Goat Patting and Decompress

Coming down from our first time alone with all three granddaughters which was a confirmed high point of the year. BR3 joined us Friday for a three day stay, joining the FBR and BRS. There were some road bumps as the BRS had to adjust to having to share the FBR’s focus with her younger sister. That could have been a problem on Friday when our planned trip to Davis Farmland was rained out but the girls were true champs rallying around their abuela’s garage craft-a-palooza. All three mornings saw the day start with energetically voiced chants for hojaldras which their abuela graciously provided. I served more as a landing pad for the charge of the wakeup brigade.

All 3 Garbed up with their Camp T-Shirts

Straight to the Goats

BR3 Likes Fake Cow Better than Goats

Cow Feeding

The rain finally broke on Saturday and instead of heading to the Polish Festival in town, as planned, we diverted to David Farmland. The granddaughters were excited to replace their canceled Friday plans. It turned out the late summer Saturday was a good time to go as the crowds were less than we experienced the last couple years during a weekday. We bought the obligatory cups of animal feed at the entrance but BR3 quickly disabused us of the notion she was going to endanger her hand by actually feeding the insistent goats, or anything else for that matter.

Bird Enclosure

Goat in the Lap

Brushing the Calf

The FBR and BRS more than made up for her reluctance, much to the resident goats’ delight. I hung back with BR3 while the two older granddaughters ran from goat to goat. BR3 liked to get close enough to appreciate but not necessarily touch. I think the camel was a little insulted when she ignored it though. She finally broke through when she had the opportunity to join the other two combing some calves. It took some effort but I made no jokes about the cute calf’s future as steaks. There was a final stop at the “baby goat in the lap” enclosure before hitting the petting house. The FBR decided she wanted to adopt one of the kittens, luckily her parents were safely in Oslo, Norway.

Lunch Time

Into the Suds

Waiting in line for Slide

They're Out There Somewhere

After a quick lunch we made a bee line to the water park section, stopping only to bestow the remaining goat food. This was used to distract the granddaughters from the large tortoises engaged in carnal activities on the other side of the walkway (things you see on a farm). The water park was the anticipated high point of the day. My Favorite Panamanian and I took turns in following the gals as they wound their way through the suds machine, the slide, the slip and slide, and the various waterfalls. It was a great day which we topped off with an ice cream stop which induced the predictable brain freeze for all involved.

The Grandpa Warming Station

And More Suds

Ice Cream!

And Brain Freeze

Sunday was pack up day as my son was coming to extract his two for a return home ahead of the BRS’ Monday kindergarten debut (which was every bit as cute as anticipated). The granddaughters behaved perfectly at church although the expression “herding cats” leapt to mind a couple times. They had a very nice surprise waiting them as we returned home following church. Great Aunt had driven up to spend the day with her nieces. The FRB was very soon in charge of Great Aunt’s I-phone sending silly texts to her parents. My Favorite Panamanian was decisively engaged all day getting the two departing granddaughter’s accoutrement assembled and separated from the FBR’s as well as preparing a truly fantastic pork roast dinner. She also guided the granddaughters though painting some of the pottery they created on Friday.

BRS First Day of Kindergarten Today!

FBR Reading to her Cousins

Great Aunt Surprises the Kids

Painting Pottery

My Son Arrives to Daughter Tackles

My son, still recovering from a guys’ Saturday night at his house, arrived and sadly had to leave with his daughters. All of a sudden, the decibel level in the house dropped dramatically. The FBR was very pensive as she admitted she really missed having her cousins around. I told her that her grandparents would try our best. In a truly rare moment, the FBR volunteered to help me dismantle the garage house since all of the Styrofoam needed to be in rubbish bags for Monday morning. I thought I could be in for a late morning today but the FBR tried to make up for the lack of her cousins with an especially effective dive onto my sleeping back at 7am. Still, I’m going to miss those wakeup calls.

Random Selfie that I Found on my Phone

Finished first 1/3

A momentous occasion in my A-Z watch as I finished the last movie in the first section  of the movie library. Only took me a little over a year to get 1/3 of the way through the main set of shelves. Three movies fell in my A-Z watch, all keepers, A Fish Called Wanda, forgot how spectacularly beautiful Jamie Lee was and that Otto character; Flash Gordon, camp sci fi raised to dizzying heights;  and Fly Away Home, cute story but the final flying scene with music always steals my heart.

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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; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him 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 3^rd 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; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; 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