Katie put her skirt on right away (it actually even matched what she was wearing) and they LOVED the candy in the bunny egg.
Tag Archives: Gramma Jean
Dolphins! Gramma Selfie!
The kids finally got to see some dolphins while Tom and I were out running an errand!
A quick stop at a playground
We all went to see the Lego Batman movie and since it was nice and sunny, we stopped at a park on the way home. Unfortunately it was windy and getting chilly so we didn’t stay long and I only took one picture! 🙂
A thank you dinner for the grandparents!
We always take the grandparents out to dinner to thank them for letting us stay with them…and this time, we went to McGuires Irish Pub just down the road in Destin. We happened to be sitting right at a Pokémon gym so of course we had to take it over. 🙂
The tradition at this place is to leave a signed/decorated $1 bill stapled to the wall. They have over $1 million hanging throughout the place (see lots of great pictures from RoadTrippers). This was the wall behind us (in the natural restaurant lighting):
And the same picture with a flash:
This is the bill we did. Gramma drew the heart with the year and signer her name; Owen wrote his name on the very left, going up from the O; Katie die her KAtie on three lines; Grandpa David did his GD between Owen and Katie; Major Tom left his mark; and since no one took good ol’ George, I did that plus left our JTOK.
Gramma stapled it to the wall.
Can you see it?
Look here!
Florida tradition: Fudpucker’s
Read about the last time we were there (2015).
Later when we checked the other pictures, we saw that Owen had his Halley shirt on again! Totally unplanned!
We had to visit Owen and Tom’s names on the wall…which happened to be right about where we were seated.
Katie adding her name!
Gramma Jean 2017
Time with Grauntie and Gruntie
Grauntie Rose and Gruntie Jim also stay down here during the winter, so they came over for lunch. We had hoped to be able to take the kids to the pool or the beach but it was cold and rainy…so there were a few games of Katie’s new favorite: Go Fish!
Toooo much ocean fun!
Then we ran into a familiar face—Nancy (used to work with Gramma)!
Two sets of Len toes
Gramma and Katie toes…
And a cuddle…
A cantaloupe as large as Owen’s head!
The grandparents took the kids to the beach.
Another birthday cake for Owen.Â
Gramma made a yummy-looking cake for Owen! Grauntie Rose and Gruntie Jim came over to celebrate, too!
Our first trip down to the ocean…
Our first trip down to the ocean—just to look—ended up with two totally soaked kids! We weren’t surprised. 🙂
Me and Gramma Jean could NOT get the twirly sticks to fly. Tom was easily able to.
I looked up and Owen was just standing the ocean with his hands in his pockets. LOL
Gramma Jean took this awesome picture of Katie. I think I’ll be hard pressed to take a better one this week.
Mullet backbones? Why not.
We stopped to eat a late lunch on the way home from the airport.
Gramma ordered mullet and the waitress asked if she wanted the gizzards and/or backbones. We all looked at her like WHAT? EWWWW. WHAT? But then we said what the hell, we’ll try the backbones (no fish gizzards, thankyouverymuch). And turns out they weren’t as scary as we thought…they were tasty!
We made it!
We were a tiny bit late due to a lavatory issue that had to be fixed before takeoff (which meant we left a half hour late) but all ended well! Gramma and Grandpa were waiting for us!!
Pirate puzzle gift: complete!
Katie’s very first Lego sets she built all by herself!
The first was a Christmas present from Grauntie Marge—a supermarket!
I only had to put about three pieces together (and I had to keep prompting her) but she did it!!
The second one was a present from Gramma Jean—Arial!
Lego Mixel Max + Evil Minions
Owen’s Lego Mixel Max (a bigger monster Mixel built with all three packs of the set) with assorted evil minions he created from the remaining pieces.
“Okay, now take a smiling picture!”
Movie & Popcorn
I can’t remember what movie they watched but they both wanted popcorn for dinner—Grauntie Marge had given Katie an ENTIRE BOX of stovetop popcorn so they were super excited about that. So we let them eat popcorn for dinner. What a treat! Katie also enjoyed her new mermaid tail blanket from Gramma Jean!
Owen’s teacher says he’s all-around awesome.
This morning was the first P/T conference of the year. We were a bit early so I took advantage and got some pics.
Overall, Owen is doing awesome. She said he’s advanced in reading, ahead in math, and is probably the most respectful kid in class! She also has no concerns with his spelling—he got 95/100 on sight words (the ones he missed were words like WHERE and WHICH [forgot the h] which are very common)—and he behaves in class. What blew me away is his writing assignment—it was done over a few days, but the handwriting was excellent and the story was involved (it was about one of his xbox games)…and he wrote SIX PAGES! It doesn’t all make perfect sense, of course, and there are some errors but WOW. JUST…WOW.
And then a few pics from around the classroom:
And as I was taking pictures I was telling the teacher why (because I make a Shutterfly book each year) so she told me to hang on and she’d stage the Class Jobs list for me (it needed to be done before class anyway). 🙂
And then I took Katie to the playground for a few minutes since she always begs to go there but we’re usually there during school hours. She says “Mama? You remember the last time we were here and Gramma Jean was swinging with me?” 🙂
Owen finally gets on the swing!
Owen doesn’t have the best balance or coordination—and doesn’t really like swings—so we didn’t have much success getting him on the rope swing. Until Gramma Jean got involved while we weren’t around, apparently.
And that was it. I tried to get him on it again but he’s just a big goofball and immediately falls off.
Lobsters for Gramma’s birthday!
When the kids saw these driftwood lobsters at Marshall’s, they said we had to get them for Gramma Jean! So we have them to her for an early birthday present!
Decorating the box so we didn’t need to wrap it.
Showing GJ his new bunting skills
Helpful little flower girl
Katie helped Gramma prune her flowers.
Guess what? More swinging.
Higher and higher, we have a happy girl!
Swinging Gramma!
Katie’s 4th birthday party!
Katie’s party was on July 13, but I forgot to get the pictures off my big camera—whoops! I’ll move this post to the right date later.
Once again, we had a gathering/pizza party at the Ramada pool!
I was kicking the ball back into the pool…and kicked my shoe right off! I watched it land on the side of the pool…and tumble right in. 🙂
The cake design Katie picked out!
And then back at Gramma Jean’s to open presents!
And she had to put on one of her new dresses!
Vacation bucket list item (food truck): complete
This place—Food at Northbound—came with rave reviews…and it didn’t disappoint!
Smoked pork torta (with pork, lime aioli, jalapeño slaw, cheddar, and sweet & spicy jalapeños) and BBQ fries (with beer-battered fries, BBQ-rubbed pork, white cheddar, sweet & spicy jalapeños, and bourbon BBQ sauce). TOTALLY AMAZEBALLS.
Birthday treats!
Dairy Queen (plus I got my Vacation Bucket List Blizzard!), the park, Pokemon hunting for Owen, splashing and throwing rocks in the river, a walk around the neighborhood with Gramma, and then a Gramma cuddle. 🙂
I thought she’d like sticking her feet in the river but she whined that it was TOO COLD! (It felt like bath water to me!)
Len Christmas in July, Year 3
This year our celebration was at Rose & Jim’s cottage on Houghton Lake. The weather started out a bit sketchy—chilly and windy—but within an hour it was absolutely gorgeous! It was a perfect day with lots of delicious food, fun watching the kids, a fun gift exchange, and conversation!
I’m only posting this picture because it’s the first “in the wild” picture of me that’s been taken and…I had ZERO idea who it was when I first saw it!
Hitting a box of $5 garage sale golf balls into the canal—well, trying to get them across the canal onto the island but not many made it there. 🙂
This happened quite a bit!
Katie wanted to fish…but only for about 32 seconds at a time and then she was off doing something else.
Alex caught the first fish!
Feeding the ducks off the back of the pontoon!
Going out to hunt for turtles for turtle races!
Apparently the tradition is to kiss the first fish you catch… What a sport!
At first, Katie wanted nothing to do with the boat—she didn’t even want someone to set her on the boat! But after the second trip she was jumping onto the boat herself and loving every minute of it! Owen loved it, too!
They caught a previously-caught-and-tagged turtle—no one here is C.B. 🙂
Owen said fishing was boring—we told him yes, it was. He’s used to fishing at the Fish Hatchery where the fish pretty much jump in your bucket. 🙂
Aubrey tagged her turtle!
I lined the kids up for their annual shot and didn’t even realize until afterward—when Aubrey pointed it out—that I did it wrong! She told me “I’m older than Owen!” And I agreed with her and then realized they had been in the wrong order!
Nick is 12, Owen is 7. Nick had the slight edge on Owen last summer and it looks very similar again this year…though I think Owen gained a very tiny bit on him. We didn’t set them on flat ground so we can’t be 100% sure.
In the right order! Katie (4), Owen (7), Aubrey (8), Gracie (10), and Nick (12).
All of the cousins: Jessica (an upcoming senior), Alex (an upcoming freshman), then Nick, Gracie, Aubrey, Owen, and Katie.
Maggie was FASCINATED with the turtles!
Marge gifted all us girls with one of her ostrich eggs!
Turtle races!
Trying to scoop up the golf balls that rolled in the canal!
It was exciting for everyone when Greg caught this huge dogfish! (Katie is still talking about it days later!)
We celebrated Katie’s birthday a day early!
And Aubrey’s two days early!
Uncle Timmy diving for turtles!!
The second run of turtle races (after they went out on the boat to get more turtles)!
Owen’s turtle winning the second race!
And a Then & Now throwback picture:
