The Joys of Being a Grandmother

Ross and I headed in to Winnipeg on Saturday, November 10th because he was given Monday off due to Remembrance Day being on a Sunday. So we had 2 1/2 days to spend doing as we pleased. And naturally we made the most of it.
Our first stop was to see our only girl-child. J is living on her own with her son. She's early 30s, has her own home and does a lot of her own renovations. She's working on her kitchen now and doing a great job. At least she didn't pick orange for this house's kitchen. She has chosen a really nice dark royal for the lower part of the wall and has an off-white-putty for the walls and cabinets. It provides a very nice background for wall features and so on. I love the colour. And she's upgraded her appliances and added a dishwasher - Z's wishlist item. I am really quite proud of her and her independence.
We made arrangements with the eldest son and his wife to use their spare room for our stay. This gives us lots of time to bond with our twin grandsons, B and A. They are 16 months old now and last time I saw them they were standing alone and getting strength built up in their little legs. I just KNEW that they were ready to walk and I didn't want to miss it. Besides, it is absolutely hilarious to watch them motor around on the hands and knees - or just knees! Yes, they actually walk and run on their knees - no hands!!! Who wouldn't want twins when you see how much fun they have playing with each other. They race around on any part of the body that holds their weight. On their backs is particularly cute - they move backwards by bending their knees and pushing off with their heels. It was hard to tear ourselves away to see other kids.
We had a short but sweet visit with our two granddaughters who were on the trip with us in August. The older one had her birthday in October but we waited until I could be there to take her a card and gift. Her mom and step-dad were busy painting the living room (they are so busy that they have to grab opportunities when they can) and we barged in on them. The older M was thrilled with her gift card. Both girls took beautiful school photos this year so we have copies of them to frame. The younger M is in a regional choir and we hope to be able to take in at least one of her concerts this year. She has always had a pretty singing voice but is shy about it.
When we left there we dropped in to see Ross's dad and step-mom. We got to see a good portion of the semi-final east CFL game between Montreal and Winnipeg. What a nail-biter ending. At least the good guys won. Unlike the local team in the hockey game the night before.
Then the four of us were thrilled to join G, J, and the twins, K & L and daughter J, at Boston Pizza for supper. We don't see very much of J lately - she's become quite the little attitude girl and is going to daycare fulltime as her mom works. Her mom L is Italian-born and raised. It's really neat to hear her yammer away to her mom and Italian friends in her native language. She speaks it also to the kids so that they can also pick up some of the language. That's good because their grandparents are still in Italy and they trade vacationing. K is a hard worker who we think would rather spend more time with family matters but, with the work requirements in the last few years placing so much emphasis on long hours, he simply has to be at work from dusk to dawn.
I never did do a blog entry in October after I got back from my holiday in Ontario. It was the BEST week! My cousin and her husband drove my aunt and me around for hours to visit different cemeteries in the areas my ancestors were known to have come from. I got some pictures of headstones to use in following up my search for family history. The 3 women spent some time in the archive building that housed some of the records from the family line on the male side. I actually got a copy of the will of the first of my dad's direct line on the male side who came to Canada. I was so excited - I still am. I love this genealogy stuff. But I always liked history and this is just more personalised than what they teach in school. Like, now I want to know why they moved only a few miles from one village to another in the UK? And what circumstances led them to emigrate to Canada. What did they do for a living before they left the UK. It goes on and on. I saw a cousin and her husband that we used to see more often but hadn't for a few years other than for a few minutes at funerals. She'd been seriously sick but is on the way to recovery. I felt awful for not knowing she had been going through what she had been. Her brother and his wife made a visit to the cousin's a few days after I left but my aunt sent me pictures. I would know him anywhere even after all these years. I just had the best visit and loved spending all that time with my aunt and cousin. They are such really good people. We took in a fabric art show at an Anglican church in Guelph - beautiful handiwork done by ladies from around the country for their ministers or churches.
Looks as though I need to get out of here and go home for supper. Sure has turned wintry cold overnight! Hate to go out.