Monday, October 18, 2010

Vacationing With the Kids

We rolled out of Garland, October 8th, Friday morning, with stars in our eyes and happy expectations. My daughter Lacey moved to the outside of Kansas City in the little town of Oak Grove in May with her husband, James, and my two grandsons, Patrick, 7 and Elijah, his second birthday in two days on the 11th. After nine hours on the road and taking the short cut James suggested, (let me interrupt here for a moment. The shortcut may be nice in the daylight but by the time we got there it was dark and the road was very curvy, hilly, and a quite scary.) So around 9 p.m. we arrived very worn out after nine hours on the road. My arthritic knees along with various other body parts do not fair well cramped in one position for long periods of time. Still, thrilled to see our little extended family for we had not seen them since July.

Patrick, with a touch of ADHD seemed more calm than usual but Elijah, the baby, had already hit the terrible twos before his second birthday. The little stinker talks like crazy but his most favorite word is "NO!" Lacey and James are handling his independence well. Much like I did with my son when he was around two. Give him what he wants to keep him happy. Not saying I was always right, just easier. The girls now understand why we always gave in to their Bubba. Both have been guilty as charged.

Eli, or Jujah as he calls himself, is very competitive and loves every sport that utilizes a ball. Maybe even the ones that don't. If there is one. I'm sure when he's old enough to play competitively, he will not allow anyone to get, have, keep or touch the ball/puck, meaning he will either win every game or get kicked out.

Patrick, or Bubba as Eli calls him, will always be Grandmommy's sweetie. He can be a perfectionist and upsets easily but Grandmommy can always get him back to his happy self. (Later, we spent a lot of time in the Spa having fun with Patrick stealing all the bubbles. He loves the water just like me and we spent much of the trip wrinkled like little old ladies. I say this in jest because I am NOT a little old lady nor am I wrinkled like one. Yet.)

After we arrived, we talked for a while and played with the kiddos before bedding down for the night at Lace's house, I took the couch and Mike made do in the recliner. Not bad for one night only. The next morning, we hopped up, okay, some of us creaked up slowly, and headed out for a four hour drive to Branson to stay at our vacation club resort for a few days. James was able to get off work Saturday so the kids followed us down there. Patrick couldn't miss school and James' work needed him for a job on Monday, so they could only stay one night. We had to cram a lot of fun into those two days together.

(stay tuned for more details to follow)