we all got burnt except for Isabel.

 We had fun burrying the kids in the sand.  Unfortunately Jordan got a huge mouthful of sand when Isabel came up and threw some sand in his face while he was lying there.  He took it pretty well though.  Happy 4th of July!