Visiting Gma and Gpa in Delaware

This past weekend we took a trip down to Delaware to visit David's grandparents (Jim and Annetta), who we only are able to see about once a year. It was a fun and relaxing pre-Thanksgiving trip!
As usual, David drove the entire way. I was the happy copilot, trying to think of interesting conversation topics to keep the driver entertained. David says I wasn't always the "happy copilot" and that a couple of times I was the "sleeping copilot". I did my best to stay awake, but something about the drone of a car always does me in... It took us about 6 hours to get down there on Saturday, and 5.5 hours to come back today.

The focused driver

The "happy" copilot

The dogs rode in the back seat. After thinking carefully about the safety implications of having the dogs ride in the front seat on our laps, we invested in a nice soft seat cover for the back (in this picture there is a dog bed in view as well) and two safety harnesses to buckle them in. They didn't seem to mind being tethered, and napped for the majority of the trip. On the ride down we did have one mishap when Ash got car sick (as he often does), but nothing that a few towels and some water couldn't fix. We just threw the seat cover in the washing machine once we arrived at David's grandparents house.

The backseat passengers

David's grandparents had met Ash and Coal last year on our trip down, but Pepper was new to them. His grandmother quite enjoyed snuggling with Pepper, and Pepper was happy to have a lap to sit on and someone to pet him. Pepper also quite liked David's grandfather, and would jump up whenever his lap was available. Per his usual routine, Ash spent the first two days watching from afar or hiding under our bed. By the last day, he was more boldly exploring the house and saying hello to everyone.

Pepper with David's grandmother

Pepper with David's grandfather 

We spent most of the weekend sitting around the table chatting about things going on in each of our lives and hearing many great stories from David's grandfather. Jim and Annetta were unfortunately unable to make it to our wedding, so we spent some time talking them through the event and sharing pictures. We cooked a chicken and veggie stir fry on Saturday night and then steak, broccoli, and mashed potatoes on Sunday night. David's grandfather did the grocery shopping and we did the cooking, which is always fun for us. I share a love of Walker's shortbread cookies with David's grandmother, so these were definitely on our dessert menu each night :) David's aunt, uncle, and cousin joined us for the Sunday dinner - it was nice to be able to spend some time with them as well.

One particularly fun thing from the weekend was the ability to let Ash and Pepper off leash in the big back yard that David's grandparents have. The yard isn't fenced in, but they are located on a very quiet street and there is enough space to run around that we were pretty sure Ash nor Pepper would stay within the perimeter. Pepper, as usual, was very well behaved and stayed right by us. We are training Ash to safely be off leash, so only let him run around with his leash dragging. This helps us catch him if he gets too excited and starts to wander (or run) off. Ash was great though! He responded well to commands (and came running for treats) and wanted to spend most of his time playing fetch with a ball and/or a stick. Sadly, we were so focused on watching the dogs (and staying warm) we forgot to take pictures...

Thanks to David's grandparents for a wonderful weekend - we look forward to when we are able to visit again!