To Grandmother's House We Go

My Grandma had a stroke several months ago, which was a complete and utter shock to everyone.  At 85 years old, she was still outside, painting her home, tending to her garden, traveling the world, etc.  Since the incident took place, I've been wanting to visit her but with The Lime being sick every other week, it hasn't been possible.

Finally, besides allergies, we've all been healthy and so we were off!

My dad joined us for the visit, which The Lime loved.  GrandPop is his pal and he loved spending the day with him.

We picked Grandma up at her place and headed to her local Denny's restaurant where everyone recognized her.

Do you see the resemblance?

Notice the guy behind us?  We think he was pretending to talk on his cell phone because he never stopped talking to let the "other" person say anything.  But he spent about 15+ minutes ranting and raving about politics in California, the mafia, transit, where Governor Brown sleeps.  It was crazy.

During lunch, we got on the topic of gambling, and I admitted to doing some on our cruise last month.  I explained my frustration and realized why I don't gamble...it makes me sick to lose my hard earned money!  I said, "You've just gotta learn to stop while you're ahead!" when Grandma quickly replied, "And get the hell outta there!"  The stroke has definitely not done anything to her sense of humor.  She had us laughing all day.

Then we were off to her place, where The Lime ran free, played with chickens, played baseball, and admired many pictures.

 4 generations - Everything is so familiar at this home - lots of memories.

Next, we drove to my Grandpa's grave site, which I've never been to.  He passed away when I was 5 and I believe my brother was sick around the time of the funeral, so only my Pop went up for it.

The Lime made a beeline for the tractor and REALLY wanted to ride it.

With Grandpa.

We then made it back to Grandma's place, where all the old ladies fell in love with The Lime.  If only he was 80 years older.  My dad spent some time video taping Grandma, talking about her life.  The Lime ran wild in her place and was at his wit's end so the visit was a quick one.

The Lime took a ride on Grandma's "Cadillac", to "Mama/Dada har" (car) where we loaded up and made our way back to town. 

Slow down, Grandma!

We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and The Lime slept the entire way home!  Heaven!

As we were pulling out of her driveway, my dad said, "When I say goodbye to you or your sisters, it's pretty much a given that I'll see you the following week or so.  With Grandma, I can't quite guarantee that."  I agreed and patted him on the leg, as we shed a tear or two.

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

I actually really hate that song.  And I really hate when people play it at their wedding receptions.

But yesterday was a reason to celebrate; it was our Opa's 97th birthday and the A's beat the White Sox.

The Lime and I got up early and packed our bags for the drive to South San Jose.  The whole way down, The Lime kept calling, "Oooooopa?  Oooooopa?"  When we arrived, the sprinklers just happened to be pointed right at Opa's grave.  The Lime loved it but I wasn't planning on playing in the water.

Great aim!

Hurry!  Hurry!  Hurry!

Seeing how close he could get...

The Lime ran around for a  bit and he acknowledged every "Momo" that drove by, and there were a ton!  He was in heaven.  After waiting over a half hour, I was hoping the sprinklers would turn off soon.  They stayed on the entire time we were there but thankfully a worker was able to turn the ones closest to Opa off.

He refused to look at the camera.

I had to de-flood his grave with a plastic sandwich bag.  Thanks sprinklers, for drowning Opa to death...no pun intended.

 

 

 

Later that night, we headed to the A's game with Pop, courtesy of an Oral Surgeon my bosses refer to.  For a couple innings, we got to sit right along the railing of the White Sox entrance/exit into the locker room and tried to get an autograph but the players completely ignored us, including The Lime.  How could you resist this little guy?!

There were a couple extra seats around us, which allowed The Lime to have some space.  But by the bottom of the 7th inning, after pulling off his "Eye Black" baseball stickers, he had had enough.  "DeeDee home, nigh nigh!" he screamed so that's what we did. 

When we left the game, neither team had scored.  By the time we pulled onto our street, the game was over with a victory going to the A's, winning 2-0.

The A's and everyone who stayed long enough to see the win, were celebrating good times.

Retiring My Money Maker

I've only stood out for donations 3 times this year. Not so good. Especially since I don't even have 10% off my donations and I have almost 2 months left. Yikes!

I think one of the reasons why I haven't been motivated to get out with my sign is because I always get at least 1 person that tells me my sign is offensive. I'm afraid one day, I'll get a real crazy person and they'll do more than just criticize.

So for that reason, I'm retiring my sign and creating a new one. The new one isn't finished and it's not my original saying, but I think it'll be just as productive as my veteran sign.

So long, old friend.

Tally Mark 27

-A couple of weeks ago, The Lime wanted the iPad but I told him it needed batteries because it had died. So...he walks over to our drawer with the batteries, grabs a couple, walks back to me and says, "Mama! Batteries!"
-Likes us to smell his feet. "Mama! Mel!"
-Bites his stuffed animals so hard, his body starts to shake. Better them than his cousins.
-Likes to call people on the phone. His real conversations are cute, but his pretend conversations are adorable!
-Can only say A, B, C, D, I, O...but sings the tune great.
-Has a weekly date with Daddy to get "nonuts".
-Pretends our garage door opener is a harmonica.
-Is now obsessed with dog poop after our incident a couple weeks ago. If something stinks, it's always, "dog poo!"
-Likes to drive Daddy's work truck and car.
-Was heard "shifting" in his sleep the other night. He also talks about his cousins in his sleep.
-His hair is getting darker. We hope it'll lighten up in the Summer.
-Makes us smile with delight...most of the time.

Easter...A Week Late

We were blessed with a break from the rain, long enough to enjoy some time outside with LaVor's family on Easter Sunday.

Grams and Papa hosted dinner at their place, but before we ate, the kids gathered their loot.  And there was some loot to be gathered, let me tell you.

Getting the "go" from Grams.

And...

They're...

Off!

That was easy.

Gotta make sure all this hunting is worth it.

A little help from Daddy.

Showing off his collection.

The hunt was a success!

After all the eggs were found (including one from last year...yuck!), Uncle Mark threw the frisbee around with the 2 youngest boys.  They were in hog heaven!

Mark had told The Lime, "good throw!"

Then we ate dinner, which was delicious, and enjoyed listening to Uncle Troy read about the Resurrection from the scriptures.  After which, we dug into dessert which was a sugar overload but amazing, nonetheless.

Watch What You Say

One of our current bedtime books is The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor. The Lime loves it and thinks Dr. Grizzly is his personal doctor.

Several times a week, we drive by The Lime's Doctor's office. He loves his Doctor and her assistant, which I love because he actually enjoys going to visit them. In fact, last week, we drove by and he said, "Deedee go Dr. Lai?". I told him he wasn't sick and there was no reason to go visit her. I immediately thought to myself, "You shouldn't have said that! Now he's going to get sick!". And he did. Poor thing has probably forgotten what it feels like to be healthy.

But things must be getting better...he has promoted from laying on the couch to climbing on my back and saying, "Bull!"

Here's to hoping his appetite is back, too. Goldfish and smoothies don't come across as a balanced and nutritious diet.

There Are Bad People Everywhere

There were several instances growing up, where I felt unsafe in my home.  One in particular, happened when I was in, I want to say, 2nd grade.

We were all getting ready to sit down at the dinner table when we heard a commotion outside.  Two houses down from ours, a boy was beat with a tire iron by a group of 4 boys.  He was left in the neighbor's driveway, bleeding profusely.  The cops came, a crowd gathered, and I was scared.  I tried to convince my mom that we needed to move up to Fort Bragg, where my Omi lived, because nothing like that ever happened there.  She assured me that bad people were everywhere and no matter where we lived, we couldn't escape them.

I hate that she's right.  And not because I want her to be wrong, but I hate that there's bad people everywhere.

We don't live in the safest part of town but I know it could be worse.  We're mostly tired of the constant barking of dogs, which happens all.the.dang.time.  We would love to be able to go in our backyard or front yard without a symphony of barks. 

I had fasted yesterday, to know if we should move or not, but hadn't received any sort of revelation or feeling all morning.  As we pulled up to our house after church, there were 3 cops across the street, but we couldn't see anything interesting.  While reading the paper online last night, apparently there was a shooting, hence the law enforcement presence.  I certainly wasn't expecting that kind of answer.  The only details I found out were a blue SUV was the suspect vehicle and they shot at, but missed, people walking down the street.  Seriously?!  In broad daylight, on Easter Sunday, with families outside?  I don't know if I'm more mad or scared.  The Lime and I are outside all the time and the thought of creeps shooting other people obviously sends a shiver up my spine but it also makes my blood boil. 

I have this sign hanging in our home, and I agree with it 100%.  We do not need anything big or fancy but I might need to add "and safe" after small.

When it comes to shootings or dogs, I'll pick the dogs.  But I might need to start a neighborhood watch. 

For real.