 |
| Search |
|
|
|
|
In a Family Way
When you live half way across the country from your grandkids you have to take clumps of quality time to spend with them. Otherwise how will they ever get to really know you and you them? So this winter we did a six-week visit with our daughter, her husband and their two children, Isabelle 5 years old and Andrew 21 months old. To anyone we tell six weeks they usually make some snide remarks like 'don't you think you'll outstaying your time?' or 'after three days it starts to smell like old fish'. And no there were no death threats made or down and out quarrels. We actually get along very well with our daughter, who also is the middle child, which should explain everything. Her children being the only grandchildren, well naturally our attention and spoiling factor goes with them.
So during the six-week stay we did a variety of things with our precious darlings. On this one particular day we decided to do a day trip to the Seattle Zoo which is a very nice place to visit. This zoo is family friendly, has wide walkways, good displays or habitats and they also have play areas for the kids. But let me back track and tell you how this went from the beginning.
We don't have to worry about not getting up early, not with Isabelle and Andy. If they could, these two kids would chase the rooster around to make that awful noise and wake everyone else up so our departure time was pretty much an early given. Now if you know anything about the Seattle area you'll know how bad the traffic can be, especially during rush hour to and from work. Our goal was to be out the door at 9 am and leave the zoo around 2:30 pm. This would give us plenty of time to get to the zoo, have a relaxing day with the grandchildren and return home so we could beat the four lane highway mad rush or what is otherwise known as a parking lot on a federal road.
So there we were at 9 am loading the kids into the Expedition to start our trip. When what do I spot in the garage but this beautiful, clean wagon. "Grandpa, we need that wagon for the children" is what I say. You see, for a joint birthday gift last year we bought the kids the super dooper wagon of all wagons thinking Jackie (our daughter) would use this a lot. I wonder why it looks so new and the tires are so clean? This bright yellow monstrosity can handle a whole Mexican family plus a few Native American Indians and their lunches (the beer cans being disposed of as they are gulped down). So it only made sense that we should take this wonderful wagon with us allowing the children lots of room to sit or lay down and rest should they get tired, along with extra jackets for them plus their snacks. Grandpa thinks this too is a good idea until he lifts this sucker into the Expedition. It doesn't fit! Not only does this sucker weigh around 100 pounds, but also it needs to be disassembled and reassembled putting it in and out of the Expedition - not once but twice. It's now 9:30, but we're ready to leave.
The drive there is easy and we have no difficulty finding it other than a quick 45-degree turn as we're passing the entrance of the zoo. We find a parking spot up front of the entrance and we're all excited. The tank (previously called the wagon) is lowered onto the ground, put back together, blankets added for padding and comfort, but what is this? The children don't want to ride, they want to walk not ride in the special wagon. So now one of us pulls this monstrosity while the other hoards the kids into the right direction or something close to not letting them our of our sight. Oh, I haven't told you about the personalities of our wonderful grandchildren. Of course they are the brightest, most talented, and well-behaved children out of all our friends grandchildren. But once in awhile for a split second of time Isabelle becomes Cybil of multi personalities, all at the same time - some not so nice, and Andrew has just a 'tad' of a temper on him. For being so darn cute and cuddly when Andrew wants something, it's now or if he doesn't want to do something - well look out. Not only does he scream, cry and throw a temper tantrum but also he has a wallop of a punch and usually aims for the face. So okay, we let them walk while one of us strains to pull the wagon that all the adults passing by say, "how great that wagon is".
The African exhibit is the first part of the zoo we come to and Isabelle wants to go to the play area not in the display area. I say, "no first we must visit this wonderful exhibit and see all that is on display". "The play area, it's over here Grandma", she says. Far from a young child telling me what she wants to do and where the play area is, after all I have the map. So the African exhibit gets our quick run through and the wagon train moves on. Yep, you guessed it right - in the wrong direction. So all the wonderful animals that are within our sight don't mean a thing, she wants the spider web to climb on. We've gone through most of the snacks by now and it isn't even the lunch hour. It's amazing how much two little bodies can inhale when they aren't sitting at the table actually eating a meal.
I wouldn't call it dragging as they are walking on their own accord, just not in the direction we want them to go in. For they are driven by this play area that Isabelle just knows is right over there but we aren't going in that direction. With our bag of bribery depleted we look for a lunch area. Only when we find the food station it is crowded with kids and all the tables are taken. So we continue on not looking at the animals but for the play area. With map in hand we cover almost the whole zoo in our short time. What is comprehended, well that is another story. But we were there and we did pass by animals and pictures were taken. By 1:30 the kids have passed their lunchtime and I'm getting hungry and tired. This wagon is so damn heavy to pull and Grandpa can see he better find something to settle this hostile crew down fast. We backtrack to the lunch area where we plop Grandpa down at a table with the chiluns and I head for the food station do the ordering and return to the table with two trays of nutritional food. Only the kids say I didn't pick the right food for them to eat. They don't want that 'stuff'. Swaps are made, threats are given out and we identify certain items of foods to encompass the four food groups. Ketchup is a vegetable, cookies have starch in them so they are a carbohydrate, and of course, pizza has all four food groups in it. We have a meal.
With food in the tummy, the grandparent's tummies that is, we continue the search for this playscape which Isabelle keeps insisting is just down this way. Okay we humor her and at this point this way is on the way out which is good. Only she actually leads us to this wonderful playscape for kids of all sizes and ages. Grandpa takes Andrew and I take off after Isabelle who has found her spider web climber that she has been seeking. They play in, around, under and over most of all the items in this children's playground paradise. There is even this mole hole that only kids can get into and around. Now we can look back and realize Andrew shouldn't have gone in it because neither of us could get him out. We tell Isabelle to go in and get him out of there. Standing back and watch them circling around sticking their heads out of the holes every so often was cute in the beginning but enough is enough. The time to come out is now and Isabelle is given the direct order to do the seek and rescue and retrieve Andrew from the mole hole. At this time there were comments made about a certain odor and where were the elephants when we noticed this odor was coming from our one and only grandson. Being so close to the exit gate I say we wait and change him in the car. We bypass the gift shop and head directly to our waiting chariot. Once the tailgate is open and ready to do the changing, we find Andrew isn't too cooperative about allowing us to lay him down and change his diaper. Squirm, fight, yell, cry, wrestle are a few words to describe this situation. All the while we're handling Andrew, Isabelle is picking up little flowers that were coming out of the blacktop in the parking lot. A boquet for Mommy. It is at this point we discover Andrew has over productive plumbing and has shit - wrong - he has over-spilled his diaper with shit spreading it upward and out. The poopoo is on his onesie that was once white but is now brown in color. But not only are his clothes covered with this smelly brown substance, Grandpa's jacket is also the recipient of the smear. How this small child can encompass this amount of bodily waste is beyond both grandparents. This calls for a two man job, but Andrew is not cooperating. Now can you picture two adults changing a small child while containing all this shit and keeping an eye on the other grandchild playing in the parking lot? It wasn't a nice picture and we weren't so nice to each other while doing it. I held up this naked child while Grandpa used almost a complete package of baby wipes to clean him up - as best we could.
In the end we left the zoo with memories only grandparents can cherish and drove the distance home in silence with the kids falling asleep and us inching our way in bumper to bumper traffic. We had missed our window of opportunity to avoid the commuter traffic jam.
© Copyright 2000-2006 Spanitz
Consulting, Inc.
Top of Page
|
|
|
Spanitz Consulting - Article Headlines
In a Family Way
Latest Headlines
|
|
