Day 10: William's Story

One night at bedtime when Andy was two-years-old, I told him that we would go to the park the next day. He was so happy as he anticipated the park outing that I made up a little story for him about a boy I called Willy, I even titled the story "Willy Goes to the Park". After that, Andy frequently would request a "Willy story" and I would make one up for him on a number of different subjects and activities that "Willy" did. Andy still has memories of his custom made stories, and since he has a little boy named William, today I'm going to tell a William story... because I'm certain that Willy's name was really William too.

 William Rides the Train

Once there was a little boy named William who was five-years-old. One day William's Grandma came to his house. They were going to have a Grandma Day together. William had a big smile on his face and said, "hi Grandma" when she arrived. They said good-by to William's mommy and brothers and they drove to the train station. William LOVES trains.

William waited patiently for the train to come. When the train arrived he held Grandma's hand so that he would be safe. William and Grandma climbed the stairs so that they could sit on the top floor of the train. They were high above everything as the train flew down the tracks. They saw houses and animals and cars and even Lagoon. William told Grandma, "that's my Lagoon."

When the train stopped William and Grandma went into the train museum. William had been there before so he led Grandma all around. At the train museum there are real train cars. William climbed up on the different cars. One car was a 2002 Olympics car. Grandma took William's picture there. William's mommy was a volunteer at the 2002 Olympics.

William and Grandma played with a wooden toy train on a wooden track. William knew how to share because he said, "here's your train Grandma" as he placed four train cars in front of her. Grandma and William each led their trains around the track being careful not to have a collision.

 Soon it was time for William and Grandma to go back to the train and return home. When they got home William told Grandma "thank you", and Grandma told William, "thanks for coming with me and showing me the train museum." They had a fun day together.

Day 4: A Date With Mason

This week I got to enjoy a "Grandma Day" with Mason!! We had so much fun together golfing at Cherry Hill... Mason won of course (remember me and sports). We also enjoyed lunch and shopping.

Mason loves Lego's and Star Wars (and he's the biggest BYU fan I know); he told me that on his recent trip to Yellowstone he got a t-shirt that says, may the forest be with you. "Did you get it Grandma?" he asked, "forest instead of force?"  He is so smart. I laughed so hard and told him that Grandpa Bear would love it!

He chose a 'prize' while we were shopping, but what made me so happy was that he wanted a prize for his little brother too.

One of the very best blessings of having children... is getting grandchildren.

Disney On Ice

I was the lucky recipient of four free tickets to Disney On Ice. My cousin was the winner of a contest and was kind enough to share his tickets with me for a Grandma Day! It turned out to be a Grandma/Aunt Lesley Day as I took Mason, Avery, and my neice Rebecca. The four of us had a fabulous time. Thanks so much Bob and Alana!!

Adam and Zach

Since school was out last Monday, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to have a "Grandma Day" with Adam and Zach. We tried someplace we'd never been on a Grandma Day before... Boondocks!!! We started out with bowling (our traditional winter Grandma Day activity), it was going rather nicely when all of a sudden the screen on our lane (and the lane next to us) stopped working. The workers tried unsuccessfully to get it fixed but it just didn't happen, so... he gave each of us a $10 card to play arcade games. Woot, woot!!! We really had a lot of fun. When we were finished my grandsons had successfully procured 293 tickets to turn in for prizes. We. Love. Prizes.

As we drove away I asked them if they thought they would still want to have Grandma Days when they were older. They both assured me that they would . Whew!!

Then Adam said, "I hope we can enjoy it for as long as possible."

That's what Grandma likes to hear.

mimicking Aunt Caitlin's "bickering stepsisters" scene from "Cinderella"

I think the "pose" after the "bickering" was their favorite part from "Cinderella"

Princess Avery

Last Saturday Miss Avery and I had our first "official" Grandma Day; we went to see Caitlin perform in the BHS production of "Cinderella". Before the show started we attended a princess party. Avery got to meet Cinderella and the Prince and have her picture taken with them, she then got to make a photo frame for the picture. She also got to color, she learned to dance and curtsy like a princess and enjoyed eating a royal cupcake... it was a magical day for sure.

Grandma Day With Mason

Today Mason and I had a "Grandma Day", and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it from start to finish. When we got in the car I explained to him that we needed to stop at the bank, Mason said, "I like a succor Grandma, a blue one." I think Mason has been to the bank before.

During the time that we spent together, every time that Mason addressed me he either started or finished his sentence with, "Grandma." It was so cute. We went to the pet store and saw fish, assorted mice and rats, and... birds. We went to the bookstore and then we went to Arctic Circle. He played in the play area with a cute little brother and sister, at one point the little girl pointed at me and I could hear Mason say to her, "that's my Grandma." When it was time to leave and we were just about to get in the car Mason wanted to go back inside and "hug goodbye", so we went back in and Mason went up to the little girl (no bigger than him) and gently put his arms around her.

I think that my favorite moment of all was as we were driving back to Mason's house, I started singing a song that I have sung to all of my grandchildren, "A Happy Family." First we sang about Grandpa, then Mommy, and Daddy, Baby Tanner, Aunt Rose... at that point I stopped singing, then I heard a little voice coming from the back seat say, "more" so I sang about Avery, then the little voice said again, "more." So we sang about William, Adam, Zachary, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Melissa, Uncle Andy, Aunt Kristin, and Ashleigh... each time I sang a verse his sweet little voice said, "more."

I love "Grandma Days" and I love being a Grandma... it's the best!!

Hooray For Grandma Day!!

1 Grandma + 2 handsome Grandsons + happy meals at McDonalds + bowling + arcade games + shopping + 1 new Batman shirt + 1 new Spiderman shirt = a FUN day!!! (and a worn out Grandma)

Grandma (and Grandpa) Day At The Zoo

As I mentioned in a previous post we decided that next Grandma day we would go to the zoo. Grandpa thought that sounded fun too so he asked if we could go on a Wednesday (his day off). We thought a Wednesday in the middle of March the zoo would be empty. Wrong!!! As we approached the parking lot we quickly realized that it was full to over flowing with cars; and Mothers, Fathers, children, babies, strollers, coolers and every other supply needed by a family spending the day at the zoo was descending upon the front gate. That is where we saw the sign "welcome home school families", 2500 people were there to share our day with us. Regardless of the crowds it was a fun day. I was impressed with Adam's knowledge of the animals and surprised by Zach's apprehension as we got close to the cages (notice the look on his face in the Giraffe picture). We enjoyed a picnic lunch and various snacks we confiscated from Grandma's pantry before we left home. At the end of the day when we arrived home imagine our surprise when we discovered that an Ape and a Gorilla had managed to hitch a ride home. I love Grandma day!!

Grandma day!

One of my funnest things to do is to have a "Grandma day". That is when me and my two oldest grandsons Adam and Zachary spend a day together doing assorted activities. Some of the things we've done have included riding Trax from downtown to Sandy (we've done that a couple of times), bowling, going to Cherry Hill, going to NPS to see Grandpa's work, Temple Square, Build a Bear workshop (for their birthdays last year), Clark Planetarium at Christmastime to see "Santa vs.the Snowman" (Grandpa came to), going to visit Uncle Jeff at Leger's and numerous visits to McDonald's. Whatever the activity is we always have a lot of fun. Our most recent Grandma Day was on February 8. We started out at McDonald's then we went to Orchard Bowl which was totally fun. Adam won, although Zach did get a strike and Grandma.....well I bowled the worst game of my life but how can you complain when you have two handsome little guys who carry your ball to you and cheer you on as if you were a pro. After bowling we headed to NPS where Grandpa Bear loaded up the boys with assorted pirate paraphernalia (check out the picture). We're already talking about the Zoo for our next day together. I can't wait until William and Mason are big enough for Grandma day too.

Adam and Zach at McDonald's


Aren't these just the cutest guys on the lanes


Back at Grandma's house playing pirates

We made up a joke of the day:

Q. What does the pirate do when he sees his Grandma?

A. He gives her a huuuurrrrgg! (A hug)