Tag Archives: Grandpa David
The Pentagon and Capitol.
Tom took Dave and mom to the Pentagon and to see the Capitol. Unfortunately it was a yucky, rainy day.
They love their new hats!
And sharing them, too!
We Skyped with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David today to have the kids open their presents! They loved everything, but the hats seemed to be the big hit!
Halloween in Grayling
The kids were super excited about treak-or-treating at Gramma’s house…and we were, too…until the Michigan weather happened. Yeah, it was 38° and rainy. Egads. If you look closely enough you can see Katie’s polka-dot long johns under her white tights (and she also had on pink tights!).
On the front porch where my Halloween picture was taken every year…
Everyone (including Uncle Rob) ready to head out!
There weren’t many houses lit up but the ones that were were handing out TONS of candy! You see how full their bags look? We had only hit maybe six houses at this point!
After about 15 minutes they gave up on the umbrellas and just ran from house to house while we waited at the road. Soon enough we were back at Gramma’s door!!
Home after an hour of being out in the rain—they were soaked but happy!!
Tom gave the kids a hot shower and put them in PJs while I made them hot cocoa!
Eating Mallow cups from daddy and Uncle Rob—they were Grandma Marsha’s favorite treat and someone brought a bag of them for the boys.
LOOKS AT THEIR HAUL!! The weather sure stunk but it was great for quick candy accumulation. They got 9# of candy from less than 20 houses!
Katie’s last 3rd birthday party!
We celebrated Katie’s birthday at the Ramada again this year. She didn’t want to go in the pool, though—choosing the playground instead.
Of course Owen wanted to swim!
Caught mid-jump!
She finally decided she wanted to swim!
We FINALLY got her to jump in the pool again!
Owen also received a few gifts…Papa and Grannie gave him a roll of quarters to use in the hotel game room!
He shared his quarters with his sister!
A great time was had by all…
Katieisms 5
Wow, flashback time! This was supposed to have been posted on July 16 of 2014! I’m not sure how it got lost, but it’s here now!
Katie was holding Gramma Jean’s travel Yahtzee.
Katie: I want Sophia the First please.
Grandpa David: Katie’s a muppet.
Katie: No I’m Katie.
Katie, to me: Are you Katie?
Katie, to Grandpa David: Are you Katie?
Days after I painted Katie’s toes, she keeps bringing me the bottle of the polish:
Katie: Mama! Katie’s toes!
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was on and Gramma was singing The Hot Dog song.
GJ in a normal voice: Hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog!
Katie: No sing.
GJ in a loud voice: Hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog!
Katie: NO SING!
GJ in a whisper: Hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog!
Katie in a whisper: No sing.
Owen was testing out a new scooter. Katie was running in front of him clearing the path.
Katie: Watch out! Watch out!
Opening her presents:
Katie: Oh my goodness.
Last grandparent photo!
How is it we always seem to wait until the last minute for certain group photos? And we missed an entire clan photo…
Dad’s Day at Owen’s School
We all went for the morning program!
Then they told us it was Halley tradition to have the VIPs participate in Tooty Ta with the kids! (This is the dance I posted awhile back that Owen learned in Pre-K but did again this year.)
You can’t see us very well, but me and Gramma Jean are up in the front. 
Owen’s cubbies:
Owen’s table:
I love his hopes and dreams: to do more homework!
This is why I can’t take Katie in the classroom…all my attention has to be on her.
She just wants to play and take out every toy. Here she was having a tea party. I have no idea where she learned the words tea party.
Owen is Calendar Helper. We didn’t get to see it this morning because the morning program ran late. I have yet to get a good description out of him on what Calendar Helper does.
Getting ready for snack time!
What’s left of the ant farm from last week:
Getting ready to go to lunch.
Everyone gets hand sanitizer!
LUNCH! We asked who he usually sits with and he said “Somebody.”
After lunch, daddy was back in the classroom helping.
Owen loved every minute of it—and so did Tom!
After dinner at the playground with Gramma and Grandpa
At dinner, Katie started asking about going to the playground. It was still early enough and the weather was still gorgeous, so off we went!
Nature walk—this time with grandparents!
We took Gramma Jean and Grandpa David to the park to go on the nature trail! It was a gorgeous morning!
Where’s Katie?
Here I am!
And the route we took. I knew it was up and down but a few of the big jags really surprised me. And aren’t GPS apps cool?!
Our last night at Gramma and Grandpa’s house
After the group photo, he commandeered the tripod to use as a cannon…and then actually as a tripod and was pretending to take pictures.
Sitting by the fire!
Not a bad spur of the moment family picture!
Making s’mores!
Eating s’mores—or in Katie’s case, eating the chocolate bar off the graham cracker.
Fire, Fireworks & Stones
Gramma Jean wanted to try out her new fire pit…so we all headed outside. The kids loved running around and of course Owen had to get out his new water gun.
Uncle Rob was nice enough to go in and fill up the water gun…but surprised Owen by shooting him! It’s blurry but I love Owen’s body!
She stayed pretty far from the fire once daddy yelled at her for getting too close.
Watering Gramma’s flowers.
Smoke bombs! They certainly didn’t last as long as I remembered them to…
Katie liked the pooping dog—except for the popping and crackling at the end.
In addition to Katie’s first fireworks (MUCH earlier than Owen’s first fireworks!), she also got her first sparkler. She was okay with it…but not thrilled.
And then we all went out to the front yard looking for Petoskey stones in the landscaping.
Guys Gone Shootin’
I forgot to post this on the 15th.
David, Tom, Rob, and Papa went shooting today before Katie’s party. Tom wanted to test out his new gun, David is always game to go, Rob was eager to join, and my dad thought it sounded good, too! I wasn’t going so I made sure Tom took a few pictures!
Tom’s target:
Katie’s pool and pizza birthday party.
Unfortunately, Gramma Jean was sick so she didn’t make it to the party—and we didn’t get a group picture—but Grandpa David, Grauntie Marge, Grandma Marsha, Uncle Rob, Grannie Lin, and Papa were all there! Even our dear friend Paul stopped by!
He bonked his nose diving in the shallow water.
Katie was having a blast splashing EVERYONE. We kept trying to redirect her to splash Owen but she kept coming back to us.
Tom turned the water on and she stuck her foot right in!
She has no fear—she jumped right into Tom’s arms!
She loved daddy pushing her around the pool!
Owen was not comfortable in the big pool and stuck to the steps and the side of the pool. He would NOT go out any farther, even though we showed him it wasn’t any deeper AND Grannie promised to hold him tight. Eventually, after maybe 30 minutes, he FINALLY let go…and of course had fun racing with daddy and Katie!
And then it was time for the party! Grannie Lin and Papa bought all the plates/decorations, the cake and cupcakes, and the pizza—and brought Burger King crowns for both kids!
Grandpa David would put a cheeze ball on Tom’s beer and Katie would eat it off. We did this a handful of times.
Papa and Grannie had bought this scooter for Owen for his birthday but then they weren’t able to come visit…so they brought it now, but he’s just a bit over the recommended weight limit so it went to Katie instead. You can see she liked being pushed on it.
But then we let Owen try it, just to see if he’d like it and would maybe want a bigger scooter for himself. He did like it, and Katie took to running in front of him saying “WATCH OUT! WATCH OUT!” to clear his path.
Then it was back to the house where it wasn’t long before the kids were ready to crash. A good day!
Len Christmas in July
The family decided to have Christmas in July this year and the Besons hosted. It was a GORGEOUS Michigan summer day on the river spent with our AMAZING family! Timmy supplied about 32 different types of brats (okay, maybe only about 12) and we stuffed ourselves silly on them plus all the other good food everyone brought. A good time was had by all and I think we may officially be moving our holiday celebration to the summer from now on!
Owen was a bit shy at first, so he and Katie were both in Nick’s room playing by themselves.
Katie loved the boat. LOVED. LOVED!! She would have sat out there all day if we let her and kept wanting to go back.
Finally Owen wanted to play!
Owen is six months younger than Aubrey. I know, right?
Cousins Katie 2, Owen 5, Aubrey 6, Gracie 8, Nick 10, Alex 12, and Jess 15. We never actually got Owen back-to-back with Nick, but I think they were within a fraction of an inch of each other (with a five-year age difference). And Katie seems to be pretty close to Aubrey, who is four years older. I guess we really DO grow them big.
Last year:
Lisa B. made these AWESOME ladybug cupcakes for Katie’s birthday.
And these for Greg’s birthday. (I missed a pic of the ones for Aubrey’s birthday, but they were Frozen-themed.)
We did pretty good keeping track of Katie all day (when there’s so many people around, there’s always someone half watching) and then we failed right at the end. People were running around cleaning up and putting things away…and before I know it, Tom is carrying Katie back from the front yard. Apparently Katie was wandering down the driveway and Greg caught her and brought her back. Phew.
And before we knew it, it was time to head out. Katie didn’t make it to the end of the road before she fell asleep, and Owen lasted about 15 minutes.
Fish hatchery and fishing!
We wanted to introduce Katie to the fish hatchery—and I wanted to see Owen enjoy it (since I didn’t go last year when Tom and Marsha took him)…so our big group came in and asked if we could all get in on the free family admission coupon my mom had…and the guy joked that we were a circus and I said YOU HAVE NO IDEA. He let us all in for free, so we bought five bags of food and planned to take Owen fishing…
Katie was fascinated and REALLY wanted to go in the water—so someone had to keep a hand on her most of the time. Owen had fun, too, but couldn’t wait to go fishing!
Owen loved fishing—but who wouldn’t, when it only takes a matter of seconds to catch one! We let him catch five (you pay by the inch) and he had fun with each one!
Katie thought she wanted to see the fish…until she saw them and then that was it.
Owen thought he wanted to hold one…until Tom held one out.
The family—and Owen with his catch!
Owen’s first fireworks!
We have been wanting to try some low-key fireworks with Owen for awhile now and just haven’t gotten around to it. I’ve had sparklers for a year now—planning on using them on July 4th or after a party or something—but again, we just never got around to it. Until now.
We went to the local fireworks outlet and asked for the kiddie section and they were having a B1G1 free sale so we ended up with a bunch of little stuff.
And Owen LOVED it. LOVED IT. And everyone loved watching him! We only used half of the stuff tonight so we have one more night’s worth coming up. (And when I say a night’s worth, I mean about 10-15 minutes max, which includes sparkler time.) We made sure Katie was in bed so we could concentrate fully on Owen and not have to worry about Katie… She’ll be out for the second night.
The lady said the ones we got would go “telephone pole height” at most. She was right.
And I found my pooping dog! I had seen it on Facebook and loved it—and thought the kids would, too. I was thrilled they had it at the store! (And yes, Owen LOVED it.)
Fun in Gramma’s Back Yard
Potty break when dripping wet = going in the woods!
Happy 2nd Birthday, Katie!
And a TBT birthday along with today’s version, both taken in Gramma Jean’s back yard!
Beach Frisbee
Owen and Anna were bestest buddies!
Then Kathryn and Izzy were playing frisbee and Owen wanted to join! This is his catching stance.
His robot stance.
Look at that form!
Good catch!
Proof that his form actually works! He can throw pretty well!
I told him to write his name in the sand. You can see the normal-ish sized O right behind his feet…and then I told him he could do it a little bigger and so he’s drawing an O about three times his size (he’s finishing up the last of it). That’s as far as he got with his name before he lost interest.
Fudpucker’s
I stayed home so Katie could take a real nap (i.e. in total piece and quiet) while everyone else went to Fudpucker’s in Destin.
The food was taking longer than expected and the gator show was about to start, so they sent the kids off by themselves to the show.
Then it was back to sign their names—and add some drawings—to the wall…
And then Owen tried—and liked!—alligator!
But got pizza for his lunch!
And then it was time to feed the alligators!
And a few photo ops:
Then it was off to get ice cream!
And a gun that I’m sure he wanted but he did not come home with:
Tom said Owen had a great time! And Katie had her very best nap all week—just over three hours!
Windy Beach
It was too cold and windy but the kids still wanted to go to the beach and the guys wanted to try fishing one last time. We took pictures from the balcony.
Cousins at the beach!
I love this picture—it looks like David is the Godfather sending his minions off…
The wave snuck up on him!
Katie LOVED the sand…and was COVERED in it.
Anna and Owen in their hot tub!
Bubbles!
Testing out the non-heated pool. It was COLD but Owen stayed in for probably 15 minutes!
And one year ago…the same cousins on another beach.
Afternoon at the Zoo
Today we all went to the Gulf Breeze Zoo — it was Katie’s first zoo experience!
Stole the cup right out of his hand!
Owen can jump as far as a tree frog!
Who can jump farther?
Train ride!
Hugging the stuffed animals!
Owen picked a bat mask at the gift shop!
Owen hits the beach!
We waited until Katie went down for her nap, then we took Owen down to the beach. It was a Red Flag day which meant dangerous surf conditions, but it was too cold to even get into the water anyway…but he still had fun!
Bedtime at the condo
Both kids got to bed late tonight due to the long day of travel plus a time zone change…
Grandparents and Grandkids
About 15 shots and not one with everyone looking at the camera with their eyes open…so these are the two best ones.
Of course, I took two quick shots with mom’s camera and got a better one!
A Dead Prius
So Tom’s car is a Prius. Since he’s deployed, we took off most of the insurance (I think it has “garage” insurance) and it sits in the driveway. We put Stabil in the gas tank and I go out every so often to start it and reposition it in the driveway so the tires don’t sit in the same spot for six months. I have gone though this routine twice before with two other cars—for 12-13 months each—with no issues.
So of course guess what happened?
I went out to start it the other day and the doors didn’t automatically unlock. I thought I heard a very faint single beep when I tried it, but wasn’t sure. Hmmm, okay, I’ll just pop the key out of the fob and manually unlock the doors. Press the start button. Nothing. Oh crap. Put the fob in the ignition. Nothing.
$&!#
I know NOTHING about this car, really, aside from it’s a hybrid and we probably should have done a bit more research before just going along with status quo. Tom has been gone three months. I’ve started it twice for a few minutes. So I am guessing it never ran long enough and the battery is dead (hybrids have two batteries—one regular 12v that starts the car and the more expensive hybrid system battery).
So I called USAA to see if the car is insured for getting a jump (since it just has the most basic insurance on it) and it turns out I had more insurance than I thought I did—though not roadside and not what I thought I had. Turns out USAA does not offer storage insurance in North Carolina, which is what I thought we had. (I asked if North Carolina ever had storage coverage because I was positive our premiums really decreased past deployments…but she said it’s never been offered…so I have no idea what happened before.) So the increased premium to get us back to what we normally carry is a mere $16 a month… So I have to talk to Tom, but it looks like I will just add on full coverage and try to drive it every now and again. (The other inexpensive option is to plug it in to a trickle charger…so I’m researching that.)
My TiVo friends helped me out with info and links and whatnot (i.e. talked me off the ledge) and today David helped me jump it.
It worked and I drove around the neighborhood for about 10 minutes. I’ll likely go out every day or so now just to start it until we decide on a more permanent solution.
Tom can come home any time now. 
Grandpas are comfy.
I peeked out of the kitchen after dinner to see this.
Happy Early Birthday, Katie!
Her second first birthday onesie!
Her birthday balloon and bib at the hotel for her party!
Making faces with Papa.
Amazingly, she didn’t dive into the cake.
Singing Happy Birthday and big brother helping blow out the candle! (Yes, it’s a little blurry. I have a FAIL every now and again.)
Also amazingly, she didn’t make much of a mess. Yes, SHE got messy, but she ate the whole piece and none hit the floor!
Her new suit and coverup from Grauntie Rose!
Up and out completely on her own!
She would have dove in had Tom let her.
It was impossible to get all three looking at me at the same time.
She kept trying to drink the water!
She loved playing with Papa’s toes!
Drying off with Grandma Marsha.
Waiting to open presents!
A fun game Katie had with some grandparents…
