Our three grandchildren spent two days with us recently and it was both fun and exhausting. The kids were excited and my husband and I were rested in anticipation of the increased energy level required.
We packed a great deal into the two days including time at the playground and splash pad, board games, time in the garden planting and picking produce, walking the dog, art, baking, movie night with popcorn done Nan’s way, a trip to the dairy bar for dessert and walking on the boardwalk. Mealtime sat around talking was always fun. Between mealtime and snacks, these kids are always eating. They love fruit and vegetables though.
The oldest of the three is wide awake, voice engaged, when her feet touch the floor. The other two are slow to start. The middle child, hardly speaks for the first hour, while the youngest is slow to begin but winds up quickly. The three couldn’t be more different.
One of the highlights of the two days was their time on the boardwalk, feeding the animals. The three were excited to feed the birds and squirrels especially. We put peanuts in the birdhouse on the bridge and the parade of blue jays made quick work of them as they flew off with the shells.
The kids were excited to sit on a bench where we had watched a grandfather and a young grandchild sit and feed the squirrels previously. There weren’t any animals there when we arrived but we tapped on the bench with peanuts and the squirrels soon appeared.
The three enjoyed passing the peanuts to the furry fast rodents. They soon learned that the squirrels wouldn’t take any peanut shells which were cracked open. After a few minutes, we had distributed a large bag of peanuts to numerous squirrels.
With the girls on their scooters, and the youngest on his balance bike, we continued to the end of the trail. Along the way we spotted four Cedar Waxwings among the dead trees by the harbour. I’ve only ever seen one before along the boardwalk so this was quite a sighting.
My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed the two days with the grandkids. We were both exhausted however, and napped when they left. The house was suddenly quiet but their voices will fill the quiet again soon. Yay!
