Win-Win

I've talked and talked about the perks of being a grandparent. Last weekend, once again, we got to enjoy those perks once again and it was a double win for us.

Like so many of our faraway grandchildren, we don't see our Louisville grandchildren nearly often enough so when Sarah asked us a favor involving spending the night with those grandchildren, we couldn't hesitate. Although it was a five hour drive on Saturday (Mr. Right had to work until 11 p.m. on Friday) and a five hour drive on Sunday, we found they were ten hours well spent.

Because we got to spend time with and enjoy:

Trey

Mary

Ethan

What's not to love about spending time with those wonderful children. Then as an added bonus:

Jack

and Dane

and their mom and dad stopped by on their way to Tupelo MS where they would be spending a few weeks for Chris' temporary work assignment.

All the children had a wonderful time.

And so did Grandpa and I.

Sunday morning Ethan and Mary posed with one of their pets.

And Sarah posed with her clone:

It was weird to see the grown up version and the baby version of the same person in one picture. He sure looks like his mom did when she was his age.

On the way home, we patted each other on the back for doing a good deed which made us feel like a million bucks and recounted the fun we'd had while doing it. It was great.

Oh and I caught a couple more pictures on the way home. The bridge that's a little too long for my comfort but obviously very strong and well built.

And a really small part of the enormous Fowler Ridge wind farm near Lafayette IN.

All in all it was a great weekend. Definitely a win win for us.

Grandma Perks

No Grandma Perks is not a person. Grandma perks are the little extra benefits of being a grandma.

Here's an email I got from Dave the other day.

"I’ve been meaning to tell you this story for about a month.

One night the kids had a handful of their friends over and they were begging and begging to go to Baskin Robbins which would have cost a fortune. To avoid the BR expenses I told them that I could make ice cream cones WAY better than Baskin Robbins by buying ingredients at the store and making them the best ice cream cones ever! They were skeptical but agreed when I told them they could go to the store with me and pick out whatever ice cream they wanted. I was feeling pretty happy with myself as we strolled down the aisle to where all the ice cream stuff is. We bought two different kinds of fancy candy, caramel, and chocolate filled ice creams in half gallon containers. We also bought chocolate sauce and some big waffle cones. I was surprised at the cost of it all when we checked out but I thought I must have saved some money although I’m still not sure.

When we got home I started taking custom orders for double and triple scoop ice cream cones packed right down to the bottom and overfilled way above the top of the rims of the sweet flavored waffle cones. To top it all off each ice cream cone was drenched in chocolate sauce to their liking. After all the work, the time it took to do the shopping, and the bill when I checked out, I was wondering if it was all worth it. But then I stood back and watched these kids happily gobbling down their treats making comments about how delicious they were without a single mention of Baskin Robbins. That is until one of the kids’ friends made a comment that made me feel so good. She said, “this is way better than Baskin Robbins.” So there I was, basking in my glory and feeling very pleased with myself when Katie replied, “Oh this is nothing compared to the ice cream cones my Grandma makes.” And the smile disappeared from my face and was replaced with a confused look as I thought about the plain little cones filled with plain chocolate or vanilla ice cream. No candy, no caramel, and no fudge built into fancy ice cream, no gigantic waffle cones, and no chocolate sauce dripping over the sides. But then I thought of the ice cream cones that my Grandma used to make and I got my smile back when I realized that she was right. There is just something special about Grandma’s ice cream cones.

Love,
Dave"

So there you have it. Completely undeserved but showered with extra credit from the ones who matter - our grandchildren.

I do know what the secret ingredient is in the cones that grandmas make though. Each and every cone is packed right down to the bottom with all the love a grandma's heart can hold.

Thanks, Dave for sharing the story with me.