This is the latest portrait of my FabGrandchildren, Michael and Sarah. Michael lives in Maryland at Andrews Air Force Base with their father and step-mother. Sarah lives in Seattle, Washington with their mother and step-father. Sarah came to Maryland for two weeks, then Michael flew with her to Seattle for two weeks. While they were together in Seattle, their mother, my ex-daughter-in-law, took them to have their picture taken. I must say that I think that photographer has a good sense of humor!
Grandsons
The Land Of Little Grandchildren…
A few days ago I promised more about my visit with the FabGrandchildren. I know you all have been chomping at the bit to hear all about it, and I apologize for the delay. I have been either working, sleeping, or goofing off since they left, so I haven’t had time to write.
One of the things I have been doing is playing games at Fandango. My diligence and persistence at these games paid off the day before yesterday because I won two tickets to the movie of my choice for having the all time high score on a word game called Suds (but that is another story).
Ok, where was I? Oh yes, the visit with FabGranddaughther, Sarah and the FabGrandson, Michael. They are the children of my son, Seth, who is in the Air Force. Sarah lives with her mother and stepfather in Seattle, Washington. Michael lives with his dad and stepmother in Washington, D.C.
Sarah flew from Seattle to Washington with a stopover in Cincinnati, Ohio. She said the flight attendants took very good care of her. She got to visit with the pilot in the cockpit before the plane took off. She said she made friends with two grownups who were sitting in the same row with her. This I believe because I do not think she has ever met a stranger!
After a day or two visiting with her dad and brother at their house at Andrews Air Force Base, they all came up to Gettysburg to spend a few days with us.
Michael roasting weiners at the campfire.
Seth brought his tent and other camping gear, but Sarah decided she wanted to sleep inside with me. We folded down the dining table to make it into a bed for her. She was delighted to have her very own “bable” to sleep on. We did all the regular camping things, like making s’mores, roasting marshmallows and wieners on a stick, fishing, and walking around the campground.
On our days off while they were here, we took them all to The Land of Little Horses.
Seth and at The Land of Little Horses
We have seen the signs for it since we got here in March, and every time I mentioned taking the grandchildren there, FabGrandpa harumphed and said, “That is so hokey! No way are they going to like doing something like that.” It costs $12 per person to get in the gate, another $2 for a pony ride, and another $1 for a cup of food to feed to the animals. What you get for your $12-$15 is wonderful! Even FabGrandpa had a good time. They have about 50 miniature horses, regular horses, a camel, llamas, an alpaca, some other exotic mammals, a full grown turkey, goats, peacocks, and I don’t know what all else. They have a show where the animals do tricks. Three horses danced, and another one could add, subtract, and multiply. A dog even played basketball. And Sarah got chosen from the audience to play basketball with him. If you ever go to Gettysburg, you really need to go there. What fun! Ever since we went there, every place we go is “The Land of Little…” whatevers.
We went to a farmers market and let the kids pick out their favorite berries. That night, Sarah helped me make strawberry shortcake for everyone. She put the little sponge cake things in the bowls, spooned on the berries, and tried to squirt the whipped cream out of the can but her little fingers just wouldn’t reach.
Another place we went was called The Round Barn. It is exactly what the name implies, a barn that is round. I have never seen a round barn before. It was a beautiful building in the heart of orchard country in southwestern Pennsylvania.
My daughter in law, Sarah, at the Round Barn
They had animals there too, which was a big hit with the kids. They got to pet a donkey, and saw a baby goat. Oh, and that bump is the mystery boy, Owen, the newest Fab Grandbaby, who will arrive sometime around the end of September.
They stayed with us for three nights and then had to go home. We had arranged to have four days off the next week, so we went down to Washington to spend that time at my son’s house. My daughter, Rebecca, was there, too. She came up from Norfolk for two days.
FabGrandpa, Michael, Sarah, and Aunt Rebecca at Seth’s house.
That Monday, we had told the children we were going to take them to the National Zoo, but it was 97 dgrees outside, and they had already seen a ton of animals, so we decided to take the Metro into Washington D.C. and go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. You know, the one with the dinosaur bones. Both kids loved that display. So did I. I have been to DC twice but had never been to that museum. They also loved the gem and mineral display. Michael collects crystals. There were some on display there that were bigger than he is. Oh, one of the things I did not realize is that all of the Smithsonian buildings and the National Zoo are free.
But out of all these things we did, the thing the kids enjoyed the most and talked about the most was riding on the Metro. It was like magic—both kids sitting perfectly still, silently looking out the window as the train rolled down the track. Every mother, and every FabGrandmother, should have a train!!
The last day I was at my son’s house, the Fabgranddaughter and I spent the afternoon making a scrapbook of all the things we did while she was here. I went to Wal-Mart and had them print out a lot of pictures, and bought some colored paper, sheet protectors, and a glue stick. I glued on tickets, brochures, and pictures, and she wrote about them on each page. It turned out to be a very nice memory book for her to treasure and remember her trip. As if she could forget ME!
p.s. I have a few more pictures I want to post, but my connection is very slow. I will add them tomorrow, I promise!
FabGrandpa’s Socks
I don’t know what it is with men and their socks. Jim always seems to be needing more socks, more often than I do at least. He says they lose their “springyness” and when they do, he does not like to wear them anymore. This is long before they look worn out to me, but because I love him so, I get him some more socks whenever he starts talking about the lack of spring, WHATEVER that means.
While we were at the sock store, better known as Target, I also got some socks for our new little man, who we are calling “Owen” for the time being, until his parents name him something else. Those cute little socks were just irresistable, almost as cute as I imagine the baby himself to be.
Jim is very excited about this new baby. The child has no blood relation to Jim at all, but the prospect of being “Poppa” is appealing to him. He loves all three of “our” grandchildren as much as I do. I would say “maybe more”, but I don’t see how that is possible. He loves to spend time with Spencer, Michael, and Sarah, and absolutely loves his role of grandfather. He is the FabGrandpa, no matter what anyone else thinks.
This is one of my favorite pictures of all time, Poppa with Michael, 1997.
Shopping With FabGrandma
My son Seth and his wife Sarah are expecting a new baby in September. As the Fabgrandma, I am so very excited about this addition to our family. They went a couple of weeks ago and had an ultrasound done, and found out that they are having a boy. So, while I was out shopping today, I decided to look at some baby things.
I found these cute little onesies for the amazingly low price of $2.88 each, so of course I bought a many as I could, hahaha. I think the little guy will look adorable no matter what he wears, but these things are too cute!
I especially liked this red one and the little shorts that match it. It reminds me of an outfit I had for my son when he was a baby.
This is a close-up pic of the little applique on the shorts. It says “Puppy Love”. I know it won’t just be puppy love for me when the new Mr. Owen P. gets here.
Michael Visits Gettysburg
My ten year old grandson, Michael, has lived in England for the last seven years. His Dad, my son, has been in the Air Force for thirteen years. They recently were transferred to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, which is the reason I am now living in Pennsylvania. Fabgrandpa and I looked for a job close to Andrews so that we could spend a little time with Michael.
Michael, his Dad and his step-mother, Sarah, came to visit us this week. We took him to Gettysburg to see the battlefields. The photo above shows him firing a cannon. The one below of him and his Dad was taken at Little Round Top, where he was reliving the battle, hiding behind the rocks while he reloaded his musket.We took him to play mini golf, and fishing in the lake here at the campground where we work. It was cold, but he never ran out of energy. He wore out four adults in the two days he was here. I was sad to see him leave, and can’t wait for him to come back. Wow, I finally get to be the FabGrandma!
Get a cup of coffe and a donut, this could take a while…
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This past week has been really busy for us. It started with Thankgiving. I cooked Thanksgiving Dinner for Fabgrandpa’s family. Well, most of it. I made Sunday Best Roaster chickens, dressing, gravy, butter peas, creamed corn and sweet potato casserole using Linda’s recipe. It was all good, and the other family women brought things too. Let’s just say it was “challenging” to pull this thing off.
Then, on Friday, we worked again for a half day. On Sunday, we went for a long drive around the mountains with Gary and Faye. They had never been to Brasstown Bald, the highest point in Georgia, so we drove up there. We were all excited about being able to take the shuttle to the top and being able to see 4 or 5 states from up there, but, no, the place was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday so we did not get to do it. But, the drive was nice and had a nice long afternoon to visit with our friends.
On Monday, we went down to Gainesville to file an unemployment claim. They said we would hear something from them in 14 business days, but to go ahead and file for the week until we heard from them one way or the other.
We worked a half day again in the morning on Tueday, then we decided we needed to go to the grocery store. We did that and spent a ton of $$, but now we have everything we need to eat like pigs for at least three weeks, maybe four. On the way home from the grocery store, Fabgrandpa’s mother called to tell us that his Dad was admitted to the hospital. They were at the doctor’s office and they sent him to the hospital in an ambulance. One of their friends took Nana to the hospital since she does not drive, so we headed down there to see what we could do for her and to wait with her until she was ready to go home. She decided to stay, so we went home.
On Wednesday morning, she called us and told us they had not found out what was wrong with Poppa yet, and would be doing more tests, so there was no need for us to come to the hospital, so we went ahead with our plans to go to Douglasville.
We went to Becky’s shop to get haircuts, which we both desperately needed. After the haircuts, I went to my mother’s and Fabgrandpa and Becky went to the mall to hang out and go to a movie.
I had a very good visit with my Mom. She was nice and sweet and we had a nice conversation. She gave me a ham sandwich and one of Linda’s mince meat cookie bars and didn’t say anything about me being fat or anything. She gave me some home made pound cake with chocolate fudge frosting and some apple butter to take home with me. It was a very nice afternoon. Dick and Donna came by and I got to finally meet her. She is very nice and I am glad he has found someone to love and to make him happy. He deserves that in his life. When I got ready to leave to go and meet Emily and Spencer, Mama hugged me tight. It felt good.
I met Emily and Spencer at a place called Monkey Joe’s. It is an indoor playground-party place. It is full of things to jump on, slide on, run around on, crawl through, etc… for kids. Spencer was running at top speed, like a short cute little bullet. He is very fast and seemed to never run out of energy. I felt a little bad for Emily, because every few minutes she had to run like a mad woman to catch Spencer jut before he snatched an ice cream or candy bar from the counter and ran away with it. I brought him two little turtles (toys) and a glow in the dark t-shirt from Unicoi State Park. He took an instant attachment to the turtles. He named them Ned and Ted.
From there, we went to Fabgrandpa’s favorite barbecue restaurant, Hudson’s Hickory House, for dinner. There was me and Fabgrandpa, Becky, Emily, Tommy, and Spencer. It was nice to sit down as a family together and eat dinner. (It was also nice to have my favorite bbq ribs! Yum!)
We left Douglasville about 6:30 pm and drove to Gainesville. We stopped at the hospital to pick Nana up and take her home. She announced that she was going to stay another night, and Poppa said if she did then he was going to sign himself out of the hospital. He said it very loudly and with a lot of expletive deleteds. She got
her feelings hurt, but I do understand that he did not want any company. He was still in pain, and they had filled him up with laxatives in preparation for a barium enema on Thursday, so he was not in the mood for company from anyone. We took her home and stayed with her a while, and finally got home around 11pm.
Thursday, we worked a half day again, then went to Nana’s house and stayed with her until Mike got there to spend the night with her. He is taking her to a doctor appointment today, then down to the hopsital in Gainesville to visit Poppa for a few minutes, before he brings home. He is supposed to call us if he decided not to spend the night again so one of us can go over there.
So, that has been our week, very hectic and busy, some fun, some not,
but life is like that. I hope all of you are doing well, and having
some fun along the way. I am waiting to hear from you all.
Seth and Sarah Got Married
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My son, Seth and his girlfriend, Sarah, got married on Friday, October 20 in England. My grandson, Michael was there at the ceremony, too. They have been planning this for some time. They had several of their friends there with them. They want to have another wedding cermony next year on the beach so all of our family can be there to celebrate with them.
I have not met Sarah yet, but she does seem to be an intelligent, loving woman. She is a good match for Seth, and is very good to my grandson. Michael likes her a lot and told me he was excited to have her as his new mother. They will be coming to the states in January to live in Maryland near Andrews Air Force Base, where Seth will be stationed next.
We are so happy he is coming home, he has been gone to England for six years. Michael has grown up there. Although he has been in England since he was four years old, he does not have a British accent at all, but he does speak with some very British sounding phrases. One day when I was talking to him on the phone I told him I had a crab cake sandwich for breakfast. He asked me if that was something like fish and chips!
Ten Years
Ten years ago on October 13, 1996, my grandson Michael was born. He celebrated his birthday this year in England with his Dad and step-mom, and six of his friends. I have never spent a birthday with him, because he has always been far away, but I try to call and talk to him each year on the day of his birthday.
When I spoke to him, he asked me if I would send him a map of Maryland, because he is moving there in January and wants to see what it looks like. So, since I AM the Fab Grandma, I drove up to the Maryland Welcome Center today and picked up a map and a ton of brochures to send him. He will read about the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the beach at Ocean City, and the ponies at Assateague Island. I hope I can take him to see those ponies next summer. Since I do not have a recent picture of him, I have posted the “self-portrait” he did for me when he was six.
Spencer’s mom, Emily, sent me this photo of him sliding at the fair. He always looks so full of energy When he started to school this year, he was getting in trouble a lot for kicking other students and taking away their toys. He has been doing a lot better lately. Emily says he only had one frowny face last week. He is learing Spanish in pre-K! Wow, they start foreign languages earlier and earlier now. I think we didn’t have a foreign language class until 10th grade when I was in school.
I have not heard from Sarah or her mother lately, but her mom is pregnant and having some difficulties, so it may be a while before I get any new pics. So, here is an old one: