The Great Grandsons

We really needed to visit our granddaughter, Amber, in Garden City, Michigan. Her second child was born on August 19th and Mr. Right hadn't even seen him yet. Not only that, but I was suffering from a serious lack of pictures for his photo file. So we went. We got started late because, yes, we were exhausted from the first part of the weekend. Also, I was determined to shred which of course necessitates a shower; and, the skimmer and filter pads had to be cleaned for the big pond. We finally got on the road about 12:30 our time which is 1:30 Amber's time.

Recently I bought a new laptop - my very first one. I've always hated being disconnected when we travel or even when I babysit for a few hours at someone's house. What we didn't buy was the G4 service which would allow me to be online as we drive down the road. I'll get it if it has to be my only Mother's Day/birthday, Christmas presents combined for the next four years. But right now we don't have it. I did take the laptop though and wrote a few posts as we traveled. I plan to include stories from days gone by on my blog and as I thought of stories, I wrote them out. It really made the time fly and I felt like I accomplished something as well. Hopefully, you'll enjoy reading about our haunted farm, thieving neighbors, wildcats, traveling and tons of other legends from days of yore.

But back to today's subject.

One of the side perks of visiting baby Dane was to fill his photo album with up-to-date pictures like these:

Here he is getting to know his great grandpa:

And here's Jack trying on the big double stroller that Amber's dad sent along for her:

Amber's mom, our daughter Amy, also lives near Garden City with her husband and children so the plan was that we'd visit Amber for awhile, then we'd all drive to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

Here's Dane getting ready for his first real outing:

Dane was the big reason for this trip but not surprisingly, his big brother Jack who's about 20 months old, stole the show and the camera as you'll see as you read further.

We arrived at Texas Roadhouse and connected with Amy and her family right in the parking lot. As soon as Jack saw Jenna and Jeremy, he knew everything was going to be good.

We went inside and had a nice area all to ourselves to wait for our table. Texas Roadhouse does not take reservations but they do take pride in their call ahead seating. We had called ahead and it's a good thing because we waited about 45 minutes after we got there. So I filled the time doing what I like to do best, taking pictures. Here's Amber and Chris.

And here's Jack grooving to the country music that kept us company while we waited.

Amy can't get enough of her grandson and it's easy to see why. He's such a loving, smart, entertaining little guy.

Jack's step grandpa who doesn't get to see too much of him, tried to warm up their relationship:

But Jack immediately started looking for an escape route:

And Jack's step grandpa thought this was hilarious and adorable.

The kids played with Jack which was entertaining for everybody.

But soon the long wait started to take it's toll and boredom began to set in.

I have to give Jenna and Jeremy credit however because they kept Jack happy the entire time.

Finally we were seated and Jack got the primo spot - right between is young aunt and uncle.

And while Dane patiently waited, we ate.

After dinner the party split up but not until I'd grabbed a couple more shots.

Here's one of all four kids.

And here's one of Amy's little clan. We had a stranger take a shot of everyone including Mr. Right and I but, alas, it can't be shown. It will however be posted where I can look at it often to remind myself of why I joined the Shrinkvivor challenge which starts Wednesday over at Shrinkingjeans.com.

Finally, after Jack's step grandpa showed how strong he was, Jack warmed up to him.

Jenna said good-bye in the parking lot.

And Great Grandpa and I headed back to Amber and Chris' for another short visit before we headed home. Jack and Mr. Right played some ball.

And Jack showed us his buttons.

Dane finally got something to eat too and felt much better.

You can see it's true by how gratefully he's gazing at his mommy.

And then we got the good-bye shot. How lucky can anybody be to have a grandson-in-law who is the one that remembers the good-bye shot and insists that they have to get one of us. Wow. We are blessed.

We got home about 11:30. I wrote one more story on the way and we ended a really fabulous, jam-packed weekend.

I have to admit though, that this post would have been up earlier if this woman hadn't needed her rest so badly.