Grandpa Devensky came up to help us this week.He arrived in time to join us for Ben’s last day of summer session, where they host an annual picnic.

This year, instead of being wrapped as a mummy, Grandpa took the honor.He also helped me take Ben and his friend to see the troll exhibit at the Morton Arboretum. Ben spent a lot of time separated from the other kids so it was super helpful to have another adult around.One night was had a delightful visit with Adam’s cousin, Brett, and his wife, their kids, plus one roommate and girlfriend.

Adam also scored tickets to a cubs game while Grandpa was here and they went with the older boys.

Over the weekend it was super hot and we cooled off at the water park. The kids were daredevils, the twins tried the diving board and big boy slide for the first time.

Adam, my other daredevil kid…

Ben spent many times experimenting on the fastest way to go down the fast slide. He decided crossing your arms like this was optimal…

I liked how Jack took some time to hang poolside with Grandpa.

We had a trip to Chinatown for DimSum.

And Grandpa helped me bring all these kids to Maggie Daley and Millenium Park for a day.

In the morning, the older boys played tag while the younger ones enjoyed the park.

Afterwards, we joined together for a picnic lunch.

Then we headed to the fountains to splash around.

We had a lot of fun activities, but as Grandpa always says, the best parts are not the planned activities. They are the down times, when you are just hanging around. When you have time to connect freely, unforced. Grandpa is great at that.

I was so incredibly grateful for his visit. Without his help, I couldn’t plan any of these fun activities for the kids! Thanks Grandpa for making the kids summer fun! (And for doing the laundry and dishes, and fixing the license plates on our car, and taking out the garbage, and putting the kids to bed at night!!!)