In July of 2014, Shane and Alicia went on trek. That's quite an adventure. Mom/Margie and Dad/Lamar got grandparent duty, taking care of Shane and Alicia's three ... plus Taylee, because if you already have a few, what's one more?
Here's Mom's recap (email) ...
Mon. night Shane and Alicia picked up Taylee and we all had a good roast beast dinner. Taylee stayed for the first 2 nights. All the kids were very well behaved and had a fun time. Each morning after breakfast, we all went for an hour or so morning swim at the pool. We usually had it to ourselves and it is delightful that time of day when half of the pool is in the shade. After putting Calder to bed each night, Dad took the girls about 9:15 to a nighttime swim, with the underwater lights, until he closed it at 10 or so.
Dad took the kids fishing one day. It is the first time he has caught anything with the grandkids this year at that pond. They were little--about 3-4 inches, but still fun. Taylee got 6, Adria 2, and Rella 1. They put all 9 in a bucket of water and brought them home to our pond.
He took the 3 girls to All a Dollar and let them spend $2 each.
The 3 girls made jello, creating masterpiece parfaits with various layers of fruit.
Taylee got picked up Wednesday afternoon for a lesson she had scheduled.
Wednesday evening, Alicia's Dad and Julie picked up the three kids to give us a couple hours break and took them to hike around Silver Lake. They saw a moose about 15-20 feet away and other wildlife. Thurs. evening they picked them up again to spend two hours at Murray park. I packed them a picnic dinner since they were coming straight from work.
Dad and the girls did a bit of tennis yesterday, but it was sooo hot, they couldn't last long.
Not mentioned in the letter, but captured in the photo at top, are the girls with "Chip" man.
This was not the first time Grandpa had helped with such a creation.
Here's a glance back at little Keaton in 2007 with "Coin" man!
July was apparently quite the month for grandparent time. Earlier in the month, there was another email from Mom/Margie recounting time with the Jensen kids visiting ...
Rick and Jaiden and Josh are on their way home. We had a good time. It was nice to have just the 2 kids, to give them more one-on-one attention, without them having to compete with their siblings to be heard. Grandpa was a trooper. Fri. night he took them to Dicks Sporting Goods and bought 2 new fishing poles (since he only had one working one). Then he took them to the dollar store and gave them each $2 to spend. Then they went swimming from about 9:15 to 10. The stake president's daughter and friends were swimming and using glow sticks and gave them one.
This morning after breakfast, he took them fishing---Jaiden caught a duck on her fishing pole, when he took the bait! They got him released. No fish though! They wanted to work for money while here, but all their time was taken up with fun stuff. They are good ages, 8 and 10, and can get so thrilled and excited over small things---such as stopping at a park on the way and eating out at Carl Jr. All too soon, they will be older and not care about visiting grandparents any more.
Remember we are not great at instigating things, but will show the kids a good time while they are with us, while they are ages that still want to come (they had to pay their dad 40 tickets each to come).
Josh asked me this morning, "What do you and Grandpa DO when we're not here!"
Well, Josh, we just sit and stare at the walls--------we hope it doesn't really come to that some day!)
It reminded me of when Wendy was little and we had just paid the baby sitter and taken her home. Wendy said "Did you pay her money?" I said "Yes." Wendy: "Well, SHE should pay US, because she got to come here and have fun!"
One time when Kellen and Kemery were about 8 and 10 maybe and we were tending them...we were busy bottling peaches. I had them load peaches in the bottles, round side up, with a slotted spoon. I said, if you will just help us load this batch of bottles, then Grandpa will take you to play tennis. They enjoyed the canning so much, one said, "If we will go play tennis with Grandpa, then can we load some more bottles!" A reversal of which was work and which was the reward!
We've got to get these cute sayings put in our Dropbox Family History project before we forget them.
... there is a folder in Dropbox, but there's also a page on this blog that features many of the funny sayings and such over the years. Check out the Collection of Cute Quotes! If you have new ones you want added, include them in your family emails and I'll try to stick them in, or email them to me (Jen) directly.
Mom and Dad watched the Jensen kids again at the end of the month while Wendy and Rick celebrated their 20th anniversary, staying at the Anniversary Inn and seeing "Wicked". There was a big Red Robin gathering while they were there, meeting Shane&Alicia, D&D and Jen too (the rest of the Blackhams were in Seattle).
In Wendy's Jensen Journal blog post about their trip up, she wrote:
"My mom had invited Shane and Alicia's girls, Adria and Rella, to sleepover too so that the cousins could play together. She said that they got a little rambunctious! The kids must have played hard while we were gone because after we got home Jenna lay her head on the table and fell asleep!"
