A Weekend with Our Favorite Kids!

Chris and Kelsey went to a marriage retreat, put on by their church, over the weekend, so Dan and I were honored with the "keeping of the kids."

On Saturday I took them to Spare Time, the bowling alley/laser tag/arcade facility near our house. Usually we do all sorts of "artsy-crafty" and outdoor activities when they are here, but I decided to try the arcade for a change of pace.

Playing PacMan.

Motorcycle racing.

We also went to the library, so they could check out some books for reading while they were here. Robert checked out 14 books on his own; Clara brought home four.

I set out all of the art supplies, and they spent a lot of time drawing, painting, using markers and crayons, and being thoroughly creative in other ways.

Maybe one of the most fun things they did was sort through Grandma's hotel samples. When Clara saw my huge collection, all tossed higgledy-piggledy into a big plastic bag, her organizing skills surfaced, and she was on it in a heartbeat. She directed the process of sorting and labeling zip lock bags to hold my soaps, shampoos, conditioners, lotions, face moisturizers, mouth wash, shower caps, make-up removers and other extraneous items. They each got a plastic bag of their own to fill with whatever they'd like to take home.  Organizing is high on Clara's list of talents. On other visits she's undertaken the tasks of organizing my cookie cutters, my measuring spoons/cups, and my dishes (she loves to sort my multi-colored Fiestaware dishes into rainbow order).

A couple of Robert's comments deserve to be recorded, so we won't forget them. The first one happened one evening, when he followed me into our master bathroom. I didn't realize it, but I think it was the first time he had ever been in that bathroom. He looked amazed when he saw my BIG bathtub. That's when he said to me, "I love coming to your house. Every time I come I see something new; it's like I'm here for the very first time." 

And, when we met up with Kelsey at the Subway in Somerville, so we could make the child-exchange, we had lunch there. Robert had been saying he wished he could stay at Grandma and Grandpa's longer. But when Clara mentioned playing with their RC cars when they got home, his eyes lit up. "See, " I said, "Getting back home is going to be great." To that he responded, "My RC car is only a piece of dust compared to YOU!"  Way to flatter a Grandma!