This was indeed "Grandchildren Week." And I'll warn you ahead of time - this will be a long post with tons of pictures! But first, a collage of some sky scapes from this past week.
Last Tuesday evening I actually had time to sit on the side porch for a long time. I have not done that very often this summer, partly because we've been doing more things, going more places, having more "company" than we've had for the past two summers, and partly because it was just too hot to sit outside very often. It was a very pleasant, non-humid evening last Tuesday and I thoroughly enjoyed just sitting and enjoying.
Hunter did not go to summer camp last week since they had been down in Hershey Monday and Tuesday, so he came to my house on Wednesday. The first thing he wanted to do was have me sit next to him watching what he was doing on his iPad. And what was he doing? Extreme math equations that ended up in numbers I had never even heard of!! My brain was tired after fifteen minutes! He's such a cuddler, and he loves sitting right smack against me! So I had set a timer, and he was fine when I had to get up to do some other things. He played with lots of our toys too. He's very, very easy to have around.
He wanted to stay overnight, and we needed to go get his toothbrush and pj's. But he also really wanted to see Elizer and sit right next to him in the car, so we went and picked him up. They had fun together, both in the car and at the park.
Bedtime was easy. He wanted to take a long bath in my big tub, but it was too late, so I promised him if he takes a quick bath before bed he could take a long one in the morning. Guess what was the first thing he had on his mind when he woke up?
So he played in the bubbles for a long time. Later, when I wanted to go outside and work in the neglected flower beds, I opened up the camper windows and he hung out in there. The breeze was glorious. We even ate lunch in the camper! Later in the afternoon we went to Tudek Park and he played for a long time with other kids until Lori met us there to pick him up.
I took these pictures when I was working in the flower beds. I hate that all my tomatoes are cracking before they're ripe. Since that picture they have all ripened on the counter, and they were scrumptious!! I just cut out the cracks before eating them.
On Friday Austin came for the afternoon! He's 13 and so interesting. He worked on solving his Rubik's Cube, he made me an origami fidget toy, he showed me some card-throwing tricks and his YouTube channel. I learned that there's an app on which you can video what you're doing on your phone screen. I got the app but haven't tried it yet. I'm hoping to have him here one more time before school starts next week.
Friday ended with a shopping trip at Walmart with Destiny and Elizer. His birthday party would be the next day and there were things to get before that. Elizer eventually got tired of cooperating in his seat in the cart, so I rolled up Destiny's jacket for a pillow under his head and then covered him with a pair of shorts that she was buying. For a while I actually thought he was going to go to sleep!
On Saturday we hit the road for Lancaster where Elizer's party would be. It was a beautiful, cloudless day. We stopped in Duncannon to pick up Sammy and Bianca.
At some point that day I made a "map" like this to inform Sammy and Bianca of our travels. It's about an hour-and-a-half from State College to Duncannon and an hour from Duncannon to Lancaster.
The party was held at a place called Bounce Kraze. Destiny had reserved a three-hour spot, two hours for playing and an hour for the food and gift-opening.
Elizer's first interest was a car game. He doesn't need any money put in the slot, he just likes to steer like a wild man. He did want to press the throttle though, and since he was too short, he just got down there and pushed it with his hand, hahaha!
Sammy and Bianca got right to bouncing and sliding.
After a while Frank got there with Jada, Alaya, and V'anni.
There were so many games to play and things to win with tokens.
I didn't get any picture of Bianca playing games, but this is what she was doing most of the time - catching little ducks in a claw machine! Fourteen of them!
Then it was party time! There was a nice, big party room for us.
It was a really fun day for Elizer! All the people at the party were so familiar to him. Here are the pictures of everyone.
First of all the birthday boy with his mom and dad. Look at those cute shirts!
Dick and I with Sammy and Bianca, Destiny and Elizer. He was pretty much finished cooperating by the time this picture was taken!
Frank with his girls and grandson!
Alex's dad with his crew. His three kids - Alex, Odalys (far right), and Ozias (in front) and his two grandsons - Odalys' son Jiriya (far left) and Elizer.
At the beginning of the party Destiny's other grandparents came for just a while, but I didn't get a picture of them, which I really regret. We have known them since before Destiny was born and we feel a deep connection. Here's a picture of them from last year's party.
Destiny's brother Shalimar (on her mom's side) came for a little while with his adorable son Shalimar, Jr.
Here are some adorable pictures of Elizer with his little boy cousins!
It was bedtime before too long when we arrived home and church in the morning. After church they were begging to play Monopoly. Another REALLy crazy game. Let's just say there may have been some dishonesty and sleeziness going on, as in real life monopolies, haha!
Around 3:00 we went over to Destiny's place and picked her and Elizer up for a trip to Talleyrand Park in Bellefonte. Unfortunately it was starting to rain a bit, but not enough to ruin our fun. Feeding the ducks is always so fun, walking in duck poop, not so much!
We had our dinner backwards - dessert first. We got blizzards and slushies and cones at Dairy Queen, then went to Destiny's place where she made absolutely scrumptious Tostada de Pollo. Now I'm hungry just looking at that bottom right photo!
The kids had so much fun playing with Elizer!
He just loved being pushed in his little car. Sammy had given him the little soccer ball and goal net for his birthday gift, and they had fun with that too.
When we got home that evening we started prepping for a campout, haha! I was going to give up my comfy bed to sleep in the camper with the kids. While I was fixing the beds it was POURING rain. I thought, "Wow, am I going to be able to sleep? Will we stay dry??" But I knew I had certainly slept in rain when we were camping over the years, so I didn't worry about it.
The kids really wanted to play LIFE in the camper, so we did that for a while. But the table was really too small and we were all feeling pretty sleepy, so we quit before the game was over. Besides, they were feeling pretty silly. They were each drinking Fresca from one of Elizer's sippy cups. Crazy, fun kids!!
The rain stopped before we crawled into our beds - Sammy in the bed at one end and Bianca and I in the other. I actually slept pretty well. I had set my alarm for 6:15 as usual. Bianca, the early bird, heard it and tried to go back to sleep, but she came into the house soon after I did. Sammy, on the other hand, slept for a few more hours out there.
It was a dreary overcast day. So we stayed indoors. We played another game of LIFE. The only picture I got of that was the the paper on which I added up our wealth. Bianca won with her $2,500,000!
Then we watched the old movie "What About Bob?" and got lots of good laughs over that.
Another thing Sammy did over the weekend was learn to play "Happy Birthday" on the piano. Here's our piano duet!
Around 5:00 we went to pick up Dick from work and we went over to Anthony and Lori's place. Dick took them up into his hunting shack for while and then they played on the swings. Hunter came outside to join them for a while. He was sad when we left.
I took these pictures while they were up in the hunting shack.
Zooming in.
We took them back home after that, stopping at Arby's along the way to eat. We met Jenn at the Newport Plaza, about 10 miles on this side of Duncannon. The kids were talking her ear off as soon as they got out of our van!
Yesterday I had Elizer for a while in the afternoon. When I went to pick him up this is what I found! How CUTE is he in this blanket robe?? He was being so silly and running and jumping around. I said, "Elizer, stand still, I want to take your picture!" So the photo on the right was his "standing still" pose. What a little ham!
Last evening Dick grilled chicken breasts and we ate on the side porch for the first time all summer. Dick loved the cool breezes. I did too, but I needed a sweater! It was really nice to be able to sit out there for dinner.
Today is Jada's 10th birthday! I made this collage of some of the fun times we had with her this summer. We had such a good week with her when she was up here at Destiny's at the end of June.
Tomorrow (18th) is the actual day of Elizer's birthday. So we will be celebrating him again at Destiny and Alex's house.
And that is finally the end of this post!
2 comments:
It is always fun to catch up with you and all the kiddos, Jean. You are always so busy and always having fun. I loved every word and every photo!! You and Dick are such blessings for your kids and grands. xo
Happy Birthday to Elizer. He is a very loved little boy! So glad you had such a wonderful week surrounded by grandchildren - such a blessing! Have a good weekend. See you again soon!
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