The Trip of a Lifetime “Grandpa Heaven”

Today is our son, David’s, 33rd birthday and he and his wife, Robyn planned a little getaway to celebrate.  They asked us if we could visit and babysit Charlie and Owen.  Oh my God!!!  Yes!!! Yes!!! Yes!!!

We got up early to head to LAX for this trip of a lifetime.  Unfortunately the airplane Gods were not watching over us.  The pilot announced: “We are pulling away from the gate and after 47 minutes in the air we will be touching down in San Jose.”  But wait, what’s this? We seem to be going in the wrong direction.  Pilot once again: “Sorry folks we just noticed a minor mechanical problem we will get that fixed and in a few more minutes we will be on our way.”  Three hours later (yes 3 hours) we were airborne and on our way to SJC.

At the airport we were picked up by Robyn and Charlie.  Unfortunately the little boy had fallen asleep in the car and it wasn’t until we made it to the house that we got to interact with the little guy.  I was in Grandpa Heaven for a while (see photo below).

A short time later Charlie was awake and then the usual scenario ensued.  The boys love me very much.  I have no doubt about that but I know the real #1 is Grandma Patrice. Number 2 isn’t even close to #1.  I have tried different things to see if I could close the gap but nothing seems to work. I don’t need to be #1 but I would at least like to be on the same playing field.

Charlie is quite young but I thought I might be able to make some inroads with his older brother, Owen.  Since they live in the San Francisco area I thought maybe a Giants game would be of interest.  That offer didn’t even raise an eyebrow.  So I just accepted my role and tried to be a good #2.  Recently Owen started to play chess.  I am not a great chess player but guess what, Grandma knows NOTHING about chess!  Tonight I mentioned to Owen that I was playing chess on the iPad with some of my friends.  I asked him if he would like to see my game.  One hour later (YES ONE HOUR UNINTERRUPTED WITH MY GRANDSON) we were still talking chess strategy.   Only bedtime put an end to our session. This might have been the greatest hour of my life.  To see that little mind at work as we played out possible scenarios was fantastic.  And if my friend, Larry (a reader of this blog) is upset about me getting outside help I will let the entire world know, HE CAN’T BEAT A 7 YEAR OLD!!!!!

Taking care of the boys is really easy.  Robyn did an amazing job writing out their daily routine and explaining where everything is kept.  The boys are also such wonderful kids, following the routine like good little soldiers.  There were a couple of things that we needed to know that were not on the list but Owen knows everything, so not a problem.

This was the first time that David and Robyn have gone away without the boys.  There were goodbye hugs and kisses and words of encouragement when David and Robyn left. Both Patrice and I were quite worried about how they would do on their own but they seem to be doing fine so far.  And Owen and Charlie are doing fine too.