A Visit To The Splash Park

Our town just opened a "Spash Park" this Summer. It is something that was needed in the community for the children to enjoy the hottest days of Summer and stay cool while playing outside.

When we told Chloe about it she wanted to go right then but as it was late in the evening she had to wait until the next day.

I could tell that she was going to enjoy it as soon as she got her feet wet when we arrived. There are fountains that come up from the floor to coll you off as you walk around. Their is a wading area around the edges so that you can keep cool instead of walking on the hot concrete.

As I set on the bench at the edge, she loved to come by and kick up the water to "keep me cool" as I sat there and watched her have fun.

There are several tables for families to sit at out of the sun and two large tents over two picnic tables.

In the middle of the "Splash Park" is a slide for kids 4-8 to slide down and it has water coming down the slide as you slide down. The Roof has water running off to get you wet as you walk past.

I was glad that we had thought to bring a couple of cups of ice with us so that as the ice melted we had some cold water to drink.

The Water "Jet Streams" that are around the edges keep the astroturf wet and offer a cool spray of water to play in. Chloe loved to weave in and out of these streams of water as she played.

I think sh really enjoyed the slide because she kept going back to slide down it. She told me later that this was an easy to cool down from the sun.

The lady in the black was watching her little son as he played and she didn't want to get wet as she watched him. As she was standing here waiting for him to use the slide the large bucket spray brimmed over and she got a drenching as she waited in line. I'm sorry, but it was so funny I had to laugh.

Well it is starting to get very hot and since the wristbands are good for the whole day, I think that we will go home and come back later in the evening when it gets a little less hot.

Happy Anniversary

Well it's that time of year again..,

We celebrate this year forty-three years of marriage. Where have all of the years gone.

Back in 1972 I married the love of my life and we have stayed together for forty-three years.

As I look back on the years some have been hard and others have been easy but every year has been worth it. Not only have I gotten to spend them with my best friend but we had our son David to enjoy raising along the way and to watch him grow into a man and a father.

And to have a grand child that is the greatest thing that any parent could have. Now we know why grandparents are so special. The get to enjoy their children all over again through the eyes of their grand child.

I just hope that I can be healthy for the coming years to enjoy them with our little family and see what the years ahead will be for us.

I love you Honey with all of my heart

Love Always and Forever

Teddy Bear

Happy Birthday

It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone and I must have been asleep and forgot to post it on her birth date.

Last month our little precious granddaughter turned eight. Where has all of the time gone, it just seems like yesterday she was just a baby.

Yes, It has been fun watching her grow up and the many memories we have created together. I know what she likes to eat, play, read, wear and what makes her smile.

Whenever her daddy walks into the room I become extinct and he is the light in her eyes and he makes the smile on her face.

Her mother had her birthday party at Incredible Pizza again this year and she was all excited as if it was the first time to ever go there. She loves to ride all of the rides with her friends and especially with her daddy.

Her dad arrived a little after most had already gotten there and she had questioned how he would know which room we were having her party in. I put her at ease, explaining that he would know where to come and find her. Chloe's,  Aunt Emily called for her to come outside of the door for something and when she came back in she was in her daddy's arms.

We all set down to enjoy the party that was planned for Chloe with her friends and family. What more could a little girl want on her "Special Day," but pizza, birthday presents, friends and family and all of the fun rides and games to play.

She could hardly eat because she was so excited when she saw the table behind her covered in presents. She was ready to open them and she what she had received.

Chloe and her daddy look like twins with a few years difference in ages. The are so much alike it is incredible to watch.

Chloe other Papaw and Grand maw and cousin arrive from Mississippi and the party can began. Mommy puts the candles on the cake so it will be ready after everyone has eaten.

Papaw and Grand maw are sitting by watching after the presents as they enjoy their pizza.

Grandmother is sitting across the table from Chloe and David (daddy). She looks like she is going to enjoy her salad before she eats her pizza.

It time to light the candles on the cake and blow them out and make a "Birthday Wish." This year she wanted a cake for a Princess, with a crown, wand and rings. It had to be a white cake with white icing and pink trim. I think that the bakery got it exactly right for the Birthday Girl.

Well I blew out the candles in one blow so my wish will surely come true, at least I hope it will. So, now Mommy can cut the cake and I can sink my teeth into some of that icing.

Chloe, you can't play with the crown, wand and rings until we rinse them off. Mommy all I want to do is eat all of the icing off of them before you go and wash them. Everyone in my family knows how much I love icing from any cake. Chloe you sure have a lot of bling on your fingers from those Princess rings.

Chloe showing Lillie her Princess rings.

She finally found some time to eat a piece of cake, I don't think that she ate any pizza because she was so excited.

Whispering in her daddies ear letting him in on her secret wish when she blew out the candles.

Poppy!!, Take a picture of me and my daddy so everyone can see how happy I was on my Birthday. This has been one happy day so far and we haven't even opened the presents. Just like you always say Poppy, "the presents are like the icing on the cake."

Chloe wanted to open Daddy's present to her first. She said that daddy always knows how to get presents that I like, it just like he read my mind. (after all they are twins, just a few years apart).
Daddy got her a Barbie play set and not one but two Barbie dolls and a few other thinks. Daddy I can't wait to play with my new girls and their make-up room. Thank-you daddy and as always you picked out just what I wanted.

Another Barbie doll, You are going to have to get another Barbie house for all of these Barbie dolls. Her Mimi and her Mommy and now Chloe is into Barbie dolls. She has quite the setup, being the third generation of Barbie dolls. She has plenty of clothes and furniture, cars and limos and all of the accessories. What more could a little girl want? Just a few more Barbie things.

She has been so excited to learn to read this year that she wanted to read each card that was given to her and Lillie was there to help her on words that she didn't know. Whenever she found money in a card she got real excited and then told mommy to add it to her bank for later.

She finally got down to opening her last gift and she got another doll, like the dolls that she plays with at our house. She said well, whenever I get tired of playing Barbies which is rare I can play with my larger Princess doll. "Thank You" everyone for coming to my "Birthday Party" and helping me have a "Special Day." I have received much love and gifts today. Thanks for the dolls, books, games, money, arts and crafts, clothes.

It has been an awesome party with my friends and two sets of grandparents. My cousin Abby got to come Aunt Emily and Uncle John, Lillie and her mother, Mr. Mike our neighbor, Mimi, Mommy and Daddy. What a special day!! Well daddy are you ready to go and check out the rides and games?

Poppy, Let Me Drive, I think I Can!

I remember back when I was a child the privilege of getting to sit in the front seat of the car. Sometimes whenever I got to sit in the front seat my dad would either let me change the gears or steer the wheel as we went down the driveway. I felt so privileged whenever I did this.

We also sat in seats without seat belts and the cars that we rode in were built like tanks. We would lay down in the back seat and sleep, play, or just ride and let our minds wander.Sometimes we even lay up in the back window of the car and watched our world pass by in a blurr.

If there were a bunch of kids we would sit in the back of our station wagon with the sead folded down and we could then play games as we rode down the road.

Kids of today don't know what they are missing. We have cars with airbags in the dash, steering wheel, doors, seats and in the seat belts. We have cushion material in the dashes, seat belts, child seats, safety glass, self parking, side sensors, blind spot sensors and self braking just to mention a few and yet our children are restrained in the rear seats of the car until they get to be a certain age and weight.

So it's easy to understand why they want to drive the car because they see their parents doing it and all kids want to be like their parents when they are little.

We were out in the garage and Chloe had been riding her scooter and her bike when all of a sudden she decided that she wanted to sit in the driver's seat of our SUV and play like she was driving it.

She opens the door and climbs in, as she sits in the seat she sees that the seat is too far back so she readjusts her seat then she adjusts the rear view mirror and then the door mirrors. Tilts down the wheel to be comfortable for her and then asks me for the keys. I ask her why she wants the key and her reply is to change the radio station from mine to her kind of music.

I let her know that I don't have the keys and that she will have to play like she has set the radio to her favorite station.

 
I then ask her where she is going, and she said that she has to go to Macy's because today is the start of their big sale. I ask, "How do you know this?" She looks at me like I am crazy and said, "It has been all over the T.V. and in the ads in the newspaper!"

Wether, I want to believe it or not, my little granddaughter is growing up so fast. I am just glad that I can enjoy each time I have with her because she is so precious.

Happy Birthday, Poppy

It is that time of year again, my birthday. They are just another day and I'm glad to have one because I know that I am still alive.



We picked Chloe up from school as she ended the year for first grade. It has been a busy year for her and a good year for us as well.

I never thought back when I was a little boy that I would ever be this age. I thought that when you got this age you were old and had one foot on a banana peel. Well some days I feel older than other days, but the age that I am is just a number.

 












Yes, I am a senior citizen, and I qualify for those senior discounts, and if I have to show my ID to prove I am that age I will because I have earned it.

But whenever I am with our granddaughter, I feel that I am much younger than my years, because she brings alive the kid in me. We both forget that I am older and play games of my youth and games that she wants to play.

I'll admit that I never played Barbies with any of my nieces, or Ken dolls with my nephews. When I was little everyone that played with dolls played with baby dolls.

It's another world altogether when you play with these dolls that are grown up dolls. So we just play with them as if they were regular people.

Back to my Birthday, Chloe was glad that it was a "Special Day," because on special occasions there is usually cake and most cakes have a lot of icing on them and she loves icing better than the cake.

Grandmother had gotten a small cake since I didn't need a large cake and we all had a piece and Chloe had our icing.

The cake has been devoured and another year has past as I look forward to another year. I am thankful for each day and hope that I use my time wisely.

Schools Out, Schools Out...,

Well, another years has come and gone in her many years of schooling.

She has learned a lot of new things this year in the first grade that she will carry with her for many years ahead.

She learned how to diagram a sentence with, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs. I didn't learn this in school until the third of fourth grade. She has learned how to do word problems in math. She has read many books over the school year. She has preformed parts in several plays.

This year she has been one busy little girl.

She can lose the school uniform for these months off and wear anything that she wants to wear.

But finally the day that she looked forward to last fall has finally come for her. Summer break, three months of doing anything that she can think up to do.

She gets to sleep in late, visit her Papaw, Poppy and Pop. Hopefully she gets to go to the beach as well as an amusement park.

She has many plans for this summer and I look forward to sharing some of this time with her.

Her Smart Idea, Two For One

Well it's another day and I don't want to get up out of bed, but it hardly seems like I slept very long. Poppy has the camera again and he is going to try and get my picture. He just thinks he is!!

Well I finally made it out of bed and had some chocolate milk for breakfast and some of Grandmother's good fried bacon. I love it every weekend she will fry me bacon because she knows that I love it. Another thing that I like that she makes is cookies and cake icing. The icing is so smooth and just slides down your throat.

Well what are we going to do today? I know for one thing I will get Poppy to take me to McDonald's so I can get a Happy Meal and a toy and then play with my friends on the inside playground. If you haven't played on that playground you don't know what you have been missing all your life.

Daddy's cousin have always called Grandmother, Aunt Clearance because she is always looking for a bargain. She knows a good deal when she see's one. Buy one get one free, two for one, manager's special's, red tag, you name it she knows it.

Well on the way to McDonald's this morning while I was thinking and talking to Poppy about Grandmother and her savings I got this bright idea. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it sooner. So I passed my idea to Poppy. Poppy I want a Happy Meal today with the Cheeseburger plain and chocolate milk and fries and you can have my yogurt and you can get a Happy Meal as well. You still get a sandwich and fries and a drink and yes it is less but it will help you lose weight. I was thinking that she was so thoughtful and wants to help me lose weight.

After getting the two girls Happy Meals and getting to our table and after the blessing, Chloe said look Poppy this way instead of one toy I get two. Pretty smart of me huh!!

She has just about finished her lunch and is getting to play with all of her McDonald friends. I wish that I had brought some ear plugs because with all of these kids its going to get loud.

After a few hours of playing she was tired and ready to go home. Shortly after arriving home mommy called and let us know that she was on her way. Soon she arrived and our weekend was gone but I know that Poppy and I had another great weekend.