Grandkid Time

Oma and Opa
"The Opi's"

July has been a Grand month—
grandkids have come from far and near to entertain the Opis.

Oma: Do you know how to work our remote?
Mack: Are you kidding? I'm a child of technology!

Oma: When I was little we didn't have a hair dryer, so I wore curlers to bed.
Lucy: Was that back in the '90's?

Opa: We'll leave at 8 o'clock a.m.
McKay: Uh-oh. That's not Oma's happy hour.

Actually, any hour with this group is my happy hour. They show me how to work an iPad and how to play Rock Band on the Wii, and I show them how to play jacks. (The age of technology meets the dark ages.) Here's the grand run-down:

An old-fashioned water park.

Sprinklers, squirt guns and wading pools.
(Notice the queue for the water slide.)

Followed by Heidi's homemade pies.


Cat's Cradle:

A loop of string captivated their attention,
for hours. Literally!

They watched each other until they caught on,
and then they partnered up.


A production of Bye, Bye Birdie
in the local park.

These girls invited me to the live performance. It's one of their favorite movies. Chelsea said, "I have all the songs on my iPod." Lucy said, "Her iPod doesn't even work." "But I still know all the songs," retorted Chelsea.

Halfway through the play Lucy said, "I thought Dick Van Dyke was supposed to be in this."

Clapping Games:

Like playing the banjo and whistling with my fingers,
this is a skill I've always wanted but never had.

But I remember all the chants:

Say, say oh playmate
Come out and play with me
And bring your dollies three
Climb up my apple tree
Slide down my rain barrel
Into my cellar door
And we'll be jolly friends
Forever more - more - shut the door!

Say, say oh playmate,
I cannot play with you.
My dolly has the flu,
Boohoo, hoohoo, hoo, hoo.
Ain't got no rain barrel,
Ain't got no cellar door.
But we'll be jolly friends,
Forever more, more, shut the door!

One of the grand responsibilities of grandparent-hood is passing on some old-fashioned traditions. You know, from the 90's.

Naptime:

We're going to try this in August.

P.S. All these activities happened because of our fabulous kids. The only thing I contributed was the string.