Grandkids and the beach

I get through Easter with my four grandkids who are staying at the beach. We are going to have an Easter Egg hunt Saturday at the project I am working. I have this battery operated alligator mouth which I am going to put in the yard after the easter egg hunt where some neighbor kids are going to join my grandkids. I am going to give each of them a lasso which I will make, and I will have them practice throwing their ropes over the gators head.......then I will tell all the kids that now that we have found all the easter eggs we are going to rope a gator........we will then go walking around my ponds, where my four year old granddaughter after the coyote hunt last year will most certainly say.....
"papa......I am not sure I want to do this".......which I will respond.....Abby I need you to protect papa, because without you throwing your rope and getting the alligator.....he might get papa.......

Yea I know.....but heck......I am going to be gone soon enough, and some memories have to have context.

Enjoy every minute.

Easter Egg hunt cancelled because of rain and standing weather......pretty consistent with my luck.

My son and his wife are staying at the Holiday Inn on PB before traveling to St. George Island to spend Sunday to Sunday. I am really disappointed that they like St. George better than Navarre and PB, but after staying with them for about three hours yesterday and watching the folks on Spring break......I kind of get their desire to have the quiet of St. George. It was a zoo at the Holiday Inn. The funniest part was we were up on a higher floor balcony overlooking the pool and beach when we watched people pile into two hot tubs......I mean they were designed probably for 14 people and each of them had about 30 people packed into them because of the cool weather.....I am thinking that would be the LAST place I would go, and how is that a vacation? There were people in the parking lot tailgating drinking beer and the lobby was full of goofy people acting stupid. I could not wait to get out of there. I can see where PB residents grind their teeth during the beach season......it is really annoying being in those crowds.

My wife will drive over to St. George for a couple days and watch the grandsons to allow my son and his wife to be able to go out and have some adult fun, but I need to stay and rent a trencher to put in a drainage system and sump pit for a chronic standing water problem at a rental home.......I am piszed that I only had two days to spend with all the grandkids and the weather goes to hell in a handbasket. The good news is I will not have to guess where the standing water is when I use the trencher.

Caught some good weather around 6pm and we got our Easter Egg hunt completed, and the kids had fun. Then we went looking for Oscar our Alligator......he had made some new slide marks between the ponds, and they all got into the gator hunt. We found a box turtle shell back by the ponds which all was left was the shell, and I explained to the kids that Oscar probably at Christmas thought the turtle was a turtle dove, and ate it........the youngest granddaughter goes.....Papa....what else do alligators eat? All I said when you see Oscar you need to run in a zig zag pattern because Oscar will not catch you, and little girls will be off his diet.

The wife had put toys in each easter egg with some candy and a quarter. Well one of the toys and a little whale in it, but the seven year old granddaughter quickly corrected me and said Papa, that is not a whale.....it is a fish, and I argue no look at the dorsal fins thinking using a word she does not understand will give papa immediate authority......she took me to school.....she goes no papa look at the tail.....Whales can flap their tail in the water, and the tail is the wrong way.....it is a fish........damn taken out at the knees by a seven year old first grader......I guess I am just adding to her general impression from when she was five years old and looked at me when I misunderstood her and said.....Papa.....what the hell is wrong with you.

Hopefully some beach time with the girls, the wife is going over to St.George with the grandsons for a day or two to let my son and DIL get some alone time. Life is way too fun.....well except for that turtle.

2seaoat wrote:Caught some good weather around 6pm and we got our Easter Egg hunt completed, and the kids had fun.  Then we went looking for Oscar our Alligator......he had made some new slide marks between the ponds, and they all got into the gator hunt.   We found a box turtle shell back by the ponds which all was left was the shell, and I explained to the kids that Oscar probably at Christmas thought the turtle was a turtle dove, and ate it........the youngest granddaughter goes.....Papa....what else do alligators eat?   All I said when you see Oscar you need to run in a zig zag pattern because Oscar will not catch you, and little girls will be off his diet.

The wife had put toys in each easter egg with some candy and a quarter.  Well one of the toys and a little whale in it, but the seven year old granddaughter quickly corrected me and said Papa, that is not a whale.....it is a fish, and I argue no look at the dorsal fins thinking using a word she does not understand will give papa immediate authority......she took me to school.....she goes no papa look at the tail.....Whales can flap their tail in the water, and the tail is the wrong way.....it is a fish........damn taken out at the knees by a seven year old first grader......I guess I am just adding to her general impression from when she was five years old and looked at me when I misunderstood her and said.....Papa.....what the hell is wrong with you.

Hopefully some beach time with the girls, the wife is going over to St.George with the grandsons for a day or two to let my son and DIL get some alone time.  Life is way too fun.....well except for that turtle.

Very nice...

2seaoat wrote:damn taken out at the knees by a seven year old first grader......I guess I am just adding to her general impression from when she was five years old and looked at me when I misunderstood her and said.....Papa.....what the hell is wrong with you.

   Thanks for the chuckles and grins tonight, Sea.  Needed that.  Your granddaughter sounds like a real treasure.  I have no grands and am sooo envious, but happy for you at the same time.

Our dog has not been happy living in the rental house as we fix it back up. The yard has fleas and the house is empty except the air mattress and a plastic chair, but we went to the Park Model for the Easter Egg hunt and she was in heaven to see the pack back together. She adores the grandchildren and just ran and played with them as they hunted the eggs. Simple joys from a soon to be three year old dog. She is so content, and slept like a baby after running. Now the rental house is a bit more tolerable, and being that the yard is flooded.....maybe fleas do not swim.

What a beautiful day at Navarre Beach with the granddaughters. There is something universal about a child discovering the cycle of the beach as the waves crash and bubble as they jump, run, and explore. I am declining rather fast lately so I was not able to go into the water, but from a beach chair I observed my wife, daughter, SIL, and granddaughter absolutely having a joyful time simply playing in the waves and walking out to a sandbar. The beach is timeless. For thousands of years people have migrated to the beach to do that eternal beach dance with the waves, where children experience freedom and joy in the waves. I remember doing the same in the 1950s, I remember watching my children thirty years ago in the very exact spot, and now I have the joy of watching the granddaughters.

The wife had planned to go over to St. George Island with the grandsons, but it appears this will wait until Thursday.....what a celebration of life.......there is no need for development, condos, or convenience........children only need sand and waves and they are off to an adventure which hooks them for life.