It's Girls Week - Elena and Malea Visit - Days 5&6

Thursday - We are on day 5 and it is time to play at home.  Ket;s start out with  some play time.  After loading my fingers with toys -- Malea wants to do the same.  Meanwhile, Elena has found a puzzle to work on.  The last time she was here she had to have help doing it but not this time.  It takes her about a half an hour but she does it all by herself then comes to show us.  Awesome.

Elena wants to make some cookies and Grandpa has selected oatmeal raisin so let's get to work.  Malea and I are staying in jammies -- isn't that best?  I let her do the mixing of each stage and then voila -- we have a dough.  Using bar stools as mini tables lets her work on placing her cookies on the baking sheets without me freaking out that she will fall of the step stool.  It's a win-win.  She works very hard to make them all the same size as Malea and I just sit back and watch.

They are ready to go into the oven and soon the house smells oh so good.  Waiting is the hardest part.  She turns on the light and both girls snuggle down to watch them bake.  I grab Malea and go off to get us both dressed.  We are going to go to the craft store when the cookies are finished.  It's time for some creativity today.

Guess what?  They are finished and don't they look awesome?  She did a great job.  After she gets a second batch ready and into the oven, Grandpa gets his treats hand delivered and then the girls get to have their reward as well.  I would show Malea, but she didn't like hers and I was too busy cleaning her up to take a picture.



We opt to give Grandpa a small break so I take both girls to JoAnn's with me.  Oh man is that a mistake.  The minute I put Malea into the cart she goes ballistic and refuses to calm down.  I remain steadfast and feel sorry for the other customers in the store but after about 10 minutes, she finally quiets down.  My my, what a temper.  Actually when we rounded a corner and another child around her age was sitting quietly in a cart watching her, she stopped screaming.  Hmmm.  Perhaps this isn't so bad after all.  Elena picks out a little tea set to paint and a night light to decorate while Malea gets a sticker book and a mask/fan to color.  We are set.  Time to go.  Once home, the tea set is chosen to be the first project and Mister and I set to covering the area as the box says "paint is permanent" -- really?  On a child's project.  Goodness.   Malea is off to bed and Missy is painting away.  The house is quiet.  Nice.

For the afternoon romp we have chosen a playground and are on our way when Malea spots one out the car window and starts saying, "slide, slide, slide" over and over.  I tell Grandpa and he turns around.  It is indeed a park with a playground and one that we have not been to before.  Good eye Malea.  It is starting to get warm out but we stay for almost an hour and the girls have bright red cheeks by the time we depart.

I have a phone conversation with Jen and when I hang up, I look over at Mister and see this.  Silly Grandpa.

It is time to go as the girls are all played out.  I laugh as Malea says, "bye slide" as we walk away.  So cute.

As we are driving back to the house, I spot two very large birds on top of a home and ask Mister to stop and see what they are.  We turn around and park so that I can get out and take a picture or two.  We think they are turkey vultures -- this is only a few blocks from our house.  Interesting.

As we are going into the house, I spot this on the pavement.  I missed it yesterday.  Love it.  Time to start dinner, baths, and down time.  Another day is in the books.

Friday - The Arboretum is our destination this morning and we want to be there when it opens so everyone is busy preparing for that.  Today is picture day.  Gotta get these shots in when we can and let's hope we have willing participants.  This entry will be mostly about the pictures until further down.  Enjoy the photo shoot with us.  Please click on the shots to enlarge them as I cannot make them all full size.  We start out with a fantastic series of Elena -- yay!

And this last one - oh my does this show personality or what?

We move to another spot and try again - let's add a sister.  We can't do Malea alone as she sees Elena and moves towards her -- never any distance between them.  We only get Elena alone when we hold Malea.

Here is the series taken on the rock wall:

And this last one --- ah - so sweet.

From here we move over to the Magnolia Glade and let the girls wander around while Mister and I each have a camera and catch as many moments as we can.

"I did it." Said after she crossed the rocks in the stream.

It doesn't take long before Malea just goes right into the water.

Giving us this series:

And oops

We take a snack and bathroom break before continuing on.   The restroom is near the rose garden and Elena stops to "smell the roses along the way."  Perfect.

When we return, Malea's good humor has vanished and she now wants her blanket.  I would prefer that we don't drag it around the gardens, but she wins and soon has it in hand.

Now for some fun --- there is a petting zoo and face painting today in the meadow so off we go.  Malea loves the bunny and stays with it most of the time.  Elena makes the rounds and then is ready for face painting.  I tell Grandpa where we are going as neither of us is interested in even attempting to get Malea's face painted.  Goodness no.  He stays at the petting zoo and we cross the lawn towards the face painting booth.  It only takes her a few seconds to choose what she wants and since there isn't a line, she hops right up and settles in.  Five minutes later -- yep he is THAT quick -- we are on our way back to Grandpa.  It appears that Malea has been let loose and is on her way to us at the same time.

Oh -- and the painted face of course.

Our time here is coming to an end so we take the shady path towards the exit.

The misters come on just as we are walking through, making the whole area a giant cloud of fog.  The girls climb up onto a bench to check it out and I love the backdrop.  However, this is one instance where the camera just doesn't do justice to how beautiful it really was.  Ah, the eyes are just still supreme.

One last snack break and we are on our way.  Mister goes back quick to snap one shot of the flowering tobacco that we have been keeping an eye on the past few week.  I certainly didn't expect this type of flower.  Love it.  It has been a great morning here, but time to go home.  We need a good lunch and some naps today.

Speaking of naps, Malea wants Grandpa to lay with her.  As he does, she will look at him and then lay back and make a snoring noise.  She will then say, "sleep Grandpa."  It is so funny and they will lay there for quite awhile before she tires of the game.

Malea wakes before Elena today so I get some fun time with her to color her mask.

I think she does a pretty dang good job.  We work together on it and as I color an area, she colors over it.  For some reason her half is no longer interesting to her.  Why is that?

Miss Elena wakes and wants to do her butterfly night light so all the protective supplies are brought back out and the painting commences.  Grandpa helps and she soon has a cute night light to replace her flashlight at home.  Somehow neither of us gets a picture of the finished light though.  Grr.

I had promised the girls that if they were good today we would go for ice cream after dinner and thus a promise made must be kept.

We end our day at Sonic with ice cream cones and wonderful mess.  It's a good thing we have bathing on the agenda tonight.  Time to scrub that face clean Elena.  It has been another wonderful day in Grandparenting Land.  I do so love this time.

It's Girls Week - Elena and Malea Visit - Days 3&4

Tuesday - Ugh -- we are starting out the day with Malea not feeling so well.  She has a fever and is not the least bit happy.  All she wants to do is have her blanket and sleep so I am letting her do just that.  Grandpa takes Elena down to the coffee shop for a hot chocolate and then to the store to pick up some groceries.  Elena spends some time on both levels of the coffee shop thoroughly enjoying her treat.  When they finish -- they are off to the store where Elena gets to make most of the selections and then they walk back home.  I hear a knock at the back door and see Mister with many bags in his hands and a granddaughter on his shoulders.  Apparently someone felt it was too far to walk.

Grandpa takes over with the listening and I am able to go out to the studio and finish the quilting on Bob's graduation quilt.  I am definitely running out of days on this one.

Once I am back in the house, Mister and Elena head outside to water the plants.  She fills containers from the rain barrel and then gives everything a drink.  It is now time for a hairdo.  This is becoming a tradition that Elena and Grandpa have.  Each time she visits, she does his hair and he sits oh so patiently while she works.  This time there were many moments of laughter as she tried different styles.  Malea wakes and crawls into Grandpa's lap as well.  Choice moment.

The rest of our day is spent playing quietly and everyone has an early bedtime as we are going to the zoo tomorrow morning.  Whew.

Wednesday - It is a nice day and we are off bright and early arriving at the zoo just as it is opening.  Our first stop is the penguins, per Elena's request.  We score as they are actually out and swimming -- almost never happens.

The next spot is with the mandrills where I know there is a baby.  Will we get to see him?  Looking, looking . . . I think mama has him with her.  Am i right?  Yep.  He is snuggled in with her and as we watch, she moves around quite a bit with him clinging to her belly.  So fun.  First two stops and we scored.  Well, actually as we were on our way to the penguins, we passed the lemurs and they were out as well.  We were even privy to a shouting match by them.

Onto the Savannah.  The giraffes must be fed.  It is here that we hit our first stumbling block.  They will not eat -- won't even come close to us.  After trying for about 10 minutes, we decide to check out some other things and then come back later.  There is a predator talk about to begin so we settle in to hear all about the cheetahs.  When the trainers finish, we walk through the gorilla area and come face to face with one.  The path winds around through various areas and we exit right near the new encounter stage where a Mama duck and her ducklings parade right past me.

There is a presentation is already in progress with a Ball Python (the same kind Cassie used to have) and Elena is not the least bit concerned with touching it.  Way to go girl.  Once the presentation ends, we decide to stay and wait for another.  Fifteen minutes later, the trainer returns and has an interesting specimen.  It is a Madagascar Cockroach.  Ick.  Again, Elena gives it a touch -- she is way braver than I this go round.  She also has a hedgehog to share and this one I do touch although somehow manage to miss a picture moment.  Time to move on.

Let's go see if the giraffe will eat before we leave this section of the zoo.  Oh wait -- must stop and get pictures taken on the elephants.  "I can't believe you almost forgot Gammy."

There is a school group near who would also like pictures, but Malea has laid claim to the baby elephant and does not wish to get off.  Period.  Once I get her down and point out some real elephants across the way, she heads that way, but is really not very happy with me about it.

As we walk back towards the giraffes, it looks like they have switched from the lettuce that we have to crackers.  The keeper switches them out and SUCCESS!

I asked where we should go next and Mister whispers that he would like to see the koalas.  Well alrighty then -- Elena is also interested in the kangaroos.  We arrive at the outback and not only is the koala awake and active, but so are the roos.  Awesome.

Neither of those events occur very often.  Next stop?  Elena wants to do the underground as her last request so off to the children's zoo we go.  While Elena and Mister head for the underground -- Malea is all over getting to the slide as quick as she can.

When Elena returns, she wants to go and see the farm animals and fish so even though Malea is not happy about leaving the  slide, we head that way.

The girls have fun with the goats and in no time have pet and loved all of them.  They are brushed and loved to death.  Mister tries to get as many pictures as possible but has a slight problem.  The goats are not at all happy with him sitting there and they keep head butting him while he tries to photograph the girls.

A quick stop with the fish and we are on our way.

The final stop --- the carousel.  Two good little girls have waited for this ride and are both excited to climb on.  What a difference in Malea from the last time she was here.  This time -- she loves it.

It is time to return home.  I am hungry and tired and don't think I am the only one.  We sing songs all the way home to keep people from falling asleep -- have some lunch -- and EVERYONE rests.  Woohoo -- fun morning.



It is so nice out today and I remember that I have a whole package of sidewalk chalk.  Mister makes some drinks and we settle in out on the back patio while the girls play on the driveway.  Drawings ensue and soon Mister is helping.  I am not sure just how Elena manages to cover her jeans with chalk, but she sure does a good job of it.

After a few minutes, Grandpa goes and finds a box in the garage.  After cutting windows and giving them a door --- creativity sets in.  In no time the girls are busy with their house.

It is a great way to play for the afternoon and soon it is time for dinner, baths, and bed.  Elena gets a full movie tonight and she is so stoked.  I, on the other hand, am ready for bed.  This nine o'clock bedtime could get habit forming.