What are we gonna do without the kids?

July 7, 2011 | My Jottings

We’re just now getting used to the absence of the pitter-patter of little (and humongous) feet skipping (and tromping) through the house. Last week we watched three grandchildren for six days. Now that we’re back to normal and only have six people and two dogs in the house, we’re not sure what to do with ourselves.

Our daughter Sharon and her husband Chris flew to Cordova, Alaska for a few days of yarn-filled activities. If you want to read about it over the next few days, visit her blog here. While they were off yarning and hiking in the rain and kayaking on Prince William Sound, I thought it would be nice to do one special thing per day with the kids, and I took a couple of pictures.

All of our grandchildren associate me with geese and ducks. I’m not sure if this is solely because I have taken each of them to feed these big birds at a local cemetery pond, or there’s a more unpleasant reason. I’ve decided not to ask. We stopped to buy two loaves of bread and then drove to the cemetery and parked under some trees.

Below you can see Mr. McBoy (age 9), Mrs. Nisky (almost 7) and Li’l Gleegirl (age 4) standing on the edge of one of the ponds, watching the birds approach.

We stopped to buy Dunn Brothers smoothies first, and after feeding the geese and ducks every last crumb of bread we brought, we sat in the car to finish our drinks. Mr. McBoy had mango, Michael had Wildberry, and Mrs. Nisky, Li’l Gleegirl and I had strawberry.

McBoy was in need of a summer haircut so I texted his parents in Alaska to ask if he could go to the barbershop with Grandpa and get it cut very short. With the only directive being “Yes, but he can’t have a mullet cut,” he and Grandpa set out to a small, local barbershop owned by an elderly man. This is what Mr. McBoy looked like when the clippers stopped buzzing and the cape was taken off:

I think he looks adorable. The older I get the less I like long hair on boys or men. I don’t know if that’s a recessive Sooter gene that mutates to dominance after the age of fifty or what. Whenever Michael goes for a haircut I always put in my two cents and vote for a buzz cut.

We also took the kids to the Timber Twister, which is one of my favorite things to do. Here’s Mr. McBoy getting ready to fly down the mountain.

After receiving instructions from the attendant, McBoy moved forward in the line, ready to take his turn. There are good brakes on these little cars but he wasn’t planning on using his.

There he goes…..

What do two excited little girls look like when they realize they have to wait ten minutes before riding on the Timber Twister?

Like this:

While the McKids were with us, we also went down to a pebbly little beach on Lake Superior and let them throw rocks and explore. One day some of us saw “Cars 2” and some of us saw “Mr. Popper’s Penguins.” Another day we did a little shopping. We played Farkle, Monopoly, Bananagrams, Yahtzee, and Rush Hour. On my iPad we played Angry Birds and Sudoku. Mrs. Nisky learned to roller skate and the three of them played Jarts in the back yard. They read books on the hammock, they colored in new coloring books, finger-knitted, and played Twister. They built with Legos, Magformers, and Lincoln Logs.

We went to Dairy Queen one evening and everyone got a Blizzard, which put smiles on sweet faces.

As much fun as the games and outings were, one of the things all three of the children begged often to do was this:

They were all very excited to see their mama and daddy when they returned from Alaska. After they left, Sara helped me clean up and put toys away, and after a while we realized how quiet it seemed. I looked at Michael and said, “What are we gonna do without the kids?”

I never did hear his answer, because before I knew it I was headed upstairs for a good night’s sleep, even though it wasn’t dark yet.

Comments

  1. Sharon says:

    Awww… what sweet pictures! The ones of them on the treadmill are so cute. Thank you again for watching them!

  2. Just Julie says:

    What did we ever do without them? Wait – don’t answer that. You know what I mean. 🙂

  3. Ganeida says:

    lol We joke that Lid is going to Chile to work with the street kids & orphans but what’ll happen is she’ll send ’em home to mum’n’dad to *watch*. Good thing Chile’s so far away!

  4. Just Julie says:

    And if any Chilean children come to be “watched” at your house, they will get a fantastic education!

  5. Ember says:

    Loved this post 🙂 Missed you over the last few days – but now I feel like I’ve been with you! x

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