Ms. Be's Vacation - Week 1: The Grandparents


Ms. Be usually takes a couple weeks off each year. This year she decided it was time for a "vacation of a lifetime" with a two week trip to Europe, including a cruise home. While we all agree that Ms. Be and her husband truly deserve a vacation, this means finding someone to watch Anna. Who do we call? Grandma of course.

This time, Grandma brought Grandpa along for a week of entertaining Anna (or perhaps it was the other way around). We think Grandma brought Grandpa along realizing that it takes a lot more energy to entertain a three year old as oppose to the infant days. Grandma came prepared with a suitcase full of activities and surprises.


The first surprise was a set of hula hoops, which Anna immediately took to. Now, Grandma thinks she is funny because she knows that Mom & Dad will be forced to spend hours in the basement hula hooping with Anna. What she forgot was that she and Grandpa would also be hula hooping (or as Anna calls it "hoopty hoo.") Grandma's hoopty hoo is not quite what it use to be and she was experiencing some back pain after the first couple of days. Despite the pain, Grandma noted that this was the best she had slept in months thanks to chasing Anna around all day.


So, what did Anna do with her Grandparents besides hula hoop? Well, Grandma brought along arts and crafts activities. Then there was Christmas decorating. Anna is really into Christmas this year and was SO excited about the tree. In true three-year old fashion, she hung ornaments all in one section of the tree at her eye level (Mom would sneak around a re-position the ornaments when she wasn't looking). When the tree was finished, she exclaimed "its beautiful Grandma" and proceeded to ask Grandma to take a series of photos of her under the tree.

Anna also helped Grandma bake Christmas cookies. Grandma played all sorts of games with Anna. It wasn't unusual to come home to find Anna making Grandma tea and both of them wearing princess crowns. Grandpa took care of a series of household repairs and hung the outside Christmas lights (he chose not to wear a crown). Grandma and Grandpa braved Washington traffic and took Anna shopping and to a children's concert (this was the first time Grandma and Grandpa got to see "Rocknosaurus.") They sang Christmas carols. They played bingo. They also played with Mom's fisher price dollhouse that Grandma and Grandpa brought along. The week concluded with a visit to the holiday display at the U.S. Botanical gardens and Union Station as well as an unusual 5 inch snowfall.

Grandma and Grandpa departed at 5 AM for Ohio this morning. Anna was quite upset that her grandparents were gone. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for a great week.


Next up - Anna & Charley babysitt. We hope they are ready for some hula hooping!

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