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Thursday, January 8, 2009

A Grandpa's Perspective...

OK, Erik insisted on having either Debbie or myself be the guest blogger for this day in Hawaii. As this is my first opportunity to bore people all over the world, I frequently thought about this post throughout the day. I wanted to express some of my observations from the perspective of a grandparent . . . . one that is far removed from his grandchildren most of the year. It took Owen several days to warm up to me, but now I am his favorite sand bucket buddy. He also relies on me to stand him up on the kitchen counter tops so he can dig through the upper cupboards and spend quality time running his toy fire truck around the dinning room. Since I'm getting to know the girls once again, I find myself frequently surprised by their reactions to various things. We went to Lydgate Park this morning and enjoyed an interesting experience. They have a kiddie beach walled in from the ocean and stock with lots of different fish. You can walk out into the water and toss bits of bread around you and the fish swarm in to eat, swimming between your legs, jumping out of the water, etc. To my surprise, the girls were frightened by this and refused to go into the water unless someone was holding them. They were convinced that the fish would nip at their legs during the frenzy. I took some underwater video here, but the water was a bit murky. Later, we went to another beach farther south. Now that I had Owen under my belt I began working on Kal Kal Moo Moo. During one bonding moment, while out in the water with her, she began to open up and share special stories with me. One story involved her dad having trouble with his bathing suit last summer and how the girls giggled about his revealed privates. I will continue to work on Kali over the next few days for additional family stories of merit. I have enjoyed getting to know Kaitlyn better and see how much she has changed since last summer. She is a more caring sister, controls her emotions better, wants to know about everything, carries on wonderful conversations, etc. I have realized that I need to be a better example around her. This has been a wonderful trip so far and can't wait for my next encounter with these wonderful kids in April.





7 comments:

Dana said...

I think that we are all wanting to hear more of these incriminating stories about Erik from his most honest little children. Too funny. I think its funny how different everyone's roles are. YOu are Grandpa and were surprised at the reaction of the girls to the fish swimming all around. I am still in mom mode and would have totally expected it. I am glad you all have had a wonderful trip together.Angela and her mom look just alike by the way.

Coburn Kids said...

One of the benefits of having worked at Sea World for a summer is I can easily spot the rare salt-water piranha. They're endangered you know, so they have to breed them in a closed environment. They'll eat bread, but only if it was touched by human flesh.

You should trust the girls' instincts. Glad no one got hurt.

Anna said...

What??? There were piranha's in there? interesting if it's true though about the bread and all that. It looks kind of cold there...was it? Maybe overcast but still hot.

Alaska Massey said...

Anna, you can't trust anything that comes out of my brother's mouth (Coburn Kids). He is totally sarcastic and there were no piranhas! He worked at Sea World cleaning stadiums.

Coburn Kids said...

Well, that is not completely true Angela. I didn't just clean the stadium. I also cleaned the walkways around the stadium, as well as swept the floor of the freshwater aquarium that housed deadly piranhas. So that makes me an expert, right?

Okay, so there's no such thing as salt water piranhas. But, tropical fish have been known to nip on little blonde girls toes. Watch out for the parrot fish. I lived in Hawaii, braving the deadly waters of Shark's Cove, for three years so that makes me an expert right?

Jamma said...

Great Perspective Grandpa!! The pictures tell it all. Looks like so much fun. I also enjoyed reading the comments...they made me laugh!! I don't kno why but I can't watch the video.. It won't open up for me and I really want to see it. Keep having fun...love to all.

KML said...

OK Stan, when are you going to start your own blog?!! We enjoyed hearing your description of playing with your grandchildren, and Jim and I are excited to share a new grandbaby with you and Debbie next July!!! Isn't Kauai great?!