How to Work a Grandparent

Sarasota, FL         High:   80      Low:    61

The kids are having a great time--the big ones and the little ones....Kids we don't know...

Don't you just love the swim protection for little ones they have these days? Even though this little guy has a gator outfit on, he reminds Sparky of a Ninja turtle!

They had music at Sun 'n' Fun's bar and grill today, and this little guy brought down the house with his dancing, tambourine shakin' and booty shakin'! He was more popular than the entertainer they brought in, much to HIS consternation!

And kids we DO know...Brian's friend Steve, and one of his three daughters....

Steve and his daughter

Steve and two out of his three daughters

Steve's youngest, who loves to dive for coins

Brian has two children, Cate and Trevor, those are Eldy's grandkids...His friend, Steve, has three adorable girls, all blonds....Brian's oldest girl, and Steve's oldest girl are old enough to baby sit the younger ones, so they were on their own this evening, with us being backup. A text came in around 8:00 PM from the kids. "We are coming down. Are you there?" Yep, so here they came....Five kids with a purpose in mind. Now, you know, kids don't just come down to talk to their grandpa for the heck of it, they usually have something in mind.

First, they tried Grandma Jeannie, a.k.a. "Sparky"...."Jeannie? We were going to have some ice cream so we went down to the Boondocks Restaurant and it's closed," (said with disappointed faces)....
"Oh, really?" says Sparky...."Well, maybe we can figure something out..."
"Yeah," say the kids. "I wonder where we can get some ice cream. Jeannie, do you have any?"

Sparky caved in in a heartbeat, especially after looking at this little face....

"Um-m-m, no, we don't have any, but maybe we can send Papa on an ice cream run."
"YEAH!" they all chime in. "That's a GOOD idea!"

Then ensued a BIG discussion about 1) what kind of ice cream to get--Blue Moon was what most everybody wanted but we didn't think they'd have it at the grocery store, and 2) who got to go with Papa for the ice cream run because there's no room in the car except for one kid in the front seat. Trevor won out because he's the only boy amongst four girls, his sister and their friends' girls. Poor Trevor! He's been picked on a lot lately with all these girls ganging up on him!

Now, aren't all these girls adorable? They say please and thank you to everything you do for them.  So when the littlest one, who's in kindergarten looks at you with eager anticipation when you say maybe Papa can go on an ice cream run, it's a no brainer. You do what you gotta do to make all these cute kids happy. You take a vote on what kind of ice cream (cookies and cream, and cookie dough) and off Eldy went!

They came, they ate, they conquered, they went back to their cottage. It sure is fun having the little ones around! Even if they do know how to work Grandpa into buying them ice cream. (Sounds to me like Grandma Sparky was the one that got coerced into the ice cream deal, says E.) Yep, that's how it really was.....   :-)   Bye for now.......