Our
week-long adventure with our two oldest granddaughters draws to a close tomorrow
when we are being forced by my Favorite Son and the ABFA to return the BRS to
their care. I think we’ve done ourselves proud this week filling the days with
activities. I know I’m fairly exhausted if that’s any indicator. We culminated the
week with the short drive to the Davis Farmland which is a local treasure. It
is a farm loaded with animals to pat, ponies to ride, trampolines to soar with,
and a water park featuring a bubble machine. There didn’t seem to be cool
places like this when I was a kid, although I’ll always have Benson’s Animal
Farm.
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| Two Very Excited Granddaughters |
I’ve
relearned another lesson this week about kid-oriented entertainment. They
firmly attach a vacuum cleaner to your wallet when you enter and it sucks full
blast during the entire time you’re there. Hearing the joy filled laughter of
the granddaughters make whatever we paid this week more than worth the
financial drain. Today was a great example. I stood in line at the pony ride
while my Favorite Panamanian had the granddaughters on the nearby trampolines
and bounce house.
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| Granddaughter Mounted Element |
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| BRS Leading Off |
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| Followed by FBR |
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| Ably Assisted |
When
the very cute pony ride attendants (wait wasn’t that onerous) finally realized they
needed to deploy two ponies instead of one, the line finally moved and the
BRS/FBR returned from their soaring to mount up. It was a short ride but they
both seemed to relish the opportunity. After purchasing a couple cups of
animal food we descended on the goats. This was followed by sheep, chickens,
more goats, peacocks, ducks, geese, more goats, a camel, alligator, some baby
goats, calves, a large steer, and, you got it, more goats. There were a lot of
goat enclosures, in case you missed that.
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| Goats |
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| Goats |
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| More Goats |
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| And Still More |
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| Large Friendly Cow |
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| BRS Holding, Yep, Another Goat |
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| Meeting the Calves |
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| And Grooming Them |
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| Bunny! |
We
then came to a conundrum. The girls wore their bathing suits under their
clothes in anticipation of the splash pad part of the excursion. They were
headed towards that place, spotted in the distance, when they overheard another
young girl talking about holding kittens. I was charged with locating this
exhibit and we made our way there where we could hold the aforementioned felines,
rabbits, and even a ferret. The petting session concluded and we finally
arrived at the splash pad. I thought both granddaughters would explode with
excitement.
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| To The Splash Pad |
My
Favorite Panamanian and I set up at a picnic table for lunch and released the granddaughters
into the wild. They soon discovered the bubble machine which covered them in
suds which could then be washed off in the dozens of fountains on the splash
pad. There was also a dash down a padded runway and then sliding; along with an
inflated slide which the soggy kids could slide into the padded walls with abandon.
Our granddaughters were in their element. The FBR proclaimed this as the best ‘Granddaughter
Day ever” but she is prone to hyperbole.
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| Quick Break for Lunch |
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| Then Back to the Suds |
One
movie fell in my A-Z effort, a marginal keeper, Assassins Creed (passable
action in the ancient milieu and kept because I have a huge crush on Marion
Cotillard).
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RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete - my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Curbside Girls – close friends of my
daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions
once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite
Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR
- First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since
high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited
with after many years; Maine and
Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my
wife is the 3rd musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and
Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood
Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of
my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin
Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we
have lived & their spouses; Pittsburgh
College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in
Pittsburgh; Riggins - also known as
the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather
- my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my
son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s
mom, of course
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