Great fun with the grand-kids!

My grandchildren from Virginia were here for a few days. We packed a lot of fun into a short period of time. On Friday evening, we had to have dinner at Arni's, a local pizza legend. Whenever someone moves away, Arni's is the place they head first on a return visit. We shared salads and the ever popular Arni's Junior Salad. I'm sure no one left hungry.

Saturday morning, we went to visit Target. Ben is four, and it's his favorite place to shop. On my last visit out east, I asked if he would come to the airport to get me, and he said, "Sure . . . it's close to Target!" Lucky for us, they had some Pokemon toys on sale for half-price, so I asked my daughter-in-law if he could have two of them . . . she always just shakes her head, and smiles, and says, "Nana . . . ." She stretches out Nana so long, one would think it has 42 letters instead of just four! I don't want to be in time-out, so I always ask, and follow her directions. Lucky for me, she consented in this case!

Next stop was the auction to see Grandpa at work. It was mind-boggling to 8-year-old Addison, who couldn't sort out the Auctioneer's gibberish. He finally had to walk outside the building, because he found it rather irritating.

We had some lunch at home, and then went to Wolf Park. This was the weekend of their big fundraiser, when the wolves are given watermelons with have been filled with other treats. It was fascinating to watch them pick up the watermelon and cart it off away from the other wolves. This was also the first time they had ever given watermelon to the bison, filled with corn. They were mostly unimpressed, but one of the herd of about a dozen seemed to figure it out and enjoy it. We also took our other grandson, Drew, along, so he could spend some time with his cousins. I gave him my digital camera and he took some really wonderful pictures of the wolves and bison. He seems to have a natural eye for framing his subject.

Grandpa came home from the auction with a box full of costume jewelry for our granddaughter, which was a big hit. She spent most of the evening sorting and untangling the pieces she wanted to keep or share with friends. Some of the pieces were probably high dollar items when they were purchased originally, and had received good care. Needless to say, Grandpa was a very popular person.

We also gave Elise a Featherweight machine for her recent birthday. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to sew. But, I did teach her to do counted thread cross stitch, and she was immediately in love with it. I have a stash of kits that I got on sale, and she picked out one of vegetables. It didn't take her long to catch on and ask about half stitches. As they piled in the car yesterday to head back to Virginia, she was beginning to teach Addison with a dinosaur kit. I promised to find her some other kits, and some books and magazines . . . fortunately, I believe I have a reasonable . . . or DH would say unreasonable . . . stash of all!

I had picked up a card game packed in a little tin lunch box called, Peanut Butter and Jelly. The object was to make three sandwiches before your opponent. I'm sorry to report that I lost all four World Championships to Addison. I seemed to spend most of my time with the big rubber fly on my sandwich, or watching the ant cards take components from my alternate effort. Addison, who remains undefeated, took the game home to teach Ben . . . I don't see a lot of victories in my future.

The World Championship of Frisbee tricks was won by Ben. The score was four infinities, one bazillion, to 12. I suspect one of my weakneses was in letting the four-year-old competition keep score. I was not the only competitor to lose to this champion, however. He also defeated his Uncle Casey, and his dad, Kyle, with similar scoring.

There were several wiffle ball games played in the back yard, and a new variation called, "Calvin Ball" which relates to the Calvin and Hobbes cartoons. This was mostly because Addison's hair needs a trim, and made him appear to resemble a Calvin look-alike from spending a lot of time in the pool this summer. There was a lot of laughing, giggling, falling down, and general good fun. It was wonderful to hear laughing children's voices all weekend, and see them playing in the yard.