Tractor Days

Jim really enjoys this tractor.  It is a very neat thing that it belonged to his father, and that Jim has restored it to a state of usability and enjoyment.  

One thing about having grandsons is that they all like to ride things with wheels.  It also seems to be "the thing" with anyone that belongs to our family.  All the men and boys wanted to drive it, and a few of the girls.  

I wasn't one of them.  

There Comes a Time

When you have kids, you're in it for life.  

There isn't any of ... "my kids are 18 now and out of the house, I'm done."

 Nope, you're in it for the long haul. You celebrate their adult milestones just as much as their childhood ones.  

They have problems and worries; they get married; they have kids.  

When I first met one of my friends. Her children were all over 18 and "taking care of themselves".

I made the foolish comment (I didn't know how foolish at the time), something to the effect that her worries were over.

She laughed. I was afraid we'd never get her off the floor,

We went to a wrestling meet last night.  I would like to say it was the first I've ever been to, but I have a vague memory of going to one several years ago, I'm assuming a nephew was involved.  

I'm not a huge fan of wrestling, but when grandkids are involved, we go.

I reminded me a bit of all those taekwondo tournaments we went to back in the day.  

However, Lynette reminded me that they were a lot smaller and much less noisy. 

This was a meet for kids age Pre-K through 8th grade, so there were a lot of contestants and a lot of parents and a lot of noise.  I read in a novel sometime about an event that sounded like "a parrot house in the zoo".  This was something like that. 

The Pre-K events were not scored.  Each contestant had three matches that consisted of a minute each.  They all received a medal.

Zane 56#  Barry 38#

The second graders had three matches of 2 minute rounds.  Barry is more into this wrestling business than Zane is; he doesn't have the skill to wrestle effectively.  None of them do at that age.  

This time after two low point rounds, he rallied and went after his opponent that made for a very exciting match as we watched the points go up.  

Barry

Zane

All this time Christian was wallering around on us when he wasn't trying to take pictures on my phone or camera. It is rather amazing to me how soon a three year old can figure out how to take not just photos, but videos on either device. 

We were plunged back into early spring temperatures this week, instead of those lovely 70s last week. You know, 40s with right at freezing lows.

And snow.

I didn't want to walk around outside, but the boys spent one half hour outside playing. I couldn't persuade them to wear gloves, but in a half a minute they were back in putting them on. They had a nice time until someone got carried away and Christian came in crying with snow in the neck of his hoodie. A change of clothes and hot cocoa soon improved everyone's mood.

Barry loves to drink my ensure, but I don't let him very often, since it is an expensive drink.  He asks nearly every time he sees me, so this time I told him it was expensive and meant to be a treat.  Zane asked how much and I told him $1.50.

So, he went to his piggy bank and gave me a dollar.  He encouraged Barry to go get 50 cents, and he did.  So, he's getting his ensure, and I'm going to figure out a way to give them their money back. 

I play about 42 games of UNO in the day and a half I'm looking after those boys.  That isn't much of an exaggeration.  I usually bring playdough, but they've been tried of it lately so I brought my pattern blocks.  I had a wonderful time with them, but they may be a bit fiddly for this age and time. 

Christian made sandwiches. 

My efforts.  

The only interest Barry had in them was to mess up mine. 

Monday last week, we went up to check out Lorene's toilet because it was leaking.  Zane called a few days before to explain the problem, so he as well as all the other boys were interested in the project. 

After the toilet fixing we played a game of UNO, all 7 of us.  I was totally impressed with the skill, interest and sportsmanship of those boys.  

I have finished quilting on this quilt for the season. I have all the "Sunbonnet Sue" blocks quilted around and the filler blocks minimally done.  

This poor quilt is rather badly put together.  The corners don't match, some of the filler blocks are too big for the space so there is puckering, the girls aren't spaced on the blocks the same. Some have small feet, some crowd the bottom, the parasols aren't the same distance from the bonnet.  Either the person appliqueing didn't care or several people made blocks.  

The fabrics are pretty and when it is all done, I think most people will look at that instead of the faults.  I haven't quilted anything for decades, and never anything this big, so this makes a good learning project for me.  

Ideally it should have been taken all apart and redone, but thinking about it gave me so much anxiety, that I'm just going at it as is. 

These are some of my favorites. 

Now, it is time to start on wedding planning, in which deep cleaning the house is a part.  At least until yard cleaning is a priority. 

Grandmothering--The Best Job

I started a new job yesterday.  

Grandmothering isn't really a job of course, actually, yes it is.  I've always felt that mothering children is a job. It's a privilege to have that job, to help unknowing little people grow into wise adults.  

It's a lot harder than you think before you've done it. 

I have the privilege to make sure that two little ones eat breakfast and get to school and watch the one left at home until time for the preschooler to come home. 

It's the opportunity for me to know those little people a little better and for them to know me. 

First day of school.

Barry--Pre-school

Zane--2nd Grade

Play time before and after Barry came home from school.

We had Barry overnight for the first time in his memory.  He has stayed over with Zane but before he remembers.  He's been wanting to so he came.  He's more of a 'home-body' than Zane so we made sure to keep him busy and avoided any mention of home. 

He loves to spend time with both of us. 

One of two frogs living in our pond. 

Barry came to visit with corn on the cob for supper, his favorite.

 Barry and Charlie

Barry got a new ball that lights up when it's caught. It can't be seen in the daylight so after Barry spend a while learning how to catch well, we tried it inside in the semi-darkness to watch the light show as we caught the ball.  

Later Jim and Barry went outside when in was darker to play, but trying to catch a ball in the dark that only lights up when it's caught is futile.  You're much more likely to get hit in the face.  

Flowers from a child are the best gifts.

Nearing the end of his visit, we fed the fish off the bridge at the Archway. 

Paislee 

Nathan's little girl. 

A Day With Papa

When I was raising up my children I mostly saw them through the lens of a camera.  I wanted to make sure I would remember what they looked like and what they did as they grew up.

I seem to have a peculiar affliction that prevents me from remembering faces.  When I think of people, unless I've known them well, I remember not themselves, but a photograph.  

There are places I've been as a teenager and I don't remember them because there are no photographs of the incident to remind me.  

I wonder if my brain would have compensated if there were no photos at all, 

but I didn't want to risk it.  

I have way too many albums from when my kids were little and I love them all.  

I don't take nearly as many photos these days.  I like to enjoy these children in my life and not spend my life behind a camera.

Sometimes, I wish I could have recorded the second two boys early years in the way I did Zane's, but I couldn't.  Zane was right here in the house, and I had cancer when Barry was one.  

I don't really need hundreds of photos to have a record of what those boys looked like while they are growing up.  Some things are more valuable because of their rarity.

That being said, it's Zane's turn for the spotlight today.  He spent part of weekend with us a week ago when November was still harking back to October.* Zane is a busy boy at nearly 7 and it is a good thing for him to have productive activities to occupy his time.  

Jim is cleaning up some trees on the edge of our property and he thought Zane could help him load twigs and small branches.  While Zane did help with that, he had a lot more fun using the Sawzall cutting off smaller branches.

It's never too soon to learn about steering. And what could be more fun than Papa's John Deere.

 You can't really see it, but Zane has his hand on some lever or other as they get ready to back out of there.  

We want to remember these days.

*Anne of some place or other

A Day With Zane

We've been waiting for this day.  

A day to take a grandchild on a special trip with Gramma and Papa.  

We chose this day a trip to the WildLife Safari and the Air and Space Museum.

It's a couple hours driving so Zane came prepared with coloring pages which lasted until we got out of town.  

His first, "Are we there yet", was not quite a hour on the journey.

Our first fill up stop netted Zane a new spiderman car to play with.  Sadly, it was lost later.  

I intended to start this trip paying attention to my photos for quality purposes.  You would think the thing in the way would be a car seat, not my finger.  I mean, a finger in the lens, after all these years!!

Our first wildlife was this herd of elk.  They are magnificent creatures.  It seems impossible that those bull elk can carry those enormous racks.  

This was Zane's favorite, turtles sunning themselves on logs in this algae covered pond.  He was convinced the water must be solid.  He called it "frozen" and had to throw a stick it to see.  I'm not sure he was totally convinced.  

Pelicans have a dark band of feathers that isn't visible in repose.  

The wetlands were populated with Canadian geese, sandhill cranes, and several duck varieties. I couldn't see any ducks, and I've seen too many Canadian geese, therefore no photos.

There is a little "petting zoo" and picnic area.  We were there at goat feeding time. The keeper feeds them on the rocks so visitors get the thrill of watching climbing goats.  She was letting some of the kids hand feed some and Zane thought that was a good idea until he actually had the grain in his hands.  

We finally got him to pat a goat, but all he wanted to do was thump on the side of this soon-to-be mama.  I hope the kids were already awake!

No trip with Zane would be complete without remembering his super-active personality.  This shows it well. 

Also, the day wouldn't be complete without a picture on the John Deere tractor. Zane made Papa's day by shrieking "a John Deere", as soon as he saw it. 

  

Zane hardly knows what these are for. 

I wanted photographs to remember this day by, and Zane wanted one with the antlers.  He wanted the biggest ones, but he couldn't be still long enough for a photo.  One thing done, and he's on to another. 

 It wasn't too hot that day, but eagles must like to be in the shade.  I'm not sure what kind this one is, but the Bald Eagles are almost hidden.  Look for the white heads. (second photoi)

This is Zane.  

I would have liked to get a lovely photograph of him full face with the bright smile he has in the second one.

But, really, this is Zane, too busy, too quick to sit still long enough to record that little memory.  What we get is the best we can get, action, and a memory in the heart. 

Some birds of prey are caged, these screech owls for example, they are all huddled up blinking sleepily.

American Black Bear, this may have usurped the turtles. 

We knew before we went that we would be seeing these scenes through the eyes of a five-year old.  Sometimes that means very quickly, as he runs through the exhibits and we trot after him.  

Even here, he reminds us of the simple joys of childhood running a hand across a fence to feel and hear that strange thumping sound it makes. 

Many wild flowers were marked.  These weren't

And what is a trip to any wildlife area without the buffalo, which are called bison nowadays, and perhaps always.  Who knows why they were every called buffalo anyway?

A barn owl peeking out.

Porcupine

Next stop: Air and Space Museum

At the base of a missile.

The first thing Zane saw in this building were the escalators. He would have been happy riding up and down the rest of the day.  

Except for one small break for the elevator.

It happened to be kid's day at the museum and I was afraid that would take Zane's attention away from the planes.  There were all sorts of games and things to play, but he didn't have enough patience to wait in the sometimes very long lines.  This was a bouncy house/space shuttle slide, and you can see by the photo, that he was moving quickly.

At last, something to get into and move!!

 We ended our day with ice cream.

Except...we missed the featured plane of the month.  So we went in.  It was rather a bust for Zane, since we could only peek at things, not go the length of the plane and touch everything in it.  It was a training plane for navigation.  Instead of seat, there were columns of desks with equipment mounted on them. 

Views from the museum.  It was mind-boggling to see the size of these missiles.

Surface-to-surface missile perhaps?

Sometime in there when we were walking around under the planes, looking at bombs, the size of the planes and an air raid shelter that it hit me, this is war.  These things are here for us to remember. 

To remember a time we don't ever want to see again.  

I can't describe the feeling that came over me.  

It was a feeling that I was touching a piece of history that was long gone, yet at any time might come too close.   

We need to visit these places; we need to take our children to them.  We need to remember those who have given so much for their country.

Even to the ultimate sacrifice.  

We need to remember what war means.  

There was peace in our car on the way home. 

The end of a big day that started with doughnuts and a new car and ended with ice cream and new planes.

A day that was in Zane's words, "Awesome!"