Thursday, July 28, 2016

A Few of His Favorite Things


Those "lazy hazy crazy days of summer" are correct in only one adjective...crazy.  There's been very little lazy or hazy around here which explains my infrequent blogging of late.  I have yet to share any UK photos but hopefully they will be coming soon.  Today though my focus in on little Fin-Man.

Fin's two favorites/loves/obsessions are Balls and Trucks.  The kid cannot get enough of either and as his grandmother, I spoil him rotten with both.  We must have 8-10 balls here that we play basketball/kickball with in the house and last weekend I bought him a new flap book on trucks, a wooden truck puzzle and a set of five small trucks.  He carried at least two trucks with him everywhere yesterday...to swim lesson, in the car, and even just from room to room.  He also insisted on dining with his new vehicles.




What I found the cutest though was that he insisted on watching truck cartoons while playing with his trucks.  We have four different remotes that run our big 60" TV and he knows exactly which one does the internet streaming for Amazon/Netflix.  He kept bringing me the Roku remote asking for "a truck, a truck."  He didn't get his way every time but we did watch a bit of both Mater's Tall Tales and The Stinky and Dirty Show.  :-)

Here's a little clip of him playing with his new toys.






As I mentioned, he also loves balls.  He has both a basketball hoop and soccer net at his house and they are two of his favorite things.  He's gotten quite good at shooting baskets, even using the backboard to make his shots.  The video is quite grainy but you get this gist.




His daddy also taught him how to say "Goal!" when he kicks his soccer ball into the net although he tends to be very optimistic and exclaim "Goal!" every time he makes contact with the ball.  LOL!!!


  


As you can see, he has TONS of energy so our days together tend to be non-stop.  He is at such a fun age though and we all look forward to his visits.





Tuesday, July 19, 2016

A Right of Passage


During my blog absence, this happened...




Yes, the grumpy girl seen here got her learner's permit.  Why the scowl? Because Mom dared to ask for a photo. *gasp* It's obvious from her permit photo that she knows how to smile pretty but apparently that courtesy is reserved for strangers.  (Living with teens is definitely not all rainbows, glitter and unicorns but moms with blogs do get their revenge.)

If you live in FL, there's no need to abandon the roads quite yet.  Much to her daddy's chagrin, she has no interest in driving just yet so the roadways are safe for now.



Saturday, July 9, 2016

Pride and Prejudice (with a little bit of Fin)


As I mentioned in my last post, I was home barely 24 hours when I left for my June bookclub meeting down south, spending the weekend with my girlfriend who coincidentally also just returned home from Europe.  (Hers was a trip to Switzerland and Italy)

Our club selection last month was Eligible, A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice.  I don't know about you, but I'd never read Jane Austen's classic and figured this was as good a time as any to do so.  I decided to read them both "in tandem", basically reading a few chapters of P&P followed by Eligible, followed by P&P, etc.  I returned home from Europe with less than 10% to read in both books, which I finished the night before our meeting.

To my surprise I actually really enjoyed Pride and Prejudice, much more so than the modern day version.  (Eligible was good, just not great.  And while it isn't necessary to know the original tale, I do think it adds to the story of Eligible.) Anyway...I am now on somewhat of a P&P kick.

My girlfriend and I rented the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice (with Kiera Knightly) and I have to say I was a bit disappointed.  The role of Darcy was totally miscast in my opinion.  A few days later I discovered an older PBS miniseries (1995) starring Colin Firth as Darcy and it is much, much better.  I haven't quite finished it yet but I'm already thinking about my next P&P movie. Any guesses?  Duh!  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  LOL!!!  I'll let ya know what I think.  :-)

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And because I know my mom is missing the little guy I'm including a short clip of our recent trip to what we locally refer to as "the fountains."  They are located in a beautiful riverside park (river as in the intracoastal waterway) that is less than 10 minutes away and absolutely free to the public.  I know we will be spending quite a bit of time there this summer.













Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Updates


Sorry for my longer than expected absence.  Europe was great and yes, we've been back for almost two weeks, but it's been one thing after another.  There have been some very hectic days (like leaving for the weekend the day after I returned), some Grandma days (missed that little guy like crazy) and some very lazy but much needed days.  I promise I'll share photos and stories later but for now let me share what we came home to...

As you may know, Meg turned 15 while in Europe which, while it will be memorable, did lack the usual party atmosphere.  You can imagine her delight when she returned home to this....




Unbeknowst to us, two of her very "best besties" snuck into her room a couple of hours before our return and gave her a birthday to remember.

Taped to her shutters were a loaf of Panera french bread and two plain bagels. You have no idea how thrilled she was especially after spending two weeks staring at Irish stew and really gross fish and chips.

What you can't see from the above photo though are the balloons...




And I do mean BALLOONS!  I don't think I've ever seen Meg smile as much as she did when she walked into her room that night.

I, on the other hand, came home to this...




Apparently going through the mail does not fall into Randy's department. ;-) Given that he had full time dog duty for 15 days, I certainly didn't hold it against him.

Curious as to what's there?  Felicity Jane is a scrapbook kit.  The two boxes below it were items for Fin...a faucet spout, a pop up dinosaur book and a hooded shark bath towel. The fourth box was Meg's yearbook.  They messed them up (gave them 15 pages of a Georgia high school...WTH???) so they were returned and rebound.  There were a couple of bills and the remainder was pretty much junk...some to be recycled, some to be shredded.

It was well after midnight when we walked in the door (5:00 AM by our European clocks which meant that we'd arrived home exactly 25 hours after waking up in our London hotel) so sleep came rather easily.  Friday was a quiet day of recuperation and then Saturday morning I was off to my girlfriend's for my Miami bookclub weekend.  More on that, other happenings, and of course, Europe in the next few posts.