Riding With the Top Down

 

Riding with the Top Down

Mr. Tennis a/k/a the Rickster has a convertible!  

Yes, he bought it a number of years ago without consulting me -- generally his MO when buying vehicles.  

One year, he and two salesmen showed up at the house -- he had bought an old used pickup and needed to get a check!!  Yes, I was surprised! I didn't know he was in the market for a small pickup! 

 It was a great little pickup and everyone in our neighborhood borrowed it to get mulch for their yard each spring.  

Sadly, most who borrowed it brought it back with the gas tank empty. 

One neighbor even told him when he brought it back that it needed gas!  

Hey, thanks dude and you're welcome!  :0 

Walt (age 9) and Rickster

Anyway, I digress - back to the convertible.  

As you might guess, it has a limited season of use and it's 2020 time is nearly up as the temps get cooler. 

 So, he decided to take each of the Little Grands for outings the last two weekends,

 except the baby - she's only 1-1/2.

Jane (now 10) was first and somehow missed the photo op!

Harry (age 7) and Rickster

They had so much fun riding in the convertible with him.  

They each went to some different places including to the zoo, to see a horse and each got lunch or a candy bar!  Those were 4 very successful outings with Poppa and they were only gone for 2 hours.

They are all requesting repeats already.

Dorothy (age 4) and Rickster

  He also gave each one some foreign currency!  

One received Canadian dollars; one got some Filipino cash, one some Chinese Yuan and

 Dorothy got some money from the Bahamas -- 

probably none of it worth more than $1 -- but very, very cool!  

I'm not sure what the next adventures with Poppa will be next time.

Of course, we're now having a warmup in temps so riding

with the top down can continue for a couple more weeks!

A Grand Time!

Earlier this month, I was able to spend some special time with

 the littles, aka my grandkids, Janie and Walt! 

My son and his wife went on a little getaway for a few days and left me in charge!!

Bring out the Hershey kisses-- Mimi's in the house! :)

Me --  What?  You're Leaving? 

In case you're wondering,

Janie is 3 already and Walt is 2 -- such fun and busy ages!
I was a little nervous to be left on my own -- but my daughter-in-law
is super organized, efficient and left home-made meals for us!
Plus the kiddos are on a great schedule and routine.

Don't tell his parents -- I only finger-combed his hair for 3 days!

We went to the park, played outside on the slide, did loads of paints,

watched a few Thomas the Train episodes and . . .

Miss Janie learned how to go potty!! 

Yay Janie!! 

 She did fabulous and earned lots of little incentive rewards along the way.

I attempted to show Walt the potty too,

but he said NO in a very big voice. 

Your turn next time Buddy!

Artist Janie at Work

Probably one of the reasons Janie was so excited to go potty was to
see me do the "Elaine" dance! :)
That put a big smile on her face!

 

I admit that I did have a Billy Crystal "Parental Guidance" moment

when I couldn't get Walt's car seat unbuckled and almost had to hoist the seat out. 

Instead, I pulled the poor little guy out through the top of the straps. 

And then we never got in the car again!

 

 

 

So happy to have been able to help Philip and Catherine

have a little break before their new baby arrives in August. 

If it's a girl, they promised to let me name her in payment for working with Janie! 

Kidding --

but that's a good idea, isn't it! 

 

Being in Omaha for a few days with the littles,

you know who I really missed 

(besides Mr. Tennis and Maddy, of course)

 was my Mom. 

I just know she would love to be around the littles. 

She was so proud of all of her grandkids and would adore her great-grands too!
I think of her and miss her every single day.
Love you Mom.

 

Fun With the Littles!



Maddy loved pushing Jane around the zoo!  The goats ran off when we didn't shell out some $ to feed them!



Last weekend, we had some fun with the little ones in the family!  Philip and Catherine brought Janie and Walt to spend the night with us while they went to a football game and had a night out.   If you remember the last time we did that, you might guess that I was a little nervous this time around!  But, I figured there was no way we could possibly have a dreadful storm knocking out power and downing a tree in the yard again when the babies stayed over.  And luckily there were no storms!!

Looking at zoo animals is serious stuff!

We had so much fun with Janie and Walt!  Maddy and I took Jane to the zoo and she loved it. Maddy had a blast pushing her stroller around and pointing out the red panda, the ponies, the new penguins, the smelly goats, the birds and  the screaming lemurs.  Wow -- those things are loud and were a little scary!  From the looks of them when they were screaming, they have very large, sharp teeth!  We also saw this incredibly cute crocodile who gave us that really big smile when he saw us!! :)

Nice to see you too, Mr. Crocodile!

Then we had even more fun and introduced Janie to some delightful cuisine -- McD's!!  She loved it!!  Walt is a bit too young still for fries and nuggets, so he opted for another bottle of formula. 

As sweet as Janie was a baby, I thought there was no way that their second baby would be so sweet and easygoing too.  Wrong!  He is the most mellow little fellow (poetic, aren't I!).  I got him to smile and giggle for me.   Later, we stuck the poor guy in an umbrella stroller to take him for a walk with Janie in another stroller and Muffy tagged along too.   I'm afraid little Walter didn't look too comfy, but he never complained.  He reminds me so much of Philip as a baby, but Philip didn't sleep through the night until he was at least one year old and Walt is already sleeping through the night at 3 months!  Maddy is the best auntie and it was a really fun visit!



Look at that sweet, adorable face!