Game Day ~~ Dominoes, Football, & Hockey

In the morning on Saturday the 16th (I have got to get caught up!), before we all left for the boys football and hockey games, Jackson and Shelby taught their dad to play Dominoes. Shelby and Grandpa had taught their mom the night before. We play dominoes fairly often so the kids have learned from us.

The Saturday before, which was the 9th, Jackson's football game was canceled and this past Saturday his game was away, in a town more than an hour north. That meant we had to split up. Sandee & Shawn took Jackson to his game; I have no photos of that. Rich, Shelby, & I took Dylan to his game; I have photos and video of that.

If you have 2 1/2 minutes to watch the movie below you will be treated to a lively segment of Dylan's hockey game. Dylan's position for his team, the Lightning (also the name he chose for his hamster) is right wing. The Thrashers beat them 4 to 1 but Dylan scored that one goal for the Lightning. He is wearing jersey number 4 and Grandpa wrapped the blade on his stick in red and black tape. You know the drill by now; click on the arrow in the center of the box below to see the video.



No, there are no photos or video of Dylan making the goal. It rarely fails that if there is an awesome play, like when Jackson ran the ball the second time at the football game I attended, I will be watching instead of shooting. Here is a photo though of Dylan with his stick raised in celebration after making the goal, which I'm told is the protocol when one makes a goal in hockey...I'm learning.

Lovin' Life ~~ and These Great Moments

  Bev 

A Visit With Friends

I'm going to attempt one more quick post tonight because Friday was another at-home day until evening. I did laundry and started organizing to move back into the RV. Have I mentioned that we parked it catty-corner from their house on a short block with no driveways, only side yards along it? Luckily, we did not received any notations from the HOA to move it...hurray! Rich did some stuff with the RV to get it road ready.

Happily, their friend Jen and her kids came over to see Rich and I in the afternoon. Her and Dave's kids Josh, Jordan, and Dustin are the ages of our grands and they all became quick friends when they met at Jackson's and Josh's kindergarten class. We've seen them on many occasions when we're there and always enjoy our time with them so it was great seeing her and the kids again. Her oldest (and the tallest of all the kids) is actually a few weeks younger than Jackson...yikes!

Of course the girls were thrilled to have even more kids to play with! Our grands have been trying to train them to use the doggie door in the family room, without success unless treats, placement of front paws, and gentle shoves on the rear are involved...what a hoot! The training continued to show their friends...

This is Jen with her Jordan and Dustin. She's going to hate this photo. But, Jen, it's better than the one other one I took so please forgive me.

As you can clearly see in the photos above, the girls are right in the middle of everything! Even though we adults all wondered how it would go, the girls assimilated happily, quickly, and beautifully into the daily chaos and noise that a household with three active children embodies. There were no problems and if they needed a break, they just went into our room on their own (that is actually Dylan's room...again, thanks Dylan for letting us crash there!) They would have been happy to stay there with the kids and the kids would have been happy to have them.

That evening, Shawn took Jackson to football walk-through which is a much more relaxed and shorter practice. Rich took Dylan to hockey practice and Sandee met them there after work. That left Shelby and I at home which meant Dominoes!

And can that girl play Dominoes! She beat me both games we played and they were long games because we were playing with a double fifteen set. Trying to salvage some pride, I slyly suggested that we should play a third game for the tie breaker. She quickly informed me that "I beat YOU both games!" I can't pull the wool over their eyes on anything anymore...where did our little ones go???? They were so easily deceived...haha

Lovin' Life ~~ Good Friends, Fun Times

  Bev 

Jackson's Football Practice on Thursday

Well here I am...the last few days with the kids were a whirlwind of activity with LOTS of snuggle time and simply hangin' out as the clock ticked away the final hours of our time together. We left their house yesterday, Sunday, morning and drove to Holbrook, AZ. Tonight, Monday, we are in Tucumcari (I love the sound of that name!), New Mexico.

So let's go back a few days...after that long fun-filled day at the pumpkin farm on Thursday, Jackson had football practice. His coaches are serious about practices and they last nearly 2 1/2 hours. Unfortunately, that evening his coaches took the team to the far side of the field so I only got photos when they came in for drink breaks or when my zoom could capture him. He LOVES football, as his dad does. He is definitely the smallest guy on his team but no one has more heart or interest in the game.

There he is near the middle with his knee up high during their drills...

Stopping by for a quick drink of water; the temps had reached 100 that afternoon.

Jackson's easy to pick out standing in the middle of this lineup.

Coming off the field again for another drink break. The temps are quickly dropping though by now.

Is he answering a question or giving pointers to the coach? What is your guess?

They divided into teams for the last half of practice and Jackson is on the green team.

Do you see him in this skirmish? What? You don't? Hunh. Did I mention how far away the team was throughout their practice? This is the best shot I got of any of the action...grrr

Oh well, it's just great to be a part of their daily lives for a while.

Lovin' Life ~~ Even When Foiled by Coaches' Practice Decisions

  Bev 

Note: It has taken me a couple of hours to upload these few photos so I certainly won't get caught up tonight on everything from the past few days.

A Great Fall Festival

Schnepf Farm is a working farm not far from here that has several festivals each year. I suspect that their October Pumpkin & Chilli Party is about the biggest of those. Yesterday, Thursday, we spent several hours there with the kids and still did not get to do everything. It was windy, dusty, and near 100° so it was quite a testament to our love of being with our grands that we were able to, not just endure, but have lot of fun with them there.

Here's a sampling of the many things there are to do at Schnepf Farm.

After checking out the pumpkins, we went on a hay ride through the orchard and fields to the 10 acre corn maze. At those temps though, we all agreed that we were not interested in an hour of wandering through a maze of corn so we stayed on the wagon for the return.

The kids played miniature golf for the first time! We played one round with them; they enjoyed it so much that they played the nine holes again.

There was some lovely landscaping...not a lot, but some.

There's a small, old-fashioned merry-go-round...

This maze was much more our speed...the kids had fun running around through it several times.

I am relieved to even be able to show you this next photo. At the petting zoo, the kids saw a burro, sheep, hog, horse, donkey, cow, ducks, and a pen full of pygmy goats that kids went inside to pet. While in there, Dylan and Shelby got penned in a corner by three pygmy bucks. I was watching so got them to just slowly sidle along the fence until they were clear of the goats. It was a bit scary for them and here they are, grateful to have escaped with their lives!

These four passenger pedal carts were a big hit! And the trail that they drove on through the forest was very cool!

 

There were single person pedal cars too that Dylan drove a couple of times and really loved!

Shelby's favorite fun ride was the Bumble Bee!

And here they are going coming out at the bottom of this long tube slide. They ran back up the hill to slide down again several times...fun!

Our last ride of the day was the train that runs around the park. We were surprised to see that there were several things we just didn't have time (or the Grandma/Grandpa energy) to do. Sandee was getting off early and Jackson needed to get ready for football practice.

The boys went on ahead to the car with Grandpa while Shelby got this adorable pumpkin painted on her cheek.

Lovin' Life ~~ and Fall Festivals!

  Bev 

Ordinary Day ~~ No Such Thing!

This morning I sorted through yesterday's many photos (it was a fun-filled day) readying them for posting when I discovered that I had not posted anything about Wednesday. It escaped me because, until I looked back at the photos, I would have told you that we didn't do much that day, just an ordinary day...huh.

We went to the mall where we checked out puppies, including this adorable Havanese...

Made the requisite stop at the Apple store, the appeal of which fascinates me from a marketing psychology standpoint...every kid walking past there, while I sat right outside, begged his or her parent to go inside...and yet, there's nothing there to just "buy." Here are our boys totally focused on demo I-stuff.

While Shelby delighted in the open spaces...

The kids make friends wherever they go, even with this scary dude at Lowe's...

While her brothers played a video football game and other boy stuff after we got home, Shelby put out Halloween decorations and baked cookies...yummmm

Grandpa had gone out for a while saying that he was working on a surprise for Shelby. The boys had new Alabama football switch plates so we had shopped for something cute for her room, to no avail. Here is Grandpa showing it to her.

She watched every move as Grandpa wired the new switch and installed the plate...

He had gone to Hobby Lobby and custom designed this with his nickname for her...Miz Bee. She loves it!

But we're not done, there was much more excitement in store for all of us...especially Dylan. He had been saving to buy a hamster and his folks decided that this was the day he could finally get one. It is a Winter White and Dylan has named him Lightning. They came home with boxes of food, treats, a habitat, an igloo, an exercise ball, and Lightning himself. Grandpa helped assemble the habitat and we all enjoyed watching Lightning try out the ball. Of course the girls were sequestered in our room while Lightning got settled in. Here are a few photos of the big event...the kids decided that we are now great-grandparents but we have resisted that title...haha

Can you see Lightning? He's all settled in his new home and exploring the igloo where he seems to spend most of his time...at least when we're watching and hoping for some hamster action.

Need I say? We have one happy boy, exclaiming how great it is to be "the first in our family to have a pet!"

Lovin' Life ~~ and Being Here for Such Exciting Times!

  Bev