Opining Online

My granddaughter, Issie, just had the perfect birthday celebration for a princess-obsessed 3 year old.

First, getting to spend three days at an amusement park with the undivided attention of both parents is pretty awesome. What child wouldn’t be having fun? Add to that the attentiveness and playfulness of the Disney character actors.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the adventure:

I thought it was pretty awesome that she wore her Halloween Cinderella dress on one day. I wish I could have done that! I plan to ask her to wear it and tell me Cinderella’s story when I visit next month.

Her favorite rides were the Tea Cups and the Ferris Wheel. I never liked the Ferris Wheel because I didn’t like getting stopped on top during the loading and unloading. This one had a cage, not like the old (ancient?) ones I remember, so maybe it would be better. But I always loved Tea Cup rides.

And it’s such fun to see how much she’s grown On her first birthday, wearing the cake was more fun than eating it!

An impending wedding! Congratulations to Althouse and Meade.

An impending birth! Congratulations to Talina and N. Do not worry about not having the perfect nursery setup. My father tells me that his youngest stepsister did fine with a dresser drawer as bassinet. It’s the love that matters.

Interpret the data for yourself, but to me it says that older folks who majored in the humanities know more about the fox and the grapes than anyone else. Now, before you start thinking that older folks who majored in the humanities are smarter than anyone else, consider that the grapes might have been sour.

I won’t even pluck my eyebrows.

Obviously, I have missed more, but this is where my attention span ends.

Members of the Texas Poms pose with my granddaughter Isabelle at a Phoenix Texas Exes party prior to the Fiesta Bowl, which Texas won 24-21 over Ohio State.  

Could it be simply the ability to play?

My father, age 85:

My father, age 85

My granddaughter, age 18 months.

So it took me a few days instead of just one to recover from our decision to drive home without stopping. My dear husband and I are too old for that.

The best part of the trip was my grandchildren. This is the first time we’ve ever had all four of them together and it was awesome. The best part of the grandchildren part was the birth of #4 happening while we were there.

Baby Addie, as she’s called by her big brothers, was born Aug 1, 2008. In this photo she’s about 3 1/2 hours old. For those of you who haven’t had the pleasure, I’m here to tell you that there’s nothing quite comparable to cradling a sleepy and content newborn in your arms.

My goal was to get a photograph of all four grandchildren together. That never got off the ground because it was hard enough getting the older three in the same room at the same time, much less facing the camera.

Here’s Addie’s big brother, Janson, waiting for his Papa to throw the ball to the sky. He’s 19 months old and quite a rambunctious character.

Addie’s bigger brother, Aidan, is really more interested in monsters and superheroes than baseball, but I think he’s got potential. If becoming a superhero or baseball star doesn’t work out, he’s got considerable heavy equipment operating experience to fall back on. He’s a first rate wielder of crayons too.

Their cousin, 18 month old Isabelle, was totally uncooperative in having Nonna get a nice still shot of her that day. Too many new toys, too many new cousins and way too much to do. This shot of her is a couple of days later at a picnic in the mountains.

In a later post, I’ll have several more pictures of this location. It is the first place I lived as a child that I have actual memories of.

Go check this one out.

Rarely do you find a photo that says so much. Let’s analyze it on the basis of the differences between male and female. Or perhaps on the differences between the sacrifices of the spouse staying in the U.S. and the one serving in a war zone. Or on the artistic merits of how much our feet say about us and our situation. Or maybe, just enjoy and appreciate. 

Grandparents, since they aren’t usually with their little angels 24/7 get to enjoy all the moods. In response to Grandchildren Are Angels, I’m posting these happy and sweet photos of my granddaughter, because while they don’t make me laugh as much as the other one, they portray her as she is 99 and 44/100% of the time and they make me smile, sometimes bring a tear to my eye.

She’s got big brown eyes and knows how to use them. She can be silly. She works hard, plays hard and loves to read her books. Sometimes she has bad hair days, which could be genetic.

Next month I get have her all to myself, all by myself for three days. I reserve the right to change any and/or all my opinions.

In August we’re visiting our other three grandchildren (the youngest will be born just before we get there) and for the first time I’ll have all of them together. Be prepared to be inundated with cute photos.

The vet’s best guess is that Jack was born near the end of November, so that makes him about 5 months old now. He weighs 40 lbs. and is energetically curious.

Here he is after a round of rough-housing and touring the yard finding all sorts of things we didn’t know were there.

I’m feeling sort of the same way about the Democratic primary.