Escapades with Granddaughter

I couldn’t resist writing about our wonderful week with our granddaughter; my memory ain’t what it used to be and I want to remember all the fun we had. Writing it down definitely helps with that and I need all the help I can get. Before I go any further, I just want to thank our good Lord for the gift of grandchildren and having this focused time with our granddaughter.

As you can imagine, after not seeing her for a year, she looked so much older and so beautiful. How can this be, she’s only eleven? We had a wonderful first night together at her dad’s place. I love hanging out with an eleven year old. I got to ride bikes, go for ice cream, color, play Legos, and laugh a lot over some silly electronic game called Flash Pad. We let the adults sit out on the patio and catch up.

Monday we spent at the beach. We wanted to be sure to get that in as the forecast was looking pretty cool later in the week. Once again, I had a blast playing catch, building sand castles, and digging a water pit for our granddaughter to sit in and let the waves wash up over her. That was an ongoing project and we had so much fun doing it. Poopa as he is affectionately called by her got in a quick nap in his chair while we played. There was quite a breeze so the waves were strong enough to knock you (me) over, so I let Poopa go out and jump waves with her while I just relaxed and watched them have a good time. That evening we taught her a new card game (to her): Five Crowns & she loved it. I also got to color some more with her.

Tuesday was an exceptionally wonderful day. We had promised to take her shopping  for her Christmas gift (It’s a lot more fun for all of us that way. Instead of trying to guess what she’d like, mailing it to her, and then never really knowing if she’s enjoying whatever it is we sent, she agreed last December that this was a good idea.) So she was pretty excited to go shopping and, bless her, all she wanted was more Legos. Makes this Nana happy! More fun times with her. Wal-Mart here we come. She picked out: Minecraft – Nether Railway (and had it all put together within 24 hours).

You’d think after she found what she wanted, we’d be on our way out the door. But no-o-o-o, we decided to quick look at some different handlebars for my bike. The bike I had was an after show EAA find but the bike didn’t “fit” me after adjusting everything we could adjust. So Bill was trying to adapt it to make it a better ride for me. As a side note, we had stopped at some bike shops over the weekend and found the accessories and bikes were way more money than we wanted to spend, even for used. So-o-o-o back to looking for different handlebars at Wal-Mart. Across the aisle from the handlebars was a bright & beautiful magenta colored bike that actually benefits breast cancer. It was the exact style I was looking for but without any of the bells and whistles that a similar bike at one of the bike shops had for over $300 less!!! After riding it around the store for about ten minutes, we were all convinced that I had to get this bike. To our granddaughter’s delight this meant she could have my old bike. With that in mind, we decided to give her an early birthday present and bought a bell, a basket, a gel seat cover, and some blue spray paint to make her “new” bike more her style. Everybody’s happy!!!  Needless to say, we’ve done a lot of bike riding all over Wickham Park. FYI: This park is almost 400 acres and has lots of trails and roads for riding and walking.

On Wednesday the big deal was going to Andretti Thrill Park, one of our granddaughter’s favorite places to go. Me not so much. My stomach and head can’t take most of the rides there, but she loves it. Popop (his official grandpa name) went go-karting several times with her and I loved watching. We all played lazer tag and I did manage to go on the Family Coaster. It spins but isn’t very high, so I managed it a few times (she likes to hear me scream); I didn’t feel all that great when it was over but she was happy. The things we do for our grandchildren. J

Thursday was a VERY full day. Up early so we could arrive at the Kennedy Space Center by 9 a.m. opening. Our granddaughter was very excited about going and, if you’ve read past blogs, you know that we loved going to the Johnson Space Museum in Houston; this was bigger and better for the simple reason is this is where the launches actually happen. Once again, hard to put into (a few) words. Experiencing it with an eleven year old is different but still very wonderful. We stayed until closing which was 6 p.m. so we were all pretty tired and hungry on the drive home. I haven’t mentioned many of the places that we‘ve eaten and we’ve had a lot of good experiences. But this one is noteworthy. We stopped at a place called Gator’s Dockside. At first, I wasn’t happy as I could tell it was a very loud sports bar, but the menu was most enticing and we could sit on the patio. Bill had a Five Alarm Burger, our granddaughter had a Mac&Cheese Burger, and I had a Shrimp PoBoy (lightly breaded in a Cajun sauce). There was so much scrumptious shrimp that I ate it all with a fork and left the bun. Our granddaughter was still pretty wound up when we got home (she got a brief nap in the car on the way home) and begged to play another round of Five Crowns. That was one way of keeping Nana and Popop awake. The things you do for your grandchildren! J

 

On Friday we officially celebrated our granddaughter’s birthday (which isn’t until June but we don’t get to see her in June and we all know how well the delayed Christmas present worked out so why not do an early birthday too). She loved it especially when I picked up a Cookie Cake. There’s a huge ongoing joke between my granddaughter and me and it has to do with cooooooooookies. It’s one of those times where you’d have to be present to appreciate it. Just know that the Cookie Cake was an even bigger hit because of our ongoing joke. We took a birthday bike ride as well and our granddaughter came upon a rather large unspooked turtle eating grass very near our motorhome. We watched him for several minutes; something I can honestly say I have never done before. Seems a simple thing but it was real exciting for me. Doesn’t take much, does it? For those of you who don’t know, I lived a very indoor life before meeting Bill, so experiencing things like this is oftentimes a new experience for me. Praise the Lord!

Our granddaughter spent Friday evening and all day Saturday with her dad and we were thrilled for them to have some one-on-one time together. We had a wonderful relaxing day. Took a really long bike ride and saw areas of the park we had never seen before. So many trails and lots of vegetation, one could easily get lost if they had my sense of direction. You’d never know that you were in the middle of a city. We rode almost five miles. So grateful for my new bike as this ride never would have happened otherwise. Early in our ride we stopped by the equestrian facility where it appeared they were having horse and buggy training. Another first see for me.

We had one more main event before pulling out tomorrow (Sunday 3/19) morning. We met up with our son and granddaughter to watch the Atlas V rocket and missile warning satellite launch off Cape Canaveral, literally on Cocoa Beach which is about five miles from the launch site. What a great spot. Lots of people scattered along the beach but not at all crowded. Such an awesome sight to see and hear (not real loud but very bright) and to think we were just there two days ago. Love this life! Thank you Jesus! Until next time, be blessed & be a blessing!