Gluten Free Fulltime RV Living Grandma
My grandson Michael will be 15 next week. As I was sitting here thinking about him tonight, I thought of this pic:
You can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friends' nose!
This was taken at the Atlanta Zoo when he was about 6 or 7 years old. I still love this photo!
On the day he was born
It seems like just yesterday he was born, but today he turns 4 years old:
Here are some of my favorite pics of Owen James:
Happy Birthday, Little Man. Granny loves you!
When we got to town yesterday, I had a shopping date with my daughter, Emily and my friend, Suzanne. We went to the mall so I could shop for boots and bras. Yeah, my two favorite things in the world to shop for. Not!
Last year, we went to a shoe store in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to buy our boots for the job. I bought Wolverines on the recommendation of someone who has worn them all their working life, and paid quite a bit for them. They were comfortable and fit the criteria of being brown polishable boots. But after only two months of wearing them on the job, they started coming apart at the seams. That left me to represent my employer in raveled, ugly boots.When I emailed Wolverine, they pretty much told me they were not going to do anything to help me, that I should expect some wear and tear on a pair of work boots. Well, yeah, but you would think that a pair of boots that cost over a hundred dollars would last more than two months. Even at the Grand Canyon. Especially since I am required to keep them polished and clean. So, sorry, Wolverine. You don’t get any more of my money.
Crafstman 6" Sport Boot
This year, I bought a pair of Craftsmen 6″ Sport Boots from Sears. They looked pretty good on me, were comfortable, and were on sale. I hope they last through the season. If they don’t, I hope that Sears will stand behind their product.
After spending half the day finding boots, it was time to shop for the dreaded undergarments. And you know what a hard time I have shopping for bras! I wanted to buy five new ones, but it seems that most of the women in this town wear the same size as me. With three of us searching, I could only find two bras in my size. Sad but true. At least I didn’t come away empty handed.
After the shopping trip, we all went to our favorite barbecue joint, Hudson’s. It was delicious as usual. I have to tell you about Suzanne. We met over 40 years ago when we were both working at Southern Bell. She was my first room mate when I moved out of my parents house. We kept in touch with each other for about 10 years but then lost each other as life went on. Then, a couple of years ago, we hooked up on Facebook. Yesterday was the first time we had seen each other in at least 30 years! It was really fun to see her again.
Suzanne, her husband, Bob, and me. She was my first room mate way back then.
My son in law Tommy and grandson, Spencer met us at the restaurant, too.
Emily and Spencer finishing up his homework
Spencer is like most other third graders I have known, and puts off doing his homework as long as possible. But because Emily is a teacher, she makes sure he does it. Here he is working on his homework while we waited to be served last night.
Emily, Spencer, and me
Our vacation started out with a drive to Birmingham to the VA Eye Clinic for FabGrandpa’s one week post-op check up. Everything looked fine–the doctor said to just keep using the eye drops until they were gone. After the check-up, we headed on over to Georgia.
We checked in at the Holiday Inn, our home away from home for the next week. Got settled in, then I went to pick up our granddaughter. We had a giggley spend the night party that night, with her telling us about her friends, her school, things she likes to do, and things she likes to eat. I think we got to sleep finally at around mid-night. 
Sarah playing on the Webkinz website on Fabgrandpa’s computer.
The next day, we got up early and met Aunt Emily and cousin Spencer for breakfast at the Cracker Barrel across the street from the motel:
Sarah and Spencer coloring at Cracker Barrel
After breakfast, we had a day of shopping at the mall. Because we don’t see her very often, we tend to spoil Sarah rotten when we do. We got her some new jeans, 3 new shirts, a new purse, and a new hoodie. Then we went to Aunt Becky’s beauty shop where we all got haircuts.
Sarah getting her hair shampooed by Becky
The afternoon was spent at Monkey Joe’s, an indoor playground in town. There are lots of things to jump on, lots of room to run and work off some energy.
The kids needed to be active, and the adults needed to rest. I was already exhausted by walking all over the mall.
Dinner that night was at Longhorn Steaks. Mmmm. FabGrandpa, Sarah, and I were joined by Emily and her husband, Tommy, Spencer, and Becky. Just about the time desert was served, my son, Seth, called and said he was almost to the motel. So, we all hurried up so we could get back over there.
That’s my son, Seth–he is in the Air Force and lives in Maryland. The last time we saw them, we were working in Gettysburg, about 100 miles from where he lives. Owen was only two months old then.
He is now a rambunctious two year old. He is so sweet and cuddly, so much fun to be with.
Michael is now a teenager, (YIKES! I have a teenaged grandson? how the heck did that happen?)
We stayed up again, until past midnight, talking and catching up and just being with our kids. We slept late on Sunday, then the kids took the grandkids to the aquarium in Atlanta, while FabGrandpa and I went to meet Becky’s future in-laws.
I did not take pictures of Rafe’s parents, but I can tell you we had a pleasant visit. We met them at O’Charley’s for lunch, then headed over to Rafe’s house, where Becky will be living after they get married next year. His parents are very nice people, we liked them very much. And the house has a nice guest room, where FabGrandpa and I can stay when we are in town. I teased Rafe that it was big enough for a “mother-in-law” suite–it really is, but I don’t really expect to live with them.
We went back to the motel, where we met up with Seth, and his family. Then we all went over to my Mom’s for a short visit. I was ready to drop when we got back to the motel, so I went to bed “sort of” early, about 10 p.m. to get rested up for the next day.
…to be continued…
These little people are the ones who make me FabGrandma. They are all the loves of my life, after FabGrandpa and my own children, who just happen to be their parents. I am always amazed at how much they have grown since the last time I saw them, although I shouldn’t be since it has been two years since I saw my son’s children.
But this time, I saw more than physical growth. They had each grown in maturity in ways that I had not noticed before. Spencer, the little guy on the left in the yellow shirt, was diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome in October. Because we now know what it is that makes him different and unique, we as parents and grandparents have been better able to help him understand why he has tics and why other children sometimes find that scary. He is doing lots better at being able to interact with others, and because of that he is doing better in school. Yay, Spencer!
The last time we saw Owen, he was just two months old. So, yes, seeing a physical growth was expected. That he was able to call me and FabGrandpa by name by the end of the week was awesome. He knows several songs, like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and The Wheels On The Bus, and proudly sang them for us.
Sarah is an amazing artist. She can draw very awesome pictures in just a couple of minutes. She told me she knows she wants to go to college, either at the University of Kentucky or at Harvard. She made the Honor Roll at her school this semester and is in the Beta Club. I was really impressed with her when we went out to eat. She made very good choices from the menu, and ate what she ordered. The day we went to Longhorn Steaks, she ordered the chicken tenders with steamed veggies and ate every bit of it. At the Thai food place, she ordered sweet and sour chicken. The waiter tried to talk her out of it, but she said “I’ll just stick with the sweet and sour chicken, thank you.” She ate all of it.
Michael, the oldest grandchild, also made the Honor Roll. I was really proud of him for that, because he was expelled from school when he was 10 for his behaviour, and was home schooled for more than two years. He only went back to public school after Thanksgiving, so for him to make the Honor Roll was a really big deal. He was a good helper, too. On the day they left, we were all sitting in the lobby of the motel. His father gave him a key to the room, and told him to get a cart and bring their luggage down. Michael went up, loaded the cart, and brought it down all by himself. This was a big improvement over two years ago, when anything we asked him to do was met with him throwing a fit.
I am proud of all the FabGrandchildren, and I love them all so much!
I didn’t make anything this week, because I was on vacation, but wanted to brag about my grandchildren. Thanks for stopping by.
