A Tornado Comes to Our House

Last Friday we were were able to have Jack spend the night at our house. We had dinner at Sean and Beckie's, and at the end of the meal, Jack was informed that he was going to spend the night at Gramma and Grampa's. His first reaction was "We better get going, it's getting late". As I was driving down the freeway to our house, we came to one of many exits to downtown St Paul. Jack pointed to the exit and said "That's the way to the hockey game." I was blown away because he was right! It was the exit to get to the arena where the St Paul Wild plays their games. How in the world did he know that? i called Beckie to tell her, and she said that Jack had attended a game one time last year, and he must have remembered.
What an observant and smart little guy.....and only 3!!!!!

We got to our house about 8PM, and by 8:30 every toy in the house had been unpacked and played with. We had talked about him taking a bath in the "big tub" ( a whirlpool in the master bath ) with his new tub toy ( a tug boat with a hook for towing ) and he wanted to take his bath then and there. I convinced him it was too late and we should wait until morning. That was a decision I would later regret.

At five AM Saturday morning, I heard a little voice saying " Grampa, it's time for my bath"
He spent about an hour in the tub playing tugboat captain rescuing stranded boats, and squirting grampa with a spray bottle. At least he got good and clean, thanks to gramma.

After a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, milk and an orange, Jack had to choose between going to CHOO-CHOO BOBS ( a local train store with train tables to play on and lots of model trains to watch ) and the Jackson Street train museum. He opted for the museum and when asked why he chose that, he responded " because it's closer to your house". Again he was right ( How does he know these things?) We spent a couple hours wandering through the old train cars, ringing bells, driving trains, and playing on the train tables. Then came the coup de grace : a ride on a real train. We left the museum with a happy little boy.

When we finally got home that evening, the remnants of Tornado Jack were obvious in our house, and Gramma and I went to bed tired, but with the satisfied feeling of grandparents who had been given the gift of spending time with a great little guy who brings joy into our lives and reminds us of how lucky we are to have 3 great grandkids. We are looking forward to having Wesley experience a night by himself at our house, and also Elise ( when she's a little older ). You get a different perspective of the kids when they are outside their normal boundaries and sibling interactions.

Teaching the Boys to Be "Garage Guys"

I spent last Saturday helping Sean build a workbench for their new garage. Of course both Jack and Wes wanted to be with Dad and Grampa to "help" with the project. Wes had to nap first, but Jack helped from the start. He quickly became bored watching Dad saw boards, so he started checking out all the tools that Grampa brought along. He was enamored with my clamps, level, and square, and particularly liked the screws and nails. Once he found out his plastic hammer and drill really didn't do the job though, he became frustrated and went outside to watch the neighbor girls ride their bikes. He tried his best to get their attention and talk to them, but typical of girls in a group, they did their best to ignore him. He finally set up his own workshop in the back of my SUV, and had a grand time filling the back with sawdust and tools. About that time, Wes was done with his nap and raced to the garage to join the guys, and the process started all over again. Elise was also watching the action, and particularly watching me very closely - until I began looking at her and talking to her. Then she immediately looked to her mom for a safe haven. When she thought I wasn't watching, she'd check me out closely, but as soon as I returned her stare, she did her best to ignore me. ( Sounds a lot like my life story with women!) All in all, it was a fun day, although I don't know if either of the boys showed an interest or proclivity to be a handyman. We did get a nice workbench built, however.