Grandma Journey 2011

The first leg of my Grandma Journey is over.  The time spent with David and his family was fun and productive.

Clayton, my 11th grandchild, was a bit shy at our first meeting.  David, Clay and Christopher, Barbara’s oldest, came to my hotel to go out to breakfast the first morning.  When Clay saw me he hugged his Daddy and burst into tears!  David was surprised and I laughed. Somehow David thought he would know me since he made the effort to show Clay my picture on the internet.

It isn’t uncommon for a little one to do that when meeting an adult for the first time.   He is 21 months old and cute as a button.  Soon he was giving me half smiles especially when I clowned around as I brushed my teeth.

Later that morning I met Barbara, David’s wife, and found her very friendly and easy to chat with.  She is doing the K-12 home schooling program that is supported and guided by the public school system.  Her other three children are Christopher,13, Cloe,8, and Lucas, 7.  They have just started this program and school was in session for Christopher and Lucas.  Cloe was at the gym for gymnastics.  She is a level 5 gymnast and spends almost all day on Saturday at the gym.

I let Clayton get used to me in his own way and time.  Forcing a relationship doesn’t work and may elongate the “getting to know stage”.  He played around me and once in a while would come over to show me something or just check me out.

Later that afternoon we all went to watch Cloe at the end of her class.  The set up is quite professional.  The team has won some state championships and there are a few girls (no boys at this gym) who are good enough to train for the Olympics. Cloe is very very good.   Watching her brought back memories of Catherine and Amanda when they took gymnastics by our house in Hayward.  In fact the gym here has the same outside look as the one in Hayward.  Complete De Ja Vu.

Our second day was spent at the “McLean House”.  David has spent the last 6 months getting the house up to “snuff” to put it on the market.  He has done a fabulous job of putting in a new kitchen and bath, new landscaping and many other necessary repairs.  They wanted to take me to DC to the Spy Museum, but I wanted to help them get the house done.  It is at the stage of just few things left and cleaning.  Cleaning I can do, so Barbara and I cleaned while David did the outside hauling of debris, electrical (with Barbara’s brother Randy), and power washing the outside.  The house looked really great when we finished the day.

Yesterday we took a trip to West Virginia to a winery.  The wines were great!  All French grapes, some I have never heard of.  Barbara and I tasted wines and then the three of us had a glass with some cheese, sausage and baguettes.  Tres Francois!  In fact, I joined the wine club and bought a bottle to take to the shore in New Jersey.

After the wine tasting we visited Barbara’s mother, Linda, and her Step-Dad, Paul.  Paul is an avid hunter and was watching one of three hunting channels.  He has several trophies, one deer and two bear.  We talked about hunting and the bow vs the rifle, etc.  We talked about fishing too.  While I’m not wild about hunting, I know that many are and it is not up to me to judge one way or the other.

Linda’s home is quite lovely.  It is apparent that she has put a lot time and effort in  decorating.  She served me sweet tea, a southern favorite.  It was delicious.

Dinner together with all of David’s family (the three oldest had spent two days with their father) ended the day.  Well, not quite, if I count my adventure on the way back to my hotel!  By the end of my visit Clay was coming to me and letting me hold him and giving up many of his precious smiles.  It was great meeting and getting to know them all and I look froward to a repeat visit next year.

It was a dark and stormy night......  I missed my exit, got on the wrong side of the road when trying to turn around and got honked at by the oncoming traffic (duh).  There was no way for me to get over in the correct lane because of the divider, so I had to tough it out until I hit the bottom of the hill and was able to make an illegal turn to get back on the side of the road where I belonged.  It was amazing how calm I stayed even though my adrenalin really kicked in.  Yet another opportunity to test out how calm I can stay when put in a potentially frustrating and dangerous situation.  I passed!

I am now in Dulles airport waiting for my flight to New Jersey.  Mary Jeanne told me about the devastation in Denville from Irene. She was without power for almost a week.  The downtown was under 3 feet of water and everything was flooded that is located there.  Even the vault at her bank had two feet of water.  MJ lucked out because her box was above the water line.

BTW I think Dulles is trying to be the Heathrow of America.  It is one of the most convoluted airports ever.  Getting your walking exercise is NO problem :-)  Plus don't even THINK about getting to the airport at the last minute.  You'll miss your flight - guaranteed.

Clay With his two Grandmas