MY grandparents, on the other hand, were just too cute

When my parents were visiting, they told me this story about my dad’s parents. I already knew that my paternal grandparents loved cooking. I think I have a picture I took in my childhood of them in the kitchen working on a meal together. Since they lived across the country from us and died when I was a teenager, I didn’t get to visit them very often, but somehow I still knew that their times in the kitchen together were the highlight of their days. In fact, they would even take pictures of their finished products on occasion.

So, it was easy for me to form a picture in my mind as my dad shared this story:

It’s never too late to add to your summer reading list, right? :)

You may remember me mentioning my mom’s book about my grandfather’s sailing adventures around the world.  (I just noticed the fantastic reviews this book has. I’m so pleased!) Well, she’s done it again, folks! Heading South: Tales from the RV Trail is too much fun not to share.

My mom just has a way with words, okay? This is such a nice, easy, engaging, entertaining read you’ll totally have a hard time putting it down. I can see you now, sitting in a cozy chair, with your favorite beverage on the table next to you, and your feet up on the coffee table in front of you (I won’t tell your mother), smiling as you read this.

But really, I laughed AND cried. This book is life. It’s like reading my mother’s diary, sometimes to my embarrassment and amazement that she would dare publish this stuff. It’s also a great character study into human nature and just plain real life: good, bad, ugly, silly, and almost unbelievable.

My parents hit the road with their RV to escape the Ohio winter. Their tales are whimsical, informative, and totally made me want to inherit that RV when they’re done with it. (You reading this, Mom?) Seriously, I had no idea what marvels there were to behold in our own country. For real!

But the best part of this book are the “Papa Stories”–the letters she sends home to her grandchildren. All I can say is that they are lucky to have such a funny and imaginative grandmother. You will laugh; I guarantee it.

Go ahead and get yourself a copy. I am quite certain you won’t regret it. Heading South: Tales from the RV Trail

Sometimes kids are too smart for their own good.

mmmm doughnut … (Photo credit: bunchofpants) What kind of a photo credit is that?!

 

When her grandparents were visiting, I tried to get my six-year-old to go to the grocery store with them. She wasn’t really interested, so I told her that they were going to buy donuts, which was true. Still not enticed, I suggested that, since the store was new to them, they would need her help finding the donuts.

 

Unswayed, she responded,

More fun than watching paint dry

My granddaughter stood unmoving for the longest time, staring into a corner.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Watching a

And the hits keep coming

I don’t want to hear any comments from you, kid.

I know it’s been a long time since I’ve posted. Several of my blog friends were kind enough to post at the beginning of the summer that they would be taking the summer off. Using that as a good excuse for my laziness, I decided to take the summer off too, without bothering to say anything about it (as I didn’t have a good excuse like they did).  But now I’ve got a story I just have to share:

My husband took our girls to their cousins’ house to go swimming. His sister-in-law’s parents were there watching the youngest of the eight grandchildren while their mom took the rest to–get this–a larger swimming pool. Anyhow, the in-laws told my husband that one of their darling grandsons walked up to his grandfather and asked what that strange line was between his chin and lower lip. Grandfather calmly explained that it was called a wrinkle.

“My dad doesn’t have those,” the little boy informed him.

Fair enough.

Then he turned to his grandmother who only wished she was going to get a comment regarding one of her wrinkles. Instead, he exclaimed,

From tears into laughter

Cemetary (Photo: mikecollar)

My grandmother had passed away during a particularly wet January.   The cemetery had placed AstroTurf leading from the curb to the ceremony site.  I was sitting in the front row with my two-year-old son.  My father approached, and as he did, the water came through the turf. As he took each step toward us, we could see the water around the base of his shoes. My son pointed and yelled,

Children can be so tactful

When my son was about six years old, he attended a prayer meeting with my mom and me for our American Italian Club.  Everyone had an opportunity to mention their intention, and my son decided he wanted to pray for his grandma, who was there with us. My  mom was smiling with pride until he added,

Is this how you greet all your relatives?

(Photo credit: gem66)

When my daughter was about four or five, visiting her grandmother, my mom was telling her about her family. My daughter was asking questions about my mother’s mom and dad.  My mom told her that her mother was still alive, but her father, whom my daughter had never met, had died.   A few minutes later MY father walked into the room and my daughter yelled,

Everyone’s a Food Critic

It looks a little too orange to me.

My husband, Mike, and I babysat my daughter’s children while she and her husband celebrated their anniversary with dinner and a movie. For dinner, I made macaroni and cheese for the kids. You’d have thought I’d never made
macaroni and cheese before.

At the dinner table, Philip, 7, and Clare, 5, argued about who made the best macaroni and cheese, me or their mom. Clare opted for me; Philip put a thumb down.

“There’s too much milk,” Philip said.

“Well, I think there’s too much butter,” Clare countered. I could see her wavering, coming around to her brother’s point of view.

“Too much milk.”

“No, too much butter. I taste a lot of butter,” Clare said, as if that were a bad thing. Julia Child would be devastated.

Philip got up and showed me the picture on the macaroni and cheese box. “It’s supposed to look like this,” he said. We stared in the pot. I was pretty sure it did.

Grandparents do the funniest things

A Tau Emerald dragonfly in flight (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

At my grandson’s birthday party there were about a dozen kids watching him open presents. One of our presents was in a stationery box filled with cotton from jewelry boxes. Laid nicely on top of the cotton was