Grandma/grandpa dates

We accidently stumbled on to a new thing here-dates with grandparents.  They involve grandpa,too, but I like to call them

“Grandma dates”.

(I’m bossy that way.)

The origin of the new tradition:

A few weeks ago we had one extra ticket to see “The Little Mermaid” at Hale Center Theater (a live theater in our community).  Since I already had season tickets with my lady friends from the neighborhood, and I ended up winning an extra pair of season tickets, our children had taken turns attending each show.  This time it was my husband’s turn to use the extra tickets and he needed a companion.  We ended up asking our oldest granddaughter, Maddie to go.  She was excited to be his date.  We were lucky that the seats were together, so I got to sit by them, too.

He took her to dinner before the play.

It was just a fast food dinner, but hey, she got to be the guest of honor.

 

After the show she had fun posing with some of the cast.

The play was excellent!

Since it was late by the time we returned home, she got to stay over night at our house.  It was fun spending time with her without all the other little siblings or cousins competing for attention.

She loved it.  We loved it, too.

In order to keep peace with all the grandkids, we promised to let each of them have a turn to go on a date.

The birth of a new tradition!

Date number two:

Brooklyn and Joshua are pretty close in age (five years old) and they get along really well so they agreed to go together. 

 

Our plan was to go the the Leonardo Museum, which they both love.  Papa Ken stayed home to work on the new swing in the back yard.  We planned the date, but forgot to check the museum times.  Oops, it was closed. 

Plan B was to go to the Children’s Museum, but they were closing in half an hour.  (Who knew museums closed so early?)  Plan C involved going to dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory and then to Liberty Park.

After the initial disappointment (and my lesson learned about checking times and dates) they had a great time.  We stayed until they were pretty tired.  They were so proud of how much “stronger” they became after all the exercise.

We ended the evening with a sleep over on the family room floor.

I think it was a success.

We are planning on spending time with the younger kids, too, but haven’t worked out the plans yet.  Since they are so young we will adapt things to fit their needs.

I think we will enjoy these new opportunities to spend quality time with our grand children.  When they are all together it is usually busy and noisy.  This gives us a chance to visit and learn more about each of them.

Do you have traditions with your grand children?

JoAnn

P.S.  The grands LOVES the new swing.  Especially Aubrey who didn’t want to get out.  Thanks, Ken!

P.P.S.  Brooklyn’s lovely hair-do above was when she stood on the air vent outside the closed museum.  She wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry.