Last full day, and a date with Lydia

You know it has to come and you both look forward to it and dread it and that day, this trip's last day is here.  We have had a wonderful time visiting with, playing with, and caring for the kids and being with Matt and Laura at this time of huge transition for their family.  At Patt's request we went back to one of our favorite restaurants for what we call Moslem noodles and this is us (minus Matt and Laura) about to head out.

 Sitting around the table after the meal, waiting for me to finish eating.

I can put on a noodle eating show, and John Paul can not believe what he has witnessed.

 Earlier in the day, Patt and I went on a date with Lydia - delayed a bit due to the seemingly endless array of stuff we were doing that makes time go so fast sometimes.

 A feature of the date was going shopping with Grandmama at the local version of a hardware, toy, variety, department store that is probably most like an old Timey General Store that seems to have everything.

 Grandmama getting a little hug from John Paul who does enjoy being held.

 and this guy just seems to enjoy so much, including bath time with Grandaddy and is ready to talk, adding his voice to the already full number of voices being used in the house.

 Here we have rapt attention being given to Julianna's new camera, an early - very early birthday present that appears to be a big hit.

 and this is the Big Three with me looking at photos from earlier in our visit saying "remember that" and having a good time doing it.

Next post will be from home as our plane leaves from here 10:50 AM Thursday for our 30 or so hour trip.

Camping at the hotel

We are not at the beach, but at a pool with a beach at a cross town hotel.  Matt and Laura got a free night from some promotion and gave the night to Patt, Julianna, Lydia, Isaac and me.  Laura stayed home with Luke and Matt and John Paul spent the afternoon at the pool with us.  

 Lounging on the beach was nice too —and though it may appear so, we were not the only guests- there was a very large conference going at the hotel while we were there.

The pool was very large, most of the space however for us un-needed. 

 We, the big three kids, Patt and I had a grand time, enjoyed the evening dinner and breakfast buffet at the hotel, and in general hotel living.  For example:  we had contests to see who could guess which of the four elevators would be the one to respond to our elevator call, and Patt and I never could "remember" where our room was—  so we had such fun watching the kids get off the elevator and make up their mind as to which direction to take of running down the hall to find our room.  — Which they did with great delight.

 We had a great view of the pool and conference area and general haze that seems to be the air here.

 and our room was one of those big hotel rooms with bath room that could open into the room itself — the kids "camped on the floor"- and slept well.

and here we are preparing to leave.  and looking forward to our next hotel visit.

pretend shopping and day with Isaac

Patt has been doing some serious getting to know the grandchildren and they her; here we have the exciting exploration of Grandmama's purse, something I would not even venture. —side note—  Patt has also spent two nights at their apartment helping out as  Matt has been out of town and Lydia had still not recovered completely - and Luke continues his not so good sleep habits and John Paul occasionally gets restless at night, (as Laura says- she likes a challenge)

Anyway,  Luke does like being held, and being entertained.  Fortunately for him, he gives extremely positive feedback to the interaction.

And John Paul really likes attention too.  He plays so hard, goes so fast and went through a stack of magazines and newspapers we brought from home in a hurry.

looking oh-so-cute doing it too.  

Yesterday afternoon, Patt, Isaac and Julianna played "store" and had a big "set-up" in the kid's bedroom.  I did some serious shopping to complete the play.

Isaac and Julianna had a great time playing with Grandmama.  (Lydia, with Laura and John Paul had run into town).

and for a brief while, this guy entertained himself, watching the store and the shopping.

 Earlier yesterday Isaac and I went out on a "date".  We went to the local Jaguar/Range Rover dealership, checked out the cars in the showroom, discussed logos, tried automatic trunk openers, and generally had a grand time of it.  The salesman did not even follow us too closely, especially after I tried to question him a bit.

 Here we are having an ice-cream break, (little distortion with the camera angle here) and we had a grand time of it, even got to see some road construction equipment on our excursion, take a detour around construction and enjoy the ride.

Polar Ocean World - with bears

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yes, we were that close, no telephoto, no cropping, this is the photo right off the point and shoot Cannon.  Friday we went to a theme park, Polar Ocean World, where there was a large glass pool with polar bears who put on quite a show.

 And the bears did indeed come right up to the glass, and Julianna got up close too.

 Part of the excitement involved the two bears wrestling with one another quite energetically and for quite some time.  We enjoyed looking in on them from various vantage points.

 The main attraction of the place though was the dolphin and beluga whale show.  Julianna most correctly insisted we get there early and we were glad we did.

 The place soon filled up and continued to fill during the show.  The show and arena was really quite nice and extremely well done.

 A huge screen alternated showing underwater shots or what was happening in the show. Here we have for those looking closely a dolphin well out of the water after hitting the balloon — quite a jump too.

 We stayed after the show to avoid the crowd going down the stairs, have a snack and were treated to seeing the trainers work with the beluga whales.

 and we are talking up close watching, — this finally came to an end when one of the security guards got us to leave.  Not speaking the language is very helpful sometimes and Julianna and Lydia thoughtfully did not offer translations.  (The guards were speaking to me, not the kids and Patt kept saying, "I know, tell them to get someone to speak English")

 Also in the park was a seal show, which was preceded by a magic show and a bit of advice here, if you are ever here to this show, come late.

 though if you do, and your group does not have on color coordinated shirts, or special hats, finding them may be difficult.

 and the aquarium in the park was also very good with a huge tank with some quite large fish.

Here, leaving the park, after a successful day, we met our cab driver in the parking lot and were glad to see him, as it was hot and we were tired.  A great day that started somewhat tough as the relatively long 35-40 minute cab ride resulted in Lydia throwing up on Patt (not a great quantity) (Lydia was not quite over her illness and was quite the trooper and got to ride in the stroller a good bit during the day) and Julianna really tossing the ole cookies just outside the door of the cab when stopped to get out at the park- she said she was feeling a little car sick and she was.  As we were wiping Julianna's face, putting an unhappy Lydia into the stroller, paying the cab driver and trying to make certain pick-up (in sign language), watching to see Isaac does not wonder off and wondering where the ticket office was, this was one grandfather who was glad grandmother was along too.  and I would do it again- twice.

Been a little busy

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Well we have been busy here these past couple of days, Patt has caught up on her reading, here just about to finish out all of Willy Wonka in a single morning.

 We have played games and watched this little guy grow and get stronger by the day, despite not sleeping worth a darn.  But he still is such fun - and give such wonderful smiles to you.

 Though he normally nurses, Patt got him to take a bottle and Luke can knock it back too.

 I spent a little time chasing this fun guy - who seems to be everywhere at once and has fun doing it.

 We have arbitrated some disputes over strategy AND PLAYING TIME

 Here taking a break from Bernstein Bears — did you know they got a new kitten?

 This little girl in addition to her Mom and Dad has been quite sick, but has rallied and laid out quite the store yesterday afternoon.

We got to watch a little European style football

 and have a brief sweet moment with John Paul

As mentioned Matt and Laura have been sick, but have recovered enough that last night Patt and I went out with Julianna who took this photo of Patt and me in front of our complex down by the river road.

 we of course exchanged photo posing with our oldest granddaughter

which was fun.  We were on our way to have shao-cao (which unfortunately we did not photograph).  The evening was topped off by coming home late after having ice -cream.

 However, I do believe Julianna really enjoyed discussing strategy with Grandmama as she was introduced to two suits spider solitaire.  We had a great evening