Summer with Grandkids 2011

I always like to add something new to the tree house playroom every year befor the kids arrive. So, this year I made a sign that sits on the landing of the stairs. My sister-in -law, Terri, gave me this tall old cabinet door with chipping paint. I kept the door as is and spray painted the center panel with flat black paint.

I wanted to write something about a tree house, so I found a poem by Shel Silverstein;

Perfect poem to write on the center of the black painted panel with white chalk. I tried to write using print, because Jadyn isn't old enough to read cursive, but all the letters looked jumbled together, so instead, I wrote the poem in cursive.

I was excited about the kids seeing their new sign. We always said a sign should be at the entrance to the tree house playroom. As always, they arrived and Skylar, Nate and Jadyn climbed to the top of the stairs to check out their tree house.

Than came my disappointment!! Did you know kids are not taught how to write in cursive anymore?? At least not at our grandkids school. That's insane! I had to read the poem for them.

Writing in cursive is an art. I remember being so excited when I was taught, it was so much fun. What if they come across old letters or someone's memoirs that's written in cursive. They should be able to communicate with the past.

The whole family made a road trip this year instead of Greg flying to pick the girls up. We had a nice visit with Jennifer, Aaron, Lilli, our youngest granddaughter, and Nate, our step grandson.

We are on our way to hike to an ice cave. This was an awesome cave! As we approached the ice cave we could see steam coming from the cave; cold air mixing with warm air.

Wow! It felt so good walking though the cave. We saw carvings on the wall, Jadyn warned us not to touch the carvings for fear the walls would start closing in on us just like in the movies.

A week later Skylar and Jadyn stayed with us while the rest of the family headed home. The girls talked us into buying them a gigantic pool..........aren't they just so happy with themselves.... I will have to admit we had a lot of fun in the pool too.

We declared a special spa day for Jadyn...........she loved every minute of it. Skylar, grandpa and I were the spa technicians.

The special trip this year was to Helen, Georgia to meet up with Jennifer, Aaron and Lilli and stay in a cabin for a few days. Drifting down the Chattahoochee River in tubes shootin the hootch was a fun adventure.