we woke up to beautiful weather this morning. pop pop took off around 6:30 to scour the bay for some specs. i got up at my usual vacation time...7a.m. had my coffee on the deck, my favorite thing to do in all the world, except that i had to position my chair on the front deck with my back to the sun because our neighbor behind us was sitting at his table chain smoking...i like me some seclusion in the morning and that is where the shade is that time of day. oh well. i just don't know what i will do if someone buys those two front lots and puts a camp up in my face, blocking the ocean view and all. better not to think about that now.
released the fox from his sanctuary around 8. we did the usual, pbs kids, dump out 1,000 sea creatures to play wif, eat breakfast, slather on sunscreen, head out to beach. except for when we got on top of the levee leading to the beach it started to sprinkle. we had to turn around because i don't fancy getting stuck out on the beach in a thunderstorm. headed back with a fussing fox in tow. we had to park ourselves underneath the camp to wait it out. good thing i picked up some sidewalk chalk at the sureway yesterday. i got to trace sea creatures for a while. pop pop pulled in from fishing early, chased in by a thunderstorm himself. perched fox on the countertop so he could watch pop pop mutilitate his beloved fishies. he was fascinated and said that yes, he would like for pop pop to cook him some fish to eat. i'd like to see the day, and i'm sure we probably will:) storm finally blew over and we headed on out to the beach. the waves were pretty big today causing a bit of an undertow. i've always been deathly afraid of the undertow with my kiddies. we had to stay pretty close to the edge of the beach and after he got clobbered in the face by a pretty big one, we commenced to playing in the sand. the sun was burning hot. we dug a hole and turned it into a swimming pool for his sea creatures. he had fun going back and forth into the surf to fill up his bucket with water. it's amazing the little repetitious tasks that he busies himself with. i try my best to patiently allow him to dawdle and explore and fill his time as he likes. so what if it takes us 30 minutes to get to the beach because he is stooping every second to check out the typography or admire a tiny shell that i would not take the time to see. life's a journey and there is no better way to understand and experience the reality of that than in the company of a child. i mean, we're in grand isle, for pete's sake!:))
we stayed out about 45 minutes to an hour and came on back in with our sea creatures and various and sundry shells collected on the walk back. then we spent about another hour underneath the camp with a running hose (oh my aching water bill!). that boy loves him a hosepipe better than just about anything i think. he was walking kind of stiff when we came up the steps and when i removed his trunks on the carpeted floor in steve's room poo tumbled...dribbled...puddled out (from all the water from the hose) on to the carpet. ew. stinky. we made a big deal and he kept saying "grossy-ossy"! yes it WAS!. glad it was on steve's carpet, but wished it was on the tile a lot more:)
had our lunch, colored us another "amazing" sea creature (clown fish) poster and hung it up, then settled down for rest time. couple hours later i opened the door to - more - poo fumes and find him grinning and perched on top of the plastic drawer thingy. he never did sleep...but at least i did:) pop pop took us for an ice cream cone which he made me hold for him to lick until it was a soggy mess and we had to throw it away and hose the picnic table at megan's down. took him into the sureway to pick up a couple things and we had to look for sea creatures, which we found. then began what turned into a very long meltdown for various reasons, which meant that the sea creatures did not get opened for quite a while. finally settled down and he ate some peas and corn and a hummus sandwich. when he came to me smiling with his empty bowl i melted a little myself and finally opened up his new sea creatures.
got pop pop to blow up a huge pool i had gotten for him before we left home. he was SO excited, then when we turned on the hose to let him play in it with it, he never gave that pool a second thought, but promptly removed himself from it and played on the deck with the running water the rest of the time.. he loves to drink from the hose and holds it up to his mouth and talks into the water, sort of like we used to do in front of a blowing fan. finally winded down after bathtime. we sang baby beluga as we scrubbed off the remnants of his orca tatoo, which is now replaced with a dancing penguin:) he is estatic. before bed i took him outside to sit in my chair with me so i could show him my stars:) the moon is rising late these days and so it was not anywhere to be found. the sky was not yet black enough for the stars to be at full twinkle. hopefully before he leaves to go home we can get out there late enough to see them together. he high-fived pop pop goodnight and we had our bedtime ritual. i think he almost has octopus's garden down, because he corrected me tonight on it. score:) and now he is sacked out for what i hope is a loonngg sleep, considering the nap did not happen today. and mimi is a stickler for naptime. just sayin'.
mommy and daddy will be here tomorrow and so i will become second fiddle, but all in all i have enjoyed my time with him. we are trying our best to teach pop pop how to interact with him. you'd have to know pop pop to understand. having finally settled into the lifestyle of an empty nester, it has been sort of strange. well, i never thought i'd say those words. but it has. i am used to coming to my refuge here and having alllll of my time to myself. fishing....reading....lounging....quiet time....tv time....my...time. i haven't played in the surf and sand in ages. i have looked forward with great expectation to spending time here with my first grandchild (and can't wait for more:) i have thoroughly enjoyed it. it's brought back many precious memories of priceless days gone by. on monday the grand fox will leave for home. pop pop and i are thinking of extending our stay just a few days longer. then.... my time will begin:)
:) I liked this post. Your grandchildren (present and future) are so lucky to have you
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