Good Visit

We are back from Hudson. We visited our daughter, her husband, Bob and our grandchildren, Madelyn and Skylar. There was only a sprinkling of snow left on the ground there. The weather was almost 30 and sunny yesterday. The men went to the Metro Dome in Minneapolis for a Golf trade show. Dawn and I went shopping at one of the many malls in the area. She does not care to drag me to the Mall of America (World’s largest Mall) because she knows her Mom is not much of a shopper. She knows I can only tolerate shopping for an hour, maybe two at the most. We made it through 2 hours, with a stop for coffee in between. I did find a bargain on a clearance priced winter coat, and bought another pair of shoes like I bought last time I was with her, in a different color (and they were on sale). I also discovered last visit with her that I liked the Herberger’s store, so that’s where we did most of the shopping after a stop at Marshall Fields. While I rested periodically, she would run into other small specialty stores.

Our son in law, Bob is a great cook. In fact, he’s the major cook at their home when he is not flying. He is a pilot, and takes the vacationer’s to places such as Las Vegas, and Mexican sun spots, they have a lot of business in the winter in Minnesota. The charter company he works for is owned in major part by Northwest Airlines. Their pilots are talking about striking, if the judge lets them (they are in bankruptcy). We are all hoping the pilots don’t strike, as that will impact the charter company. He may lose his job. We do try to stay positive though, he said their pilots are pretty confident that the judge will not allow them to strike. It is hard for them though, to live under the cloud of the possibility of losing a job. Due to this worry, Dawn does not shop like she would like to!

This weekend Bob was home. This meant we would get a wonderful meal on Saturday night! He made us the most delicious mouth watering steak and a fish called “grouper” (that I’ve never heard of). He put it in an incredible tasting sauce that I was quite rich and flavorful, but fattening! Of course, he does all the trimmings with the meal, including the dessert. It was a better meal than we would have had if we had gone to a restaurant, and much more relaxing. What a great topping to a good day.

A lot of my evening was spent playing “school” with 5 year old Madelyn. This is what she insists that Grandma play with her the last few times. She has graduated from us playing with her dolls to playing school. This might be because she is in kindergarten this year, and still finds school exciting. You know, of course, what role she always plays, the teacher. A very bossy teacher at that! Grandpa or her Dad plays the part of the principal, and at least once, I get sent to the principal’s office! When she tires of that, then she wants to play a game. We played Memory, and the “Old Maid” card game. Remember these games from your childhood. They are still around. I had to laugh though; she always called the Old Maid “The Old Lady”!!! (See the photos above of the grandchildren taken at Christmas).

We also made a stop at the local McDonald’s fast food restaurant. Skylar, our grandson, just started a job there 2 weeks ago. So far, they have him in the drive through window taking the money. So of course, we had to go through so we could see him on the job! He is enjoying the work, says he sees a lot of people he knows. He’s looking forward to getting his first paycheck. He worked until 9. When he came home, he wanted to hang out with his Grandma. He and I are very close, I think because until he was 5 years old and they moved from Duluth, I was his major caregiver, while his Mom worked, and we bonded…that bond is still there. I’m so thankful for that. We always enjoy our time together. When Grandma finally tires out and goes to bed, then he hangs with his Uncle Rob, who he is also close to.

I didn’t tell you how the guys liked the golf show. Bob said they got their exercise walking down to the floor from the top, and then walking all around to see all the displays. My Bob was an athlete all his life. He played baseball on two ball teams, up to when the boys were old enough to play ball. Then he coached little league, and settled in to watching the boys play baseball. He watched Scott play hockey and go the whole way through 4 years of college baseball. I tried over the past 10 years to encourage him to play golf. He always said he would never play that game. Couldn’t see the sense of chasing that little white ball around! Our Scott and Rob both golf. Funny thing, last spring he actually said that he would consider trying it. I bought him clubs for Father’s Day, and now golf is in his blood! He played and played last summer. He’s looking forward to another summer of golfing. Hence, the trip to the golf trade show. The reason I say, “funny”, is because I think he took up golf because the boys play. Now he has a sport once again, to share with his adult sons. I’m very pleased that they can do this together. I’m pleased that he has found a new hobby too. No, Mom is not going to learn to golf. This will be a sport for the guys! Mom will relax or blog while they golf!