Weekend in Shangri-La

Two Beautiful Ladies at First Friday

Where to begin? I’ve taken on a resolution that since it is clearly wasted time to try and write when my granddaughter is in residence I’m not going to even attempt. You are most welcome for the vacation from my deranged musings and I can evidently state that I had the best time not writing. The eighteen, no check that, nineteen month old dynamo responsible for those feelings seems to grow more fascinating with each meeting and that’s an almost impossible standard to meet.

Friday Gathered

The New Jersey contingent traveled up on Friday since they had a wedding in nearby Connecticut on Saturday. We were entrusted with the First Blog Reader until Sunday! We were also having a welcome to the USA party for the visiting Panamanians featuring many of the local chapter of the Panamanian Mafia on Saturday. My granddaughter has become an almost regular at First Friday this year. So much so that I chide my operations manager that she is absolutely dominating him in attendance at this important weekly event.

Monitoring Traffic with Abuela

They arrived exhausted and hungry from their trek through Connecticut’s typically delightful Friday afternoon traffic. I had food waiting for them as well as a couple adult beverages. My granddaughter immediately set about charming the assembled group and thankfully turned some of her gigawatt charisma towards her abuela. They monitored traffic along Shrewsbury Street where she proudly displayed her growing vocabulary (courtesy of Wingman) and associated sound effects for each type vehicle that drove by.

Deckzilla Puddle Jumping

Pizza night returned with a vengeance as the fun continued at home after First Friday. A passing rain shower left puddles across Deckzilla that simply had to be jumped in. There is something life affirming about jumping in puddles with a grandchild; a theory my wife fully explored. My wife and I decamped to the Man Cave so the New Jerseyites could have the Master Bedroom suite. I kind of like sleeping in the shadow of the big screen, my wife, not so much.

Sitting in a Rocking Chair we Bought for Her Mother

Saturday Morning on Deckzilla

Saturday dawned with the usual breakfast shenanigans with our granddaughter in residence. She eats her breakfast and then starts bogarting everybody else’s. Since she’s impossible to resist she ends up really well fed. Meanwhile my wife, feeling there is no off day too full that additional tasks cannot be shoe horned in, decreed that I had to plant her recently acquired plants and bulbs in the front yard gardens. This became even more fun when my Favorite Son pulled in with a present for his niece consisting of some age appropriate garden tools. I had a new assistant in the garden. She took it upon herself to fill in any hole I opened and it turned into a race to get the needed bulb into the hole before she had it filled in again. I finally figured out I had to dig the hole twice as deep as needed and then rush the bulb in before she finished filling. It was a lot more fun than it sounds and years from now I’ll be able to point out the perennials she helped plant to her.

My New Assistant Helping me in Gardens

My wife also wanted a new magnetized screen door established on the door out to Deckzilla. She noted my point that we already had a screen door and then directed I get it done before the party started. It turned out to be a pretty cool addition. The magnets keep the door sealed and you just push through and the magnets close it behind you. My granddaughter immediately took to it and we had a prolonged game of peek a boo which I considered more than adequate recompense for the labor involved.

Screen Door Fun

It turns out hosting a party while also watching a toddler can be a challenge. It had been so many years between iterations for us that we re-learned that valuable lesson. My granddaughter took to the party in no uncertain terms. My wife had filled a wading pool for her which she took up station with to play with two other kids at the party. She also had some new squeeze toys she discovered would squirt herself in the face. This was immensely entertaining for her and I became responsible for keeping them loaded. This had a deleterious effect on her party outfit which my wife advised me of after discovering our antics. She couldn’t help a sneaky smile though, kids are known to splash and it’s impossible to resist a certain nineteen month old smile.

Pool Time

One of the most obvious developments over the weekend was the bonding between my Favorite Son and his godchild. The ABFA was kept home by a bad cold and this allowed their niece to turn her powers upon my son unremittedly. She learned his name and would summarily summon him to her side if she was in need of entertainment. They mastered a stair descending routine that gave him a pretty good workout. It was gratifying to witness and made me think when I’m long gone my granddaughter will still have her uncle around to help.

Hanging with the Uncle

The Stair game

Too Much Fun

Wingman and my daughter have done an expert job with sleep training and despite their absence she went down without a fight at the appointed hour. Not wanting to tempt fate my wife and I stayed in the Man Cave again so we didn’t wake her up with a late night entry into our bedroom and other associated middle aged nocturnal needs. She slept through the night. After the party wound down we got to spend a cherished few hours with our Favorite Son in the Man Cave watching the Red Sox and a movie. This activity used to be routine but has fallen by the wayside with the march of time and his departure for marital state. He’s a lot of fun to hang out with, something my highly intelligent granddaughter definitely picked up on.

Stealing Some of Her Great Grandmother's Breakfast

Sunday morning was a repeat performance as my granddaughter’s food stealing habit fully manifested itself. She also formed a bond with Buddy over the weekend after he figured out she was a steady source of careless food drops. He was a little short with her when they first met but by the end of the weekend she was giving him long hugs and a couple of kisses we were too slow to prevent. It seems her charm extends to the animal kingdom as well.

Buddy Time

We spent most of Sunday out on Deckzilla as my mother in law produced a typical Panamanian dance outfit she had hand sewn for her great granddaughter. Suitably attired they started singing a Panamanian folk song and genetic kicked in and she was soon swaying to the tune like an expert (at least in this gringo’s opinion). Halfway through my wife reminded me to video the performance but I only caught the last, less energetic, twenty seconds. Facebooks friends can see the video which had everybody charmed beyond words.

The Dancing Queen

All too soon my son had to depart for ABFA land and he was followed in short order by the return of my granddaughter’s parents with their intentions of returning to New Jersey with their daughter. The pain was immediately and only assuaged knowing they’ll be back later this week for yet another wedding (gotta love June).

Mom's Back

We Don't Have to Leave Yet, do we Mom?
I've Just Finished Seizing Control

I devoted the better part of the afternoon to my first ever attempt with concrete construction. Our grill has been slowly sinking into the backyard mud beside Deckzilla and I assured my wife I was up to the task of creating a concrete pad for it. It was actually pretty easy after I jury rigged some spare wood into forms. Something arachnid bit me while I was salvaging gravel from under Deckzilla but other than that it went well. Stirring concrete however is not a lot of fun but you probably knew that already that.

First Ever Concrete Pad