Anna, Ohio


So there you are....riding down the road, staring out the window while sucking your thumb and holding your kitty pillow, when you see it. There is your name on top of a water tower for everyone to see while driving down I-75! It may not be the same as seeing your name in lights in Las Vegas, but it is pretty exciting for an almost 3-year old to see her name on a water tower. Thus began a long weekend with Grandma and Grandpa in Ohio.

After the water tower sighting, Anna and her parents stopped to have some lunch with Great-Grandpa (who also has a birthday coming up on September 12 - he will be 97). After lunch, the group arrived at Grandpa and Grandma's house. Joe and Anna served as migrant workers in Grandpa's garden where they harvested a bumper crop of tomatoes. Grandma is still not sure what to do with them all.

Saturday was spent at the Franke Park Children's Zoo in Fort Wayne, IN (which by the way is a fantastic zoo). Anna had a great time reading the map, riding the train and the merry-go-round, and seeing all of the animals. Of course the most memorable part of the zoo visit was not the fish or the tigers. The first thing she recounts about her zoo visit is that she saw a giraffe pooping. Of course that there was also the orangutan exhibit, where Anna was running through the people exclaiming, "Mama, the orangutan is peeing A LOT." In short, Anna has entered the bathroom humor stage. Once can only hope that she passes through this stage faster than Uncle Rod and Uncle Tim, who are still in the stage after 30 years.

Grandma fixed a special dinner for Anna, including a birthday cake. Anna was quite excited about the cake and offered to share with everyone. Grandma did a fine job of decorating it. Unfortunately, Grandma could not find her cake decorating kit. Ever resourceful, she began to call around to the neighbors. Fortunately, her neighbor Katy lent her a cake decorating kit that had never been used. It worked great. (Note: Katy is 8 years old and has an "easy bake" cake decorator. Grandma is thinking of asking for one for Christmas). The evening concluded with presents from Grandma and Grandpa, which included a kid laptop computer game, a new dress, and Dora the Explorer books. Anna loves the computer and Mom and Dad practically need to hide it from her. Grandma got share the joy of the Dora books when Anna requested that she read all 6 of them (and they are LONG) to her. Grandma needs to brush up on her Spanish to read all the books.

The weekend concluded with lunch with Uncle Rod and Courtney and another visit with Great-Grandpa. A big thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for a great weekend a very happy birthday celebration!

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