Farming it Out

Tonight makes the last night with the entire brood of granddaughters in residence as the BRS and BR3 will be redeployed tomorrow by the ABFA. This is ahead of their first day of school on Monday. The FBR will remain in-house to continue to challenge any authority she feels is inadequate to address her activities. It’s been a busy week, and I believe I can speak with a certain level of confidence that both my Favorite Panamanian and I are looking forward to a break in the action afforded by all three cooperating at creating chaos at the same time making us love them more every day. I didn’t think that was even possible but they’ve accomplished it.

At the Farmland

Wednesday was a long overdue rainy day and prevented us from any outdoor adventures. The granddaughters decided that made it a perfect day to camp out. Fortunately they chose the upstairs hallway as the location for their camp. When the activity ran its course, they devised a new one called Queen and Princesses. This involved yet another raid on their abuela’s closet to secure the requisite wardrobe and, of course, shoes. The FBR was appointed queen while the BRS and BR3 served as princesses of the realm. My Favorite Panamanian was designated as the royal stylist. I was named the morning cook (fame is fleeting). My selection is a result of preparing a breakfast of the only three things I am trusted with for the feeding of children: bacon, corn muffins, and cinnamon rolls. All three granddaughters are renowned bacon thieves which has me employing additional security measures when my breakfast makes it to the table. We filled the rest of Wednesday with a trip to the cinema to see an animated movie, The Bad Guys 2. The granddaughters were perfectly behaved for the entire movie which was a welcome change from prior performances (they really are growing up).

Hallway Campsite

Rainy Movie Date

Queen and Her Princesses

They Require a Mountain of Shoes

Thursday involved a road trip to my son and ABFA’s home. The BRS and BR3 had their classroom orientation which required their attendance. We had the usual “pleasant” experience on I-495 and made better than expected time. This occasioned another of what BR3 is rapidly becoming famous for, one of her one-liners. Since we were ahead of the schedule, I pulled into the first rest stop in New Hampshire. We were only a few minutes from our destination but I wanted to make this one of the few arrivals where I’m not rushing to bathroom before greeting anyone (prostateless effect). Announcing someone is going to the rest room always results in BR3’s default reaction - to claim she also has to go. When she made the claim, I asked her if she could hold it for ten minutes because we would be at her home then. She said she could. As I parked the car and started to dismount, she loudly asked, “Grampa, can’t you hold it for ten minutes?”. Both my wife and I descended into laughter (not a welcome result considering my mission there). BR3 is destined to become the family comedienne.

Abuela Created T-Shirts

Friday was a perfect summer day which freed us up for another of our annual events of Grampa and Abuela Summer Camp – a trip to David Farmland. Apparently most of central New England had the same idea. I’ve never seen that many people there. We had to park across the street and wait twenty minutes in line just to get in.  Once that was accomplished, fully armed with animal food cups, the granddaughters descended on the animal enclosures. The goats were extremely happy to see them. BR3 had to face up to one of her singular catastrophes of last year’s visit when the David Farmland Attack Chicken chased her onto a chair. She has spent the last year preparing herself. She sought out the chicken roost, and made a point of patting a chicken not fast enough to escape. I was very proud of her. She was probably sick of hearing about the very funny episode from last year.

Farmland Arrival

The goats have perfected their technique and instead of sticking their mouths into the cup, one bit the edge of the cup and wrestled it away from BR3. The older granddaughters were better prepared. We spent a long time with the goats with both the FBR and BRS with baby goats in their laps. BR3 discovered a fascination with the cow station that offered a tutorial on milking (the kid loves her milk). My Favorite Panamanian pointedly avoided the snake house where all three granddaughters got to pat a boa constrictor. We eventually convinced them they had to eat lunch and immersed ourselves in the Farmland cafeteria which is always an interesting experience. This was followed by a trip to the nearby playground and the bounce pad. My wife opined following a meal with a bounce house is not a great idea. The kids overruled her and were soon bouncing for all they were worth. The heat eventually got to them and I mistakenly pointed out to my wife that no one had hurled (when will I learn).

BR3 Practicing her Milking

The Famous Chicken Pat

The Boa

Watch Where You Step

Bounce Time

The heat was a perfect reason to head over to the expanded splash pad. My wife and I set up at a covered picnic table and released the brood into the wide variety of water emitting devices. All three granddaughters refer to David Farmland as the “bubble place”. Shortly after we arrived at the splash pad all three were covered in bubbles from the suds station. After nearly an hour there, BR3 came back and said she wanted to check out an adjacent playground. This was part of the improvement, and I had no idea what was back there. She and I set out where we discovered a real treasure. She was soon scooting around on a mini-bike like device. After that we wandered back into the tree line, where she spotted a large slide which riders use a burlap sack to slide down. She was in love. After a few rides we walked back to where we could see the FBR and BRS and summoned them to join the fun. I safely sat in the shade while they repeatedly climbed the hill to slide down. After a while I noticed BR3 wasn’t using a sack anymore and was sliding on her bathing suit bottom next to her sister and giggling the whole way down. We left an hour before the park closed to miss out on the massive exodus the crowd promised. I rewarded them with the requisite stop at a nearby ice cream emporium.

Hill Slide

Scooter

Bubble Time

Sign of a Busy Day

Ice Cream Reward

Today, the scheduled event was a return to the Leicester pool we hit earlier in the week. Our hostess was celebrating her birthday. The Czechs were also there along with the Neighborhood Mafiosos and a representative group of the Mafia. My Czech Shadow once again assumer her role as the den-mother for the three granddaughters, who all worship her. The granddaughters had hopes of coaxing me into the pool again. Those hopes were dashed almost immediately when all three loudly proclaimed that the water was freezing. This included the BRS who is renowned for her immunity to cold temperatures. That was all I needed to know and despite some pointed comments from my Shadow, I remained safely dry and warm. The kids, despite the cold, kept going back into the pool.  It was a very nice afternoon spent with friends celebrating the birthday of our fabulous hostess.

Cold Pool

Shadow with her Crew

Czech Friend Helping at Dinner Time

Mafia Gathered, Birthday Girl front Right

Hula Hooping on Lawn

Girls Surrounded by Czechs

Wife Dancing with Birthday Girl

Cake Time

Granddaughters Helping with Candles

Four movies fell in the A-Z watch, three keepers and one ejection: Saving Private Ryan – conceivably he best war movie ever made; The Score – DeNiro and Norton chewing up the scenery, Brando’s last film; The Scorpion King – hasn’t aged well, just too silly to keep; and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – awesome action comedy with incredible cast in early roles.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------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 her single days in Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); 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; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course