Keeping Active in August!!

Upon my arrival a couple of Mondays ago, I entered to the scene below. Apparently the girls had a "sleepover" in the big family room that their family has named "Kids Park". It is a great room for play, has only a couch in it, and the rest of the room is dedicated to a play area. Claire always tells us that her favorite sleeping companion, Floppy, sleeps all day and parties all night. It appears that the girls did some partying with Floppy that night.

The kids were all up fairly early  and so we got ready and headed to a location they never tire of, one of their local parks. I actually got them to pose for about a minute and this was the best of the several shots I took.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chloe will climb at any opportunity!

 

 

 

We had such a great time and they were all so cooperative when it came time to leave, that we decided a celebration was in order. We went to one of the local yogurt shops, ordered a half of sandwich each, and when each of them consumed their real lunch, they got to order frozen yogurt. The shop has a cute little play area that they enjoyed for a few minutes while waiting for their turkey sandwiches.

 

 

 

 

 

This week an outing to see Uncle Superman (Jon) at his fire station was on the agenda. Fortunately, he was home for a few days between fire assignments and he was anxious to see his nieces and nephew as well. The location is beautiful and he was as happy to see the three C's as they were to see him. They all ran full speed when they saw him come out of a building.

 

 

 

 

He gave them a great tour of the truck, inside and out. He opened most of the compartments on the outside and explained what each thing was used for. Even Papa and I learned some new stuff!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Papa and I had a unexpected surprise mid-week when Paula asked if the three C's could spend the night on Thursday. Mike and Paula were scheduled for their first parent/teacher conference with Claire and Chloe's new Kindergarten teacher and then following that they would do a little belated anniversary celebrating.  Whoopee, we were happy and excited to have them visit! An additional surprise was planned by Mike and Paula when they picked the children up on Friday morning and told them they were headed to Six Flags for an exciting family outing.  Below you can see breakfast time with Papa. I fixed them a hearty breakfast and told them they had to eat well because they had a big day ahead. The girls tried their best to get the info out of us but we kept them guessing and they were totally surprised when Mike told them what was happening.

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the day Paula and Mike sent some pictures for us to see. It looked like they were having a great time! Chris sure looks like he is enjoying himself at the hotel with a bag of potato chips....

 

 

 

 

 

An action packed couple of weeks has flown by. School starts on Monday so the pace of things will slow down immensely. We cannot believe that our precious granddaughters are going to Kindergarten, the five and one-half years has passed so quickly. Chris and I will have lots of Monday time together now with Papa coming as often as he can. I look forward to that but will miss the chatter and fun the twins bring to the day. 

 

 

No Dull Moments!!

On my Monday with the three C's nearly 2 weeks ago now, we spent a quiet morning at home. We visited the chickens, picked up and piled rocks, and the girls did some of their sidewalk art on the driveway. Some of those activities are recorded in the photos below.

Dancing and posing for the camera....

 



 

Claire and one of the chickens that all seem to have names except I can't keep them straight.

 

 

Chris contemplating some chicken matter....

 

 

All three working on that never ending gathering and piling of rocks.....

 

 

 

Ooops....we had some disagreement about the rocks. Chris wasn't too pleased.

 



 

 

Sidewalk artists....

 



 

 

On the following Saturday Daddy brought them up to swim. The girls are always so anxious to go to the deep end. Water wings required when Grandma is around! Daddy and Chris do some swimming too.

 

 

 

 

Last Monday, we also spent the morning at home. Claire, Chloe, and Chris spent a long time racing cars down their steep driveway. Chris was gracious enough to share his cars.

 

 

 

 

Claire and Chloe came home with me in the afternoon to spend the night before we left on a fun adventure the following day. It would be a new adventure for them but a much loved activity for Papa and me, we have previously gone maybe 6-7 times. We (Claire, Chloe, Papa, Me)  along with our friends, Connie and Wayne, and their two granddaughters, Danica and Aubrey, traveled to Gold Beach, Oregon to ride on Jerry's Jet Boats up the Rogue River. We stayed in a very comfortable house on the Ireland's Rustic Lodges property which had a great back yard for the four girls to play in and explore. We all had a ball and the four girls got along so well we hope to do more  activities with them. As we traveled in a caravan at each stop the girls would run up and hug like they hadn't seen each other in years. It was really something to watch.

 

Here they are at the first "stop" along the way.

 

 

The view from our back deck at the rental house just a few minutes walk to the beach.



 

 

Dinner out... Claire and Chloe, huge seafood lovers,  ordered shrimp...actually all three days we were traveling!

 

 

Beach time after dinner.....

 

 

 

Showers, and then pre-bedtime entertainment including dancing, singing, and magic!

 

 

 

They colored and worked on sticker type paper dolls, gathered flowers, driftwood (from the garden displays, unbeknownst to us...yikes!),  and lawn chairs and made a fort in the back yard.

 

 

 

 

We took a walk to the small lighthouse on the property,climbed the stairs, and also checked out lots of the many, many, painted rocks that guests have signed and left on the property. Next time we will try and do that as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time for our afternoon boat ride up the Rogue River. While waiting for our boat the girls were entertained by a dog that pushes a large rock around the entrance area. It was fascinating to watch. We estimated that the rock was 20+ pounds and the dog would push it and expect the nearest human to rescue it from under cars or wherever it landed. The girls giggled and giggled which was entertainment in itself. We all enjoyed it. The boat ride was fantastic. It was a bit colder that we would have liked (and probably colder than we have previously experienced) but it was so enjoyable. We all got pretty wet but dried off during dinner break up the river and then bundled up as well as we could for the even colder ride back to Gold Beach. We saw bald eagles, osprey, ducks, geese, turtle, deer, and a bear along the route, not to mention the beautiful and captivating scenery that is there.

 

 

Here we all are, waving from the third and fourth rows from the front of the boat.

 

 

 

 

That night before bed the girls had a blanket campfire time around the wood stove. They had snacks and we took turns telling stories.

 

 

Both sets of grandparents kept close touch with the children's parents by cell phone and texting. Thursday morning these are the "good morning" shots we sent to Paula and Mike.

 

 

 

It was a great experience for the grandparents and even though it was quite a distance to go by car the girls enjoyed it all. We had snacks and Leap Pads and children's CD music in our car so there was very little time for boredom. We all came home quite tired but not enough that we won't try it again sometime.

 

Yesterday Papa's family had a gathering at Uncle Larry's cabin. The little cousins, big cousins, and the adult siblings enjoyed a great day of water activity, food, and just chatting. Here are a couple of shots of the deer that came around for a snack and some of the family watching from the deck.

 

 

 

 

Chris was very excited about the deer. Guess he was just taking a moment to soak it all in. :)

 



 

Once again, I will express how thankful I am that I do have time with my precious grandchildren. I will never take it for granted and hopefully these memories will stick in my mind as they grow older and their interest in spending time with us may diminish. We are blessed beyond measure.