Double Trouble? Or Twice as Nice?

Well I think I am home for awhile now. A week after returning from Florida I flew off to Minneapolis to help Bob with the twins while Gretchen accompanied her band to New York. I hope the kids appreciate how great it is to have such a teacher. Not only is this a lot of extra work for her which she doesn't have to do, it meant leaving her babies for the first time for an extended length of time. As much as moms need a break, such a long one so early in their lives is difficult. My hat is off to her both as a mom and as a dedicated teacher.

Babysitting these children is not as much work as it seems. They continued to go to daycare so as not to upset their routine as well as to make grandma's life easier. The fact, is they genuinely enjoy their second home and were happy to be deposited there each morning and not necessarily thrilled to leave each evening.

When I had them alone, they are easy to entertain and very good at entertaining themselves. They seem to fuss only when they are hungry or tired which occurs at regular intervals. But those needs are easily satisfied. In fact, by evening bedtime it seems as if they are actually asking to go to bed.

Getting them both up and down the stairs together started out to be my biggest challenge until I discovered that Jacob loves climbing the stairs by himself and Robbie is certainly capable of it when prodded a little. We found it great fun making a race out of it.

Mealtime is a great time to bond with children as I have found with other grandsons. We tried a few new things with them. The best was chocolate pudding. You haven't lived until you watch a one year old trying to eat it with his hands. Jake doesn't get nearly as messy as he allows himself to be spoon fed thereby getting much more pleasure out of the whole experience. The same went for ice cream.

Most of all, these children are just a blessing to behold and there is no greater comfort than when either one of them decides you are good enough to cuddle them.

It was a great time for me as during their all too brief visit to Florida we had just started to become pals. I truly believe that we are now bound as good buddies. I was second to daddy and almost even with their daycare teacher Christy. Of course, by the time Mommy returned home, I am sure no one else could take her place for a long time.

Now I Have Responsibilities?

Well we have been home now for about 5 days and they have been 5 of the busiest so far in 2011.

Actually it has been more like the busiest 8 days. We first stopped in Atlanta for a short visit on our way back to the North Pole. It is hard to believe that one week ago today I was Jamming with Drew on guitars. Two days with that little family are guaranteed to be fun-packed and on the go. Drew has gotten to know his Grammy and Pa and has become so much fun to interact with. Ollie is okay with us especially when his parents are not around to rescue him. It is so easy to get him giggling and his belly laugh is contagious. and of course we had to party a little in "Pa's bus".

The minute we hit Woodridge our feet were on the move. First, when we unhooked our tow car, the power steering was gone. The shop had an opening for repairs if we could get their in 30 min. So with the first load of laundry going we headed out to drop it off, leaving us with one car to run errands. I needed to do certain things to prepare for our starting day golf league meeting, we needed to vote for village officials, and we needed to get back to Bertha to empty out 4 months of our accumulated "stuff.

Our wonderful friends started calling to check on our progress home and it was so heart-warming to hear that they were all thrilled that we had returned.

Our winter roomie and niece Lindsay, had purchased her own home while we were gone and we were honored to accompany her on her final walk through and closing. Closing on a house has become a lot more complicated that the last closing we were involved in 30 years ago. It was a little scary watching her sign that huge check and negotiate that huge mortgage. Our experience in house buying suddenly seemed like we dealt with such small numbers.

So between helping Lindsay prepare her place for move in I did two weeks of laundry and attempted to put away 4 months of living stuff. We also took some time off for Date Night at St. Scholastica which was a great way to renew a few relationships with our homeland friends. O and, of course, I found time to get in 18 holes of golf.

Well I have two days now to get reorganized before I take off on Wednesday for Minneapolis to help Bob manage the twins and the household while Gretchen is away with her band. These guys make babysitting so easy these days as the boys will go to day care for most of the day leaving grandma to shop, cook, and pamper herself a little.

Addendum from Fort DeSoto

After a winter of stellar weather and very little rain the skies opened up in St. Petersburg the last couple days we were there we were hit with all the bad weather pent up for the past 4 months. On our last day, we were hungry for some activity. Don checked the hourly weather forecast on aol (second only to Tom Skilling for accuracy, right?) and decided it would not rain until 1 PM. So about 10:30 am we went out for about a 1 hour bike ride. (Kind of like the 3 hour cruise of Gilligans Island). When we arrived at the farthest most point on the island from our campsite, the sea was raging with the oncoming storm which had already left a lot of wind and tornado damage behind just to the north of us in the early am. It looked like dark skies were definitely headed our way, but Don kept reminding me it was not going to rain until 1:00. Well after we decided it might be coming a little sooner, we took off for home at the same time the wind kicked up and the torrential downpour started with a little hail thrown in for fun. The good news was that the wind was at our backs. As we approached the visitor center where we would have to turn into the wind, we decided to take shelter.

So we were welcomed in by the two rangers on duty and watched their computer radar until it looked like maybe the worst was passed. One of the rangers offered to throw our bikes into her truck and drive us back, but I am married to the nicest man in the world and he would never dream of putting them out like that and especially messing up her truck with our soaking wet clothes. We also remembered about now that we had left our windows open.

Well we needed to get moving so out into the tropical storm we ventured. Thank God there was no lightning threatening us at this time. The problem was that now the wind and rain were pelting us broadside and as we rode over a bridge crossing  a small inlet, I was praying that the sharks had enough sense to get in out of the rain before I was swept away into the ocean.

Unbelievably, we made it back that last mile with a lot of "Hail Marys" under my breath. We spent the next hour wringing ourselves out and mopping up our house. The storm continued with the same ferocity way past 1PM and into the night nonstop.