Grandbabies Make For The Best Week Ever

My oldest daughter (otherwise known as my Texas Gal) and her husband, recently spent four and a half fabulous days with us, as she does every odd year, with even years belonging to her father. I thought, perhaps, the best way to sum up our visit, would be to "top ten" the highlights.  So here you have it (in no particular order)...

1)  Hubsy and I got to meet our new baby Grandson, Levi, for the very first time.  He's five months old, which is the very age our first grandson, David, was when we met him for the first time.  There is a world of difference between the two boys.  At five months, David immediately disliked anyone who couldn't offer him a tasty breast on demand (which was all the time), whereas Levi seems to love everyone, regardless of anatomy.  Levi gurgled and cooed and laughed, whereas David screamed ... and screamed some more.  Needless to say, this visit was far easier on the ears, than the last one.

2)   Approximately twenty five consecutive hours after they arrived, David, now two years old, warmed up very nicely to these two strangers, who called themselves Grandma and Grandpa.  When he opened his eyes on the morning of the second day, I waited for the cry.  But instead, he crawled right over his parents, who lay sleeping on the air mattress on the living room floor, and right into my arms.  That was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.  Another one formed that evening, when David ran straight to his Grandpa, all smiles, as he walked in the door from work.  On another day, he ran to the driveway, excited to greet Grandpa at the car.

3)  Hubsy left work early one day, and the seven of us used those extra hours to bowl a few games at the local alley, not including Levi (who slept through much of the commotion), and David (who assisted some of us with our throws).  I lost my breath and bit my tongue whenever the little guy tried to pick up a ten pound ball, and carry it to the lane.  That's when we stepped in to assist him.  Because the whole family applauded whenever he rolled a ball, he clapped for us too!

4)  Since the boys are being raised on a poultry farm, surrounded by chickens, ducks, and geese (not to mention pheasant, turkey, peacock, and quail), I thought it would be fun to take them to the lake, to feed our local ducks.  I didn't realize that just before leaving the farm for vacation, David had been attacked by a rooster in a "fowl" mood, leaving him terrified of animals.  So David didn't chase the ducks, but the ducks chased whoever had the bag of bread, and David's Daddy chased my Punkin... right into the lake!

5)  David's new fear of the animal kingdom had him running and screaming every time our dog or cat came into the room.  Though, as long as he felt safe in someone's arms, he showed great interest, and would point and laugh.  For a few days, I had to keep the pets locked up in my bedroom, but by the end of their visit, it was the dog who was terrified of David!

6)  For evening entertainment, we broke out a new family game, Apples To Apples.   You should've seen us... seven people, ages 10 to 40-something, rolling on the floor in laughter so deep, it was actually painful.  Laughing at ourselves, at each other, and at Waco TX and Andy Warhol.  During one session, it took us a while to realize that David wasn't happily talking on his toy cellphone, but was actually having a conversation with his grandmother in Texas, on his daddy's very real cellphone!

7)  My twenty eight year old son in law, who is somewhere around ten at heart, is a real down home country cowboy.  A redneck.  An outdoorsman.  A survivalist.  If he can't hunt it, shoot it, skin it, build it, raise it, wreck it, or ride it ... then he just has to climb it.  He climbed to the top of the kiddie playhouse, the jungle gym, and even to the roof of the pavillion!  I think he had more fun on the playground than the little ones did. 

8)  Now that Levi is discovering that he has some control over his own tongue, I spent some wonderful moments on the floor, "la la la-ing".  Although he couldn't quite get it down, he sure did try, and my silly vocalizations made him smile and coo.


9)   David is learning to talk, but he really only makes one sound.  G-go.  It's his version of "gonna go".   He will surprise you with other words occasionally, like "daddy, doggie, please, hello, and go away".  But if you prompt him to repeat what he had said, all you're gonna get is G-go.

10)  As Punkin and Princess enjoy dancing with The Michael Jackson Experience on the Wii, we got David to bust a few moves as well.  My daughter tells me that he usually sways to music, but this time he was really jumpin', and he even "got low" ... real low ... rolling on the floor, low.

We hosted our visitors just one month after my mother hosted us, for our vacation.  Now I know why she gets so sad when we leave.  I cried for two days after watching my daughter and her men drive away.

Our Last Blast of Summer '11

Within the span of seven days, the kids have gone back to school, we've had an earthquake, and a hurricane.  I have lots to tell you about all of that, but I'd much rather take a few moments to re-live our last blast of the summer.

Keeping with tradition, we took our annual long weekend excursion to Baltimore, to visit with my family. It's a cookie cutter vacation, meaning it's typically the same every year, but believe me, we have no complaints what so ever. Mom's place is as clean and organized as the best hotel, and even comes complete with mini shampoos and extra toothbrushes. If I didn't know her better, I'd be wondering where she hides the staff. Here are ten the highlights:

1) We left straight from Hubsy's workplace, and took the six hour drive by night.  That way, when Hubsy opened his eyes on the very first day of his vacation, he would actually be on vacation.  It was well worth it.

2) This time, we added an extra little day trip to the itinerary:  a tour of the infamous Gettysburg Civil War battlefield, led by my father, the amateur historian, and Confederate at heart.  (This experience will be the focus of my next posting).

3) Mom's pool is a great place to catch up on some parent/child bonding, but I repeated the word "Polo" so often, that I got a little goofy with it.  "Marco" was henceforth followed by Aspen, Obsession, Brut, or English Leather.  The whole thing ended up being nothing more than a Freudian game of word association.  Peanut butter led to jelly, which led to grape... nuts... vasectomy.

4) A hostile takeover of the local Olive Garden, by twelve members of the paternal clan.  Daddy and Second Mom, Little Bro and his two little impkins, Little Sis and her new hubs, plus my fam of five.  A bottle of wine made it's rounds, and I had my annual vacation margarita.  Daddy teased the waitress as often as possible.  My favorite quip went something like "I don't like this wine, and I'm going to send it back, right after you pour it and I drink it, and you pour it again."  

5) After dinner, the troupe headed over to Little Bro's place, where we enjoyed the hilarity of the toddler's musings.  For instance, being invited into her princess castle, to be hit with  the soft spoken announcement of "I got poops".  We giggled for hours about how the usual offering that accompanies an invitation, would be coffee or wine.

6) One of the best parts are the night swims, when the air is chilled and the water is warm. Turning on the pool lights, and turning up the music makes it feel like a real party!

7) Catching up on the family gossip.  I never get involved in the dramas, but I do like to hear about them.  It's nice to be reminded of where I come from, and why I choose to live two states away!

8) Bailing a hundred gallons of water out of the pool, with every bucket and can we could find, to lower the level enough for Mom to re-glue some loose tiles on a near dry surface.  For two days, we obsessed about those tiles.  It was such an event, that as we left Baltimore, I called from the car to tease her about some possible loose tiles in the Harbor Tunnel!

9) The annual crab feast!  It's the only time I ever get to express the Chesapeake gal in me.  The kids love to eat 'em, but I always have to guide them through the process.  Hubsy thinks it's just disgusting, but enjoys watching me chew on shells, slurp on that spicy seasoned juice, and dig out the yummy innards of an ocean floor scavenger.

10) Playing with Bob the Owl.  He's the yard guard, keeping birds from gathering around the pool, and rodents from nesting in the shed.  I decided that Bob needed a vacation too, and so I invited him to join us in whatever we were doing at the time.

The time is short, but it's just enough to recharge and refresh our outlook, and after being surrounded with Mom's near perfect decor, I actually return home a little excited about cleaning my house.

Bob's Got The Right Idea!