My desert-dwelling grandsons and their parents visited my house last week—for forty-four hours. The family had taken a road trip to Vail for a wedding, and Jim and I were fortunate they fit in a stop at our place on their way back home.

I was thrilled to host them and was determined to squish as much into the visit as possible, unsure of when I'd see Brayden, Camden, and Declan (as well as Megan and Preston, too) again.

As all three boys have birthdays in June—Declan turned 4, Camden 7, Brayden 10—I planned a North Pole birthday celebration for the biggest chunk of our time. Such a super, celebratory time it turned out to be.

The hours book-ending the birthday outing? Not a second went to waste!

There was reacquainting themselves with their Colorado cousin, James...

And updating Gramma on the lost-tooth situation...

Plus playing...

And posing...

And digging for treasure with PawDad...

They shot hoops...

Battled it out with pool noodles...

and Silly String, too...

We had two family BBQs...

The second followed by birthday gifts from their aunts for the boys...

Father's Day gifts from the boys for PawDad...

And (early) birthday gifts for Gramma—who couldn't help but cry...

Plus—of course—more posing...

There was game time....

more game time...

and more game time...

Piano-playing...

New-friend making...

Popcorn-popping in Gramma's machine...

And perusing PawDad's secret coin collection...

Of course no visit is complete without Gramma's beloved chocolate chip cookies, so Brayden helped me bake some for them to take on the road...

James joined him, baking up his own gluten-free batch for him to take home.

For forty-four hours there was love, and laughter, and moving moments not captured on camera.

As well as the oft-spoken statement (from several of us) that we wished the hours were more.

Even so, I'm endlessly grateful for the hours we had—those fully filled, unforgettable, fun forty-four.