Grant's First Letter "G"

At age 3 & 1/2....Well, actually, he drew his first one several weeks ago, but it just occured to me to document this monumental event. And the coolest thing was that he did it all on his own.

That thing below it is the letter "H". Clearly, we've gotta work on size control.

Camping

We got back last weekend from camping trip on the Natahala River in North Carolina. Well, our latest version of camping is in a 27 foot camper equipped with a full kitchen, shower, bathroom, couch, beds, and don't forget the TV (with satellite!)


Danny was covered up at work so Grant and I made the trip with my mom, dad, Erick, Angie, and the kids. Danny asked me what he was going to do over the weekend while we were gone. Not something you say to the woman of the house. I told him, quite simply, he could vacuum or do the laundry. He ended up doing both and dishes and he washed his car inside and out. Whoo hoo!




On Friday, we rafted the river just like old times. (I think I've been going since I was about 5 years old). Grant stayed behind with Nana. Rafting was pretty much uneventful with everyone managing to stay in the boat. However, it was Autumn and Peyton's first time. They had terror and tears in their eyes after the first set of rapids.



On Saturday, we found this place called Deep Creek. It's actually a very popular place for tubing. It was so cool. Like a natural lazy river. Grant stayed with my dad and the rest of the gang hiked 1.7 miles to the top and then took off on our tubes. We floated down for about an hour bouncing this way and that way, spinning and tumbling over the rapids. Grant got to ride with me for the last ten minutes. To quote him.... "This is fun, Mommy. I love this."


Seeing it through Grant's eyes, it was one of those moments when you're just present and nothing else maters. And for a moment, I was a 3 & 1/2 year old without a care in the world.

Gaga and Mother Mc

Pics from Christmas 2005

My Great Grandmother, Mother Mack, passed away this past Sunday. She was 96 years old. And up until this past year she was still able to live at home with some help. I am so grateful to have known her and to have had her in my life all of these years.

Danny's Grandfather, Gaga, passed away in April. He was a wonderful man, a slow talker, but always had something to say that would make you laugh or smile. He would always call me "Sweetheart" and Grant "Precious."

They will both be greatly missed.

In dealing with these recent losses, we've had to figure out how to talk to a 3 year old about death. The best advice I found was to keep it plain and simple for his age.

As I tried to prepare Grant, I explained.... Gaga was very, very sick and very very old. He died and he won't be with us anymore. I explained that people will crying because we are sad and will miss him very much.

The next day I reminded him again that people may be crying at the service. And-- in his own little way of letting me know he understood-- he replied, "I miss Gaga."

My heart melted.

Destin

We are already wanting to go back to the beach. We tried something different this year and headed to Destin with our good friends Sara and Brian and their little girl Addison. And what a great time we had!

The kids were up 6:00am the first morning so we were out on the beach by 8:15am. The remaining mornings were thankfully not so early. Here's how pretty much everyday was spent... Wake up. Eat breakfast. Get ready. Head to the beach. Sun, sand, ocean. Head to the pool. Sun, splash, swim. Condo for lunch. Nap for the kids and sometimes the adults. Head back to the pool or golf course. Get ready. Out to dinner. The guys hit the golf course one day and the girls did the outlet mall another. Drop in a few Corona's and a pina coloda here and there and that was pretty much it. Just the way we like it.



The kids got along GREAT! Grant would chant Addison's name... "Addsin, Addsin, Addsin." And Addison would copy what ever was saying or doing. Grant was still a little fearful of the ocean. But he would stay in it all day if we carried him in. Him and Addison loved riding in their "Big Blue Boat." They would purposely fall out of the float as we scampered to catch them. We'll always remember the story behind these hats.



We were even able to capture some great family photos. A little fruit snack bribery never hurts.