The last game was so fun that I decided to start another.
One of my favorite memories that makes me giggle to this day is when grandpa gave the cousins rides in his tractor. However, they were not "ordinary" tractor rides. We would sit in the scoop of his front loader while he would move it up and down while driving down the streets of Mt. Pleasant. I am not sure if that would "fly" in today's world, but boy..............was that fun. Whenever I tell my kids this story, they ask me if they can do it someday and I abruptly say, "NO!" They usually reply with something like, "You were so lucky when you were little. You didn't have to wear seat belts growing up, either!"
Below are a few photos when grandpa gave us a ride:
Driving down the streets of Mt. Pleasant (KrisTina and I are in the front loader).
Oops Grandpa....I hope the grandkids can swim. Most of them could. :)
Boy was that fun!
Below are a few photos when grandpa gave us a ride:
Fun game Michele! Okay this isn't a sentimental memory, but I laugh out loud when I think of how many soap operas we watched on the big TV at Grandma's house. The Lake Powell week was a week of General Hospital and Luke and Laura mania. Seriously? Grandma and Grandpa never watched with us--Grandpa just bidded out his time until he could watch Hogan's Heroes. In defense, we probably needed the soap opera down time. We were so busy playing jail, riding our bikes to the Dairy Freeze and begging everyone to be in a play, that Grandma probably considered the soap opera time a nice little nap.
ReplyDeleteI thought the time that Mom and Dad asked all of us to bring our kids to their house so we could all put our hand prints in the cement was pretty special.
ReplyDeleteThen the one that brings tears to my eyes is when Dad had cancer and he knew he wasn't going to be around much longer. He was out in his hammock and he casually called his children over and asked them if everything was going okay and if we were alright financially. That's what you do when you are a parent, you just want to make sure that all your chicks are going to be okay.
I remember the tractor rides, and the big wet kiss on my cheek when I'd come to visit. I remember waiting until he wasn't looking to wipe it off, I didn't want to hurt his feelings. :)
ReplyDeleteOh man - I think over the holiday's we should play jail. Seriously. Think how much fun we could have. And then we could force Mike, Matt, and Troy to use their tennis rackets and pretend to be the beatles. And following up with Carrie's comment - think how much of "Press Your Luck" and "The Price is Right" we used to watch. I still love to say "no whammies no whammies no whammies." And I love how we used to have to do the dishes (aka no dishwasher at Grandma and Grandpa's) and we would act like it was the end of the earth. We would try and convince Grandma that Grandpa told us that it was more sanitary to not have to dry the dishes.
ReplyDeleteI have been hesitating because so many memories are going through my head. I think Kim and I had a different experience with our grandparents because it was just me and him for quite a few years. Yes, you could call us spoiled I'm sure but I know all the grandchildren felt loved. But, my fav-or-ite memory of Grandpa is him letting me go with him to see his thoroughbread horse. This day was special because it had just had a baby colt. Grandpa loved his horses and it made me learn to like them to. His horse was so tall I could walk underneath it. I also used to sit and play beauty parlor with his hair while he watched t.v. That is kind of funny now because he didn't have much hair but he loved you to comb it. Now my grandma-ma used to always take me to Terrel's uptown to see the cute boys bagging the groceries. Funny that later on those were Eric's friends from high school, my husband was close by when I was young and I never knew it I was too busy eyeing his buddies. I also liked to go up to the cafe and pretend I was a worker in the front. I would love to open that window and ask if I could help anyone. I ususally just took ice cream orders. My all time favorite memory in the last few years is grandma and I taking her car to the car wash and she insisted on driving. Her trying to get her tires to line up in that car wash made us laugh so hard. I think we backed up 20 times. I know you had to be there but it was one of my funniest memories with her. Grandma and I can call each other and talk about anything, she is one of my best friends and I am grateful she has loved me for who I am. She has been the stability for me in the storms of life. I love her bunches!
ReplyDeleteThe great memory I had was when the whole family would come for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I would get so excited. All of you grandkids were such a joy for me, I loved you all so much. I guess that's why I had so many children of my own, I learned the joy of children in a family and I wanted to continue that tradition for myself. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI will never forget Grandma's freezer outside with all those Schwan Man ice cream treats. Jeff used to sneak the key, it was awesome. I loved sitting on Grandpa's lap and touching his mustache and him pretending to try and bite my finger.
ReplyDeleteStacy--I had forgot about the mustache game! I remember Grandpa asking me once how school was going. I told him fine. He told me that he enjoyed high school so much, he remembers wishing it wouldn't end. Sweet. I also remember trying to get him to quit smoking. I made him a deal that as soon as he was done with that pack in his pocket he would stop.
ReplyDelete