Kinder-Orienteering and Rain Out

A changeup in the granddaughter occupation week took place yesterday, no swimming pools or zoo animals. We headed north so the BRS could attend her kindergarten orientation scheduled for yesterday afternoon. Her first day of kindergarten starts on Monday. The added benefit, other than seeing the ABFA and my son, we were returning with BR3 to complete the granddaughter occupation population. First we had to get there and despite the very liberal time frame allowed, I still had trouble herding all the cats into the car (those females with Panamanian blood – three of them!!!) for our trip.

Heading Home with All 3!

We reached our goal with a little bit of time to spare and stopped off at McDonalds for Happy Meals. For those of you who haven’t been in a Micky D’s lately, no one works the counter any more. You have to enter your order and pay on a large video board. Luckily, I had the FBR at my side to guide me through the process. It takes twice as long as telling somebody what you want but I guess this qualifies as progress. Yes, I’m old enough to qualify as a curmudgeon. Amazingly everything arrived as ordered although apparently the McDonald’s algorithms didn’t account heavily enough my granddaughters’ absolute need to over-ketchup everything.

Micky D Lunch

Cruising the Neighborhood

We finished up and arrived at the house to find the ABFA prepared to leave for the orientation, as soon as she finished deep hugging the daughter she had missed so much since we acquired her. The BRS returned from her orientation bubbling with excitement. She loves her soon to be teacher but the biggest exhilaration was due to a chance to board a school bus. Okay. My son returned and we left to pick up BR3 from day care. She had been telling her teachers all week that her grandpa was picking her up after I had told her that I would on the previous weekend when they dropped off the BRS. This confused the teachers each pick up, until yesterday. My son was soon roasting some dead animal flesh while the granddaughters attacked the back yard playground. The BRS and FBR took advantage of the pink Barbie car to cruise the neighborhood.

There was a minor meltdown when the BRS, accustomed to the previous few days of being the sole game in town for the FBR’s attention. She took exception with having to now share that attention with her sister.  That eventually resolved itself but it’s an added dynamic we have to keep an eye on. BR3 is oblivious to the drama and loves being around both sister and cousin. She’s liberally blessed with personality. We drove home after dinner in order to be back in time for bedtime. In a major surprise, no one fell asleep on the drive (other than abuela) so there was some faint hope they would all fall asleep on schedule. Seeing them all in the same room (realizing my Favorite Panamanian’s “granddaughter room” vision) was so cool.

Granddaughter Room at Full Capacity

Today was a long planned excursion to Davis Farmland, famous amongst the granddaughters for the animals and waterpark. Unfortunately, the weather decided otherwise with a huge rainstorm taking over the region overnight. Based on the weather reports we’d hoped to sneak in a half day but that wasn’t to be. Mid-morning, I went online and discovered the farmland was closed for the day due to the weather (yes, you see, I can function as a 21^st century grandparent at times). This, of course, left us with the dilemma of three very energetic young ladies who were looking to us for entertainment. A tall task. I’d looked askance at my Favorite Panamanian’s summer long spending spree in preparation for this granddaughter visit. Chief amongst my alarms were the abundance of craft supplies she/we acquired.

The Morning Hojaldra Chant

Trying to Get my Morning Ab Workout In

Hiding from the Monster

Those same supplies turned out to be a boon on this very rainy day. My wife transformed the garage into a bona fide craft room where the granddaughters spent the morning painting rocks, creating clay sculptures, and a play house. The house was constructed of the packing materials from our recent kitchen chair purchase with an overabundance of Styrofoam. My Favorite Panamanian had wisely instructed me to keep some when I wanted to dispose of them last week. The girls were delighted with the morning although their abuela was a bit tired by the time lunch rolled around. I took over for this afternoon and we went with a movie in the Man Cave, complete with popcorn while BR3 napped. They’re all up now and I’m playing referee between writing sentences. Life is good.

Abuela Craft Time

Painting Rocks

The Artistes

Sculpting

Using Some of their Parent's Childhood Creations as Examples

House Construction

Playing House

Three movies fell in my A-Z watch, two keepers and one not so much, Finding Neverland, when Depp still cared and acted; Firewall, didn’t realize how bad and contrived this was despite a-list cast; and First Men on the Moon, 1960s campy sci-fi, well remembered from childhood.

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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