Spring Break at Nana & Papa’s

We asked to have Isaac and Mona for part of their spring break. As it turned out they had two weeks off PRIOR to Erika having her spring break. Erika’s school district is not a year-round school district as is the one in Chula Vista, so their dates don’t lineup together. They looked at Justin’s schedule and asked us to have them their first week when Justin works more. Not a problem! We packed the motorhome for a quick overnight for Friday, March 17. We went over to the house that afternoon to visit and transfer the carseats to the Jeep. We also loaded their bikes and swim stuff, so that Saturday morning Barry would be ready to leave Pio Pico with Vinny already loaded with the bikes, while I picked up Isaac and Mona. It worked out great! We had the kids for nine nights/ten days.

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The San Diego area has had a lot of rain this winter, and it showed at Pio Pico. All the usually dry river beds/washes were flowing. It was quite pretty with the sun shining! Glad it hadn’t rained last night or this morning, or the entrance to Pio may have been closed for a while.

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In Yuma – and the fun began!
We had Mona’s birthday presents waiting for her when she arrived. She told us last year how she wanted her own bear. We bought Isaac a nice bear when we were at Disney World a few years ago. So this summer we picked up a black bear for her when we visited the Great Smoky Mountains. We just hoped that by the time we gave it to her for her birthday, that she’d still be as happy to get it. She was! She even said, “I’ve always wanted one!” In fact, later in the week, while hugging her bear, she looked at me, and said, “I just LOVE my bear!”

We also got her an outfit for Baby Jessica. I guess I forgot to get a picture. It was a cute Minnie Mouse outfit that included white tights.

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A Special Desert Treat
I thought Isaac would get a kick out of a ride out into the desert in a side-by-side razor. Our friends, Dale and Rose were happy to bring theirs over. Dale took Barry out to show him how to operate it. Then it was time for Barry to take Isaac out.

I think the noise of the RZR made Mona say she didn’t want to take a turn. I reassured her she didn’t have to if she didn’t want to, but once Isaac returned and he told her how much fun it was, she decided to give it a try.

Thank you, Dale, for letting us share your RZR with the kids!

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The kids were AWESOME all week. They enjoyed parallel play quite a bit, as well as some incredible time playing creatively together!

Isaac LOVES to draw Sonic the Hedgehog, and all the characters within the movies, but he also loves visually creating his own stories. He started a story the first day where there was a car crash, and Doctor Evil showed up. It ended up being a multi-chapter story. He can work on drawing these for a couple hours at a time! (And, Yes, Isaac wears his Sonic hat almost 24-7! Luckily, I was able to get him to trust me to wash the hat.)

While Isaac was focused on drawing, Mona got into putting puzzles together. She is amazing with them. These puppies in cups was new for her, and they were not easy. By the end of the week, she complete all of them! Mona completed every puppy while I started the cup each time.

And of course these two “Finding Nemo” puzzles are a favorite. This time she could put each one together all by herself!

I had some “Paint By Sticker” books for us to try. I first saw a couple of these last summer at the Smithsonian Art Museum in Washington, DC. Mona loved them. Later, Isaac was ready to select a couple pictures to complete. Actually all three of us enjoyed these. I displayed our artwork on the dining room windows.

Mona’s:

Isaac’s:

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Mona wanted some art time that included water colors. So we did a simplified neurographic art picture.

• Step one: Make random moving lines working from one edge up and around the space using a Sharpie. Make as many as desired.
• Step two: Carefully round out every intersection of lines. (Mona was great at spotting all these!)
• Select a color of paint. Paint within all areas desired with that color. Repeat as desired till happy with result.

Note – next time we will focus on NOT having any “loose”, unconnected lines.

Mona must have enjoyed it because after making one, she wanted to make another. Below she is concentrating on step one.

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Playing great in our outdoor living area:

Here they set up a Repair Shop. It was pretty incredible the way they set it up on their own, but also how long they played so well together. Sometimes they were working on their own “repair” or creation, and sometimes they helped each other with one.

Below Mona demonstrates the roller skates that she made!

Isaac was impressed so he tried them, too. 🙂
(4 wheels on each skate would not fit.)

They wanted to build a plane as shown in the instruction booklet. They let Papa help. 🙂

Papa shows Isaac and Mona how to hammer real nails into some wood.

Isaac wanted to help drill a hole! He did quite well.

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Of the rocks that Mona found, these were two of her favorites.

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Jimmy R got a couple Selkirk mini paddles few months ago. Joyce & Herb ordered the two below, so we borrowed them quickly to get a picture of the kids with them. So cute!

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Isaac and Mona meet Jeff’s pet bird, Cracker, a beautiful cockatiel.

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Bowling
Only Mona wanted to go bowling when open bowling was available. She CRUSHED it! 172 and then 192!! Granted it was “7-pin no tap”, but still this was awesome. To get 7 or more pins down with her first ball is amazing for a 5 year old. Adults don’t all get that high of a score using the same 7-pin feature. Go Mona!! We love that we have this 4-lane AMF bowling alley on site in our park!

Bike Riding

Isaac loves to “race” Papa…

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Pool time is always a necessity. We only took a couple of pictures the time we went during the day. We went a couple of times at night after dinner when the flames were lit on all four stone columns. Isaac and Mona also enjoy the waterfalls that we can turn on, but if you leave them on too long the four waterfalls collectively can lower the pool temp a few degrees.

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During the kids’s visit, we had a first here in the park – a “donation only” music event that was held on a resident’s carport! The drummer, Rocky, is from CVR. Everyone loves him–and the band of which he is a part. The turnout was awesome. Isaac and Mona went with me. Diane (a park resident) handed both Isaac and Mona a beautifully carved, and perfect size maraca. They did great with them. Even the band members noticed their sense of rhythm. 🙂 In the video clip below Isaac starts out cautiously, but then really gets into it.

Mona got up with me to dance. Isaac didn’t seem up for it, but when Lynn asked him to dance with her, he did! It was precious as the four of us danced in the street.

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The kids ate great the entire ten days! We discovered they BOTH love Caesar salad! We had it a couple of times. If I thought I had extra–they finished it up!
Here was pizza night.

In fact, with as well as they ate at each meal, they usually only had one small snack during the day. If they knew I would be giving them lunch or dinner within about 15 minutes, they would ask what we were having and go back, let the other know, and continued to play till I had it ready. Sometimes, Mona asked if she could help. 🙂 She also helped me a couple times with breakfast making scrambled eggs, or making the batter for pancakes.

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Additional Pictures

We cherish extended time like this with Isaac and Mona. I think having grandkids is a way to have a “redo” from raising your own kids. As grandparents we aren’t just in the house with them, but we have the time to truly be present with them. There is no perfect parent – especially for a child’s entire 18 years. We all do the best we can at the time while juggling work, and dealing with the stress from everything life throws at us. The years pass by in an instant. We are so blessed for our retirement lifestyle which allows us to feed our souls with travel and play, yet keep it balanced with special bonding times like this with Isaac and Mona. We hope they like spending time with Nana and Papa for a long time!