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Happy November!


Hard to believe-but our brief visit to our kids is already over. Why is it vacations take forever to arrive and then are over before you have a chance to blink your eyes?


Our trip going was a bit tense. Steve, my husband, checked the TSA rules and we packed accordingly-our goal was to not have to check in our carryon bags. Quicker to see our daughter, son-in-law and grandkids that way.


Unfortunately John Wayne (JW) Airport had other plans. Honestly-we didn’t see in the rules that for every “group” travelling that you were only allowed 1 gallon sized Ziploc baggie. We both gave the agent the stink-eye. I asked why if we were travelling separately we would each be able to have 1 bag, but if we were together we still only could use one.


No real answer-let’s just say we put on our shoes back on and went out to check our bags in.


Then per our pilot-Phoenix had “extreme air traffic” and we were now going to sit in our plane at JW until he got word that it was clear for him to land.


Okay.


Our daughter made dinner reservations for 7:45. She had groupon coupons and wanted to be sure we’d have a table for 6. The place was small and the boys would be hungry. Did we know that???


We landed 20 minutes late and had to wait 15 minutes for our “terrorist” pieces of luggage. Somehow we made the reservations. Even if we hadn’t, there was plenty of room.


Our grandsons are now 3-1/2 and 4-1/2. For those who aren’t aware-at 4-1/2 kids become very adept at hatching what they think are “perfect” plans for getting what they want. That said, Dylan’s “plan” was to ask grandpa for a “hook-e-lau” every night and tell him if he could do that all the time if we’d just move next to him. (A hook-e-lau is basically a noogie, for those of you who aren’t savvy to my husband’s sense of humor) He also kept on pointing out that he and Aidan didn’t mind sharing their bathroom with us and that the bed we were sleeping in was plenty big for not only us but to snuggle with them every morning.



I believe Dylan is as determined as his mother was when she was 4-1/2. Aidan, our peace-maker and supporter of all things “Dylan” just kept telling us “yeah grandma, yeah grandpa-that would be good wouldn’t it?”



And so it went during our Thursday and Friday enjoyment with the boys while their parents were at work. We took them to a couple of parks, walked through the outlet mall and Wal-Mart, watched soccer practice, watched Pinocchio and then met up with their parents to see “Cat-in-Boots” (Aidan’s name for the obvious new movie) and dinner at Johnny Rocket’s.



Saturday we were up at 7 and out the door for soccer pictures and the big game. Dylan scored 4 goals while Aidan and his lady love ran after each other and scored for the other team. After a bath, the boys had 2 birthday parties. Sunday, we went out for brunch and to a pumpkin patch. The boys loved riding the horses, picking out their Halloween pumpkins and seeing the petting zoo.



After dinner-we all went to meet up with one of the first non-family member babies in our day care/pre-school. Her mom, whom I always liked, found me on Facebook! Turned out, they lived about 30 minutes away from our daughter!



Of course that “baby” is about to be 19! We had a lovely and fun time over yogurt (okay, I sat there and gabbed). I couldn’t believe Alyssa was a grown young woman who was studying to become a nurse. Her mom, Mary, couldn’t believe our “little” Sarah was almost 30 and a mom of 2.


Yes, time has a real way of passing when you’re too busy living to notice.


The next day, while their parents had work-we had the boys for one more day. We took them to the park and made them take a nap so they were up for trick-or-treating.


Our son-in-law loves Halloween-he dressed up as Obi Wan Kenobi. Dylan was Darth Vader. Aidan is still into superheroes and was thrilled to be Spiderman. While Sarah stayed at the house and passed out candy-we went with the boys through the neighborhood.


Before we knew it-it was Tuesday morning 6 a.m. and we were getting in the car for the last time. The boys wanted to know why we had to leave-we pointed out that Uncle Adam and Auntie Sam were wonderful to have watched Pepper (our tabby), but that it wasn’t fair for him to first lose Sunshine and then for us to leave him as well.


They started to cry. We walked them into their classroom and gave them a last kiss and hug. Watched the big puppy eyes and tears and said good-bye. Dyl had an especially hard time.


Later our daughter called to tell us that she had just gotten off the phone with Dyl’s teacher-he kept crying and saying “I did everything right and it still didn’t work-they still left us and went home.”


One of life’s hardest lessons-no matter what you wish for and no matter how hard you work at getting it, sometimes what you want just isn’t going to happen. It’s a horrible thing to ask a little guy to understand.


How can we make him understand, when we’re not at all sure we do?