Out-of-town company and consecutive days of rain aren't things we're accustomed to. But sometimes when it rains, it really does pour. My Dad arrived amidst scattered showers last Thursday, and it pretty well rained throughout his five-day visit. Though we were glad for the free water (I can think of a lot of things I'd rather spend money on than our utility bill), it posed new challenges to find five days worth of mostly indoor activities for the whole crew. We ate Crock-Pot chicken thighs and veggies—when the weather's right for comfort food in the middle of spring, you have to go with it!

But of course, we couldn't just eat. We had to find things to do. So we traded our typical schedule of hiking in the mountains and picnics in the park for bowling and playing cards. (The older kids are just old enough to start learning our favorite family game: Whist.)

We also went bowling, picked up pizza for dinner, baked cookies, told stories, and slept in sleeping bags (that last part was a kid thing).

On Saturday morning, my Dad took the big kids to Cracker Barrel for a down home breakfast and a to-go box of Marsha's buckeyes for me, thanks Dad! (Note: Marsha started selling these buckeyes 24 years ago in the grocery store I went to as a kid.) Then on to Lowe's for their Build and Grow Clinic (they made another variation of the wooden box project, hammer and real nails included).

By Saturday afternoon, it was time to get outside, rain and all. (Like I said, it doesn't rain here much so, yes, that is a sled on my dad's head.)

And after that. Carving! Carving what, you ask? Why, watermelons, of course. (You didn't think we'd carve pumpkins in May, did you?) This guy's still out on the front porch with a candle inside.

By Saturday afternoon, Steve and I needed a break. And thankfully, so did the storm. Just in time for our date to to celebrate our anniversary. Steve brought me these:

One for every year we've been married. During that non-raining hour or two, we zoomed over to P.F. Chang's for some dinner while the kids rode bikes and dug in the dirt and my Dad made mac 'n cheese. (Thanks to a tip from Tightwad Momma, our lettuce wraps were free.)

Now that Ippy's flown back home to dinner with my Mom, we're winding down a wet and wonderful weekend, full of gratitude for grandparents, and soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. In the words of one tweet, "Memorial Day is to honor those that did extraordinary stuff so that we can do ordinary stuff."

Well said. This week, rainy days and Monday didn't get us down.