It started simply...

…with a little help making banana bread.

But after Christy and I enjoyed a day together without the kids (something we haven't done in quite some time), it was right back into the fray. Friday afternoon we headed to Max's school for a belated Valentine's Day party.

No you can't eat all the candy right now.

Shortly thereafter, we headed home to start getting dinner ready. Both boys seemed to be in the mood to help out.

That would be Owen "helping" me make muffins.

That would be Max helping me make waffles.

Yes, we had waffles for dinner. Belgian waffles. They were delicious, thanks to Max's masterful work with the hand mixer. Max is becoming quite the chef these days. Most evenings at the dinner table he will tell us that he's going to talk about a recipe. Typically he lists various ingredients (milk, water, and soup, for example), tells us that he's going to put them in the mixer, then tells us that we need to put it in the oven. That is generally followed with, "That's all the ingredients."

Just after Owen made his way to bed, Nan and Papa arrived to kick off our President's Day Weekend. We didn't catch any photos of Max demanding that Nan read him his bedtime stories ("Daddy, I want you to go") but we did pick right back up in the morning.

Max was pretty excited about it.

This was where he started his magic routine.

Every time Nan finished recording a video, Max demanded to see it.

Owen never wastes an opportunity to show off. He can almost make it up the stairs on his own at this point.

After the boys had their nap, we decided it was time to get rid of some of our leftover bread heels, so we headed to the park.

We finally got Owen to tolerate sunglasses!

Didn't take long after we finished up the snack for Max to run away to the highest hill he could find.

Once we coaxed him back down, it was time to go feed some ducks.

Owen fussed pretty hard until we let him take a shot at it.

Once we'd run out of bread we decided to walk the circuit around the lake. This was where Max took his magic to the next level. My camera decided this would be the perfect time to run out of batteries, but luckily I caught a shot that I think represents the moment well.

Yep. That did it.

The rest of the Nan and Papa visit was the usual flurry of random activity.

Owen stole his brother's bear feet.

The boys stuffed their faces against the window.

I caught "The Face" on film.

Papa gave Owen a boost.

Max demanded equal treatment.

Then Nan and Papa hit the road for the long drive home. Max immediately started to tell us that he missed them already. Luckily we had something to keep him distracted once he woke up from his nap.

Turns out it was perfect kite flying weather.

Owen was kind enough to watch while I took far too many photos trying to get this shot.

We rewarded him with some time holding the tail end of the string. Max was trying to weave grass into it. No, I don't know why.

Owen finished out the day by showing us some more daredevil work in the kitchen.

He will not stop unless you physically remove him from the chair.

You'd think that would be the end of a very long weekend, but that's not the way we roll. We woke the boys up in the morning and whisked them away for a surprise trip downtown. Max guessed our destination pretty quickly after he spotted a bunch of signs with fish on them.

Yes, there are birds at our aquarium. No, Max will not get closer.

Owen thought the otters were pretty funny. The feeling seemed mutual.

Oddly enough he wasn't really interested in the big tank. He preferred to keep his distance.

I think maybe this is a shark face.

The boys seemed to have a pretty good time. Max's favorite thing (according to him) was the penguins. For Owen, I'd have to say the leopard was the highlight. He followed it around its enclosure so excitedly that he wandered into a group of high school kids without even noticing.

All in all, a really good (and busy) weekend. If you want to see the rest of the photos, you can click here. See you next time!