Great Grandma Conte Arrived...

We have been trying to get Great Grandma out to visit us for quite some time.  Finally, all things lined up and she made it out for a 6 day visit.  This would be the first time she met any of her only great-grandchildren.  I was so excited to see and visit with her but my excitement was also for the kids to finally meet her.  Thanks to facebook they knew what she looked like.  I do have a few pictures of her but they aren't recent photos! 
Her flight landed at 9:30pm (Arizona time), so I took Maia with me for the ride.  I would have taken the whole crew, but the older kids had school the next day and the little kids are pretty routine about bedtime being at 8pm!
The moment I saw her exit the terminal, my smile was ear to ear!  Maia was wide awake and got to greet her as well!  Despite her being 75 yrs old, she is in excellent shape!  I'm not surprised but happy to see she is still doing so well health wise as she continues to age!
After getting home and settled, she went to bed. 
The kids woke the next morning, got ready for school, went downstairs to make breakfast and lunches... and out came Great Grandma.  They were all surprised to see her.  They knew she was coming for a visit but weren't fully awake and thinking as they were doing their morning school routine!  The older kids were bummed they had to go off to school instead of stay home and visit with our new guest!  The day was pretty low key.  I wanted her to adjust to the new "craziness" she just entered into plus adjust to the time zone change!  However we did go to the local health food store for a few items that went on sale that morning.  Great Grandma got a feel for what it's like to take 3 children under the age of 3 yrs old out into public!  It was an experience for her to say the least.  Rosalia was her typical uncooperative self.  Garrison was his typical wandering self.  Usually when I take the kids out into public, I feel like a child herder! 
The following day we couldn't go far since the older kids had a half day.  During the morning hours we took the little kids to the park and enjoyed some more time visiting with each other.
Friday when the kids got out of school we left Garrison and Rosalia with my in-laws and headed up north. 

Great Grandma had never been to the Grand Canyon so we decided to make a short trip up there.  On our way up, we stopped off at Montezuma's Castle, which is a cliff dwelling that is still intact.  It's really neat to see if you are ever in the area. Upon arriving at our destination, we checked in at a cute hotel right outside the entrance of the Canyon.  The restaurant we ate at was featured on the show $40 a day on the food network.  The food was pretty good.  The live music was entertaining.  I was really happy with the stay other than the noise outside our rooms in the wee hours of the night.  Great Grandma has excellent hearing and didn't get much rest.  You'd never know it, however, because once we arrived at the Canyon she kept up with everyone very well!  We hiked certain areas, then hopped in the car and drove a bit.  That cycle was repeated on both the east and west sides of the south rim.  We spent 7 hours at the Canyon before heading home.  The views were of course spectacular.  I took tons and tons of pictures.  But even pictures don't show off the Canyon as if you were really there looking at it! 

The following day Marc's family came over to celebrate Rosalia's birthday.  They were all very excited to meet Great Grandma.  Other than my father and his mother, none of them have met anyone else on my side of the family!  Sunday afternoon we got the news that Great Grandma's flight was cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy.  I must admit, I was very excited that we would get extra time with her.  I was also a bit nervous on how she would take the news of an unexpected extended stay.  Marc insisted I get on the phone and try to find out if they were rebooking cancelled flights and attempt to get her on the earliest flight out before they filled up.  Good thing I did, the first flight was already booked by the time a live agent was on the phone.  The next day still had a few openings so she was rescheduled on that flight.  Instead of leaving Tuesday night, she would now be leaving Friday night.  Other small details like bus ticket, medicine, vitamins, and items at home being taken care of all worked out.  She seemed ok about staying a few extra days. 
Monday was spent recuperating from such a busy weekend and I got a night off from cooking as we enjoyed a dinner over at Marc's parents house.  Tuesday, my in-laws and I decided a ride on a steamboat in Canyon Lake would be fun.  Relaxing and scenic.  She seemed to enjoy that very much.  Wednesday was Halloween.  Party at the park for the little kids with MOMS Club, Halloween party at school in Ava's class in the afternoon, and Evening full of Halloween fun!  Great Grandma got to go to both parties and went trick or treating with us.  We even dressed her up to "fit in" with our family theme.  (this year was Star Wars)  Thursday, we didn't do much since late Wednesday night I was at urgent care with Maia. (She was ok just ended up with a virus called Roseola) Friday we laid low since her flight out was later in the evening and it was a red eye back home.  The extra days were awesome but flew by just as fast as the first 6 days she was scheduled to be here. 
I LOVE having people visit.  Having people here does mess with routine depending on what we do to entertain our guests BUT memories are more important to me than routine.  Despite the busyness of this visit, routine wasn't disrupted that much.  Even if it was, I don't care!  I was on cloud 9 that she made it out to visit us!
Such awesome memories were made.  Such fun was had.  The kids are already asking when she will be back to visit them again. 

Things that occurred while Great Grandma visited:
-She didn't nap... I scratched my head trying to figure out how she had so much energy because some days I felt like I was dragging while she was running circles around me.
-Garrison entertained her with his unique vocabulary
"Grape Grandma I'm mad at you, you hurt mine sheelings" 
He got over his hurt feelings fast every time and was back to smiles and laughs within minutes!









-Great Grandma played several games of cards with the kids (mostly Ava) as well as a full game of Monopoly and Headbandz.  She even played Angry Birds on the iPad!
-She didn't enjoy that I kept video recording her at different times during her stay with us, but I ensured her it was so that her visit would be forever remembered and documented. 
-Her way of picking things up off the floor, or tidying things to then tidy them more are things I do!  We are definitely related!!  Marc pointed this fun fact out!
-We had wonderful talks about a wide variety of topics and enjoyed watching a few tv shows in the evenings together once the kids were in bed.

-She enjoyed many games of hide and seek with the little kids

Many, Many, Many, Many other things occurred during her stay but these are just some of the many!