Day 103, Year 9: Ollie by Day, Sam and Jonah by Night
Date: Friday, January 31, 2014
Weather: Overcast, High in the 30’s F—Felt Cold Without the Sun
Location: Brewer Fiddler’s Cove Marina, North Falmouth, Massachusetts
Yesterday Sam and Jonah declared that they were moving to Windbird for the weekend, so they are tucked in their berths for the night. We headed to Windbird as soon as Heather and Jed got home from work and had what I call a ‘working dinner.’ If the boys work hard at eating dinner we let them watch a video while they eat. We all cuddle together on one settee and eat and watch and discuss. I guess this is the advantage of being the grandparents—doing something you would never have approved of with your own children. But we call it ‘educational’ and enjoy! The video they chose tonight was about the Galapagos. They have watched it a couple of times before, but it is still a favorite. It is a documentary about a scientist visiting the Galapagos to learn about the wildlife on land and in the sea. Her guide is the same guide that we had when we toured the Sierra Negra volcano while in the Galapagos and it is always fun for us to see Mathias Espinosa. And both boys cleaned their plates, so I’ll call that a success. After dinner, we showed the boys some of our photos and video from the Galapagos (Heather and Jed were there with us) and other high interest wildlife stops along the way. We then read books and tucked them in. We had a bit of drama when Sam crawled into his sleeping bag to find that one end of it was damp. It has been in the v-berth and evidently got pushed against the wall. That causes condensation, therefore the dampness. But Jonah had brought a blanket with him that he wanted to sleep under anyway, so we switched things around and all was well.
We had another fun day with Ollie and combined the fun with running a couple of errands. This was the last day to get the old Ford Taurus inspected before the sticker runs out tomorrow on February 1. Since I seem to have better luck at successfully getting cars inspected, we decided to switch roles. Granddad took Ollie to the library for storytime and I took the car to the garage. Both forays were successful! Mark really enjoyed the storytime with Ollie and it gave him a chance to see the wooden doll house that Ollie loves. This doll house comes with little multi-cultural stuffed dolls that stand and sit that Ollie really enjoys. I, on the other hand, did what Mark was sure could not happen. I got the new inspection sticker for the Taurus even with the ‘check engine light’ on (no matter what we do) and a rusty panel below one of the back doors exposed. Last summer I took Heather and Jed’s van in to be inspected with their ‘check engine light’ on and got the sticker for it when they were sure it wouldn’t pass. And a few years ago I took in Heather’s old Honda Civic which was riddled with rust and got it passed as well. Mark is convinced that for some reason they let the vehicles pass for me but wouldn’t for him, so I’ll continue in this once a year role.
When we got home from the library, Ollie took a nap and after nap launched into a Lego Duplo building project. He can now snap the Duplo blocks together with no help and it was fun to watch him build a ‘train’ complete with a palm tree top. When Sam got home from school, he and Ollie mopped the kitchen floor for me. Ollie was very good at putting lots of water on the floor with the mop and Sam was even better at cleaning up the water while cleaning the floor at the same time. Then they disappeared into a ‘fort’ in the living room and spent at least 30 totally quiet minutes ‘reading’ adult books off the shelf behind their curtained fort. Ollie was too funny sitting there quietly reading novels. But he would do anything to be accepted as a play partner with either of his older brothers.
I’m really not sure what Sam and Jonah have planned for us tomorrow, but I’m sure they’ll keep us busy. Can’t believe it is going to be the first of February.
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| 140131 Day 103 Cape Cod, USA–Ollie by Day, S&J by Night |
