Hula Hooping

Charlie has learned the graceful art of hula-hooping and was eager to show me her skills today. She does pretty good for a 4-year old and manages to keep it up for 10 or 15 seconds at a time. With practice she'll soon be as good as her Grammie used to be.

Hula hoops became popular in the mid- to late 50's when I was 9 - 12. I got pretty good at it - good enough to win a contest at a picnic for the soldier's kids at the army base we were living in at the time (Base Gagetown, NB). I could start twirling at my waist and move it up to my neck and down to my knees without losing a beat or dropping it. Of course I was skinny as a rail and straight as a poker back then so it was pretty easy going for the hoop.

I'm glad to see that hula-hooping hasn't completely died out and that one of my offspring's offspring is following in her Grammie's footsteps.

Way to go Charlie!!

Watermelon Baby

To day Eloise had her first taste of watermelon. She looks so serious about it, but I think she was afraid someone would take it away from her before she was finished with it. See how white the ends of her fingers are from holding on to it. Maybe she just liked the coolness of it on her toothless gums...I personally can't see what all the fuss is. Watermelon is my least favorite fruit and I never eat it if I can possible avoid it. Looks like Elly doesn't take after her Grammie that way. Oh well. She has other good qualities :-)

Emily's Birthday

The family celebrated Emily's 22nd birthday today, although her birthday is tomorrow. She'll have her friends party tomorrow. It's hard to believe that my baby is 22 years old. She's grown into a lovely young woman but she'll always be my baby.

It's actually my sister's birthday today. There's interesting correlations between Emily and Wendy. For one thing, Wendy named Em. Lloyd and I tried several names on Em during her first few days with us but none seemed to 'fit' her. (After already naming four daughters, it was a bit of a challenge coming up with a name for the fifth!) Then Wendy phoned and suggested we name her Emily Patricia. We tried it, liked it, and stuck with it. It suits her. As she grew up, we realized that she looks like Wendy and one of her daughters, and they share several character traits.

My camera's battery was running low (my small camera, not my Rebel) so I only got a couple and they're not particularly good, but here they are. Here's one of Wendy too, since it's really her birthday. Happy birthday ladies. Love you both.

Swinging Good Time

We went over to Sara and Quincey's this morning and sat on the deck visiting. Charlie and Max got bored and decided that they needed more attention from Daddy and Papa so they talked them into pushing them on the swings. It was nice seeing the two men playing with the kids, even if they carried on their discussion while they did so. Meanwhile, Eloise just lounged around on the deck chair and smiled her cute little baby smile. It was a beautiful morning - I love sitting on the deck in that back yard.

A Good Day

It was another kite flying day. This time Amy and Sara took their six kids and I went along to take care of the babies, Aidan and Eloise, while their moms and bigger siblings flew kites and walked the trail at Big Bear Park. Here's some pictures of my little charges. Aidan is 10 months old, Elly is 6 months.

Windy Day Fun

What do you do on a windy day? Go fly a kite of course. I've never actually flown one myself but when Sara took Kenzie and Charlie out to the park with their kite, I went along to watch, but actually ended up taking a turn (my very first) at kite flying. It's a lot of fun. One thing I learned...it's very, very hard to get a picture of a kite flying! Maybe Sara got some better ones.

Perks of Age

OK - so this isn't much of a picture. What it is though is a celebration of the perks of aging. The way I see it, we all have to age (it's better than the alternative!) and some businesses are savvy enough to celebrate with us the fact that we've made it this far and are cheering us on our way.

Today Mickey and I enjoyed one of our 'girls days out' and went to various stores in search of the perfect border scallop tool by Fiscars. Along the way, we stopped at the Royal Fork buffet for lunch. Noticing their seniors reward program, I asked them how old one had to be to take advantage of it. Lucky for me, they regard us young 60 year olds as seniors so Mickey and I paid less for our meal and got the Senior Value Card as well - my very first senior value card! You can bet I'm going to collect as many different seniors perks cards as I can. If I have to be this old, why not take advantage of it and enjoy it all the way. It's not as if I feel old - I don't feel a day over 50.

And yes, we did find the much coveted border scallop tool. We got the last two in stock at Michael's.