John & Anne Wiley

2013/02/14

Outing

A great outing for kids in Santa Barbara is our wonderful zoo. It’s the perfect scale for families, and Lulu loved it! We began with Bumpa (that’s me) taking her on a detour from the others to look at the ducks that never cease fascinating kids. Especially after I fascinated the ducks with a tiny bit of crust from a sandwich.

4145 Ducks

4145 Ducks

There were many other highlights of course, not least the elephants. We also spent a lot of time with the gorillas, and it was interesting how their dignified Presence calmed her.

4150 Gentle Giant

4150 Gentle Giant

We rode the cute little train, and the family also made their own train with the engine-that-could powering them up a hill.

4193 Training

4193 Training

2013/02/12

Perfect

A perfect day. Take a perfect wife, daughter, grand-daughter, son-in-law, sister, niece and her boyfriend. Then add perfect weather. Sprinkle on some loving chalk art dedicated to Grampa & Grammy.

4130 Chalk Art

4130 Chalk Art

We were asked last year what names we’d like Lulu to call us, and these are what we chose. Today it turns out she’s modified the pronunciation to Bumpa & Bammie. It’s so sweet the way she says them and as the saying goes, we don’t care what you call us just call. 🙂

To cap this Perfect day some of us flew to Santa Ynez to meet the others who drove over for a family dinner, then our little family of five came home (half by air, half by car).

4131 Perfect Flying Day

4131 Perfect Flying Day

Now we’re about to watch Groundhog Day. Again.

Life is So Sweet.

Perfect.

2013/02/11

Delight!

A dear friend advises anyone who’ll listen, to skip all the challenges of raising children and instead go directly to Grand-children. Having experienced the joys of a Daughter I have to disagree. But I must say that our little Grand-Daughter is a pure delight!

0808 Musical Magic

0808 Musical Magic

Everything is new and magical for this little angel, and I can humbly attest that like her mother she is a truly exceptional child. 🙂

She quite simply melts the hearts of everyone around her, but “Grammy” and “Gumpa” are putty in her hands.

0823 Melting

0823 Melting

2013/02/10

Nice Change

A few days ago the two of us were flying along the magnificent Santa Barbara coast seeing sights like this at Naples just West of town.

2962 Naples Coast

2962 Naples Coast

Starting last night, we’re a large family doing things on the ground together. My precious Daughter and her fun husband brought our delightful Grand Daughter (I call her Lulu) to visit us for a week. So we woke this morning to this warm family scene with Lulu intently enjoying the toys and other kid supplies loaned by our sweet grandparent friends.

4073 Toys N Us

4073 Toys N Us

We’re re-learning all the skills we learned raising our daughter, like kid-proofing hazardous and breakable stuff, keeping toys off the floor, and most importantly how to handle tantrums and naps. Luckily we all have patience, knowledge and skills, and best of all she’s a Perfect Child. We took them to the farmer’s market, and they rather enjoyed the contrast with Edmonton where they were yesterday in sub-zero weather and the color-free realm of snow and ice we visited in February 2011.

4088 Contrast

4088 Contrast

2013/01/24

Aliveness

Sometimes in life things happen that help us remember how delicious Life is. Today we enjoyed a special freshness in the air between light showers. Everything is green and particularly Alive. Beyond the weather, we’re especially enjoying our experience of Aliveness because Anne just had elective surgery on her feet. Before she went in, even though there was basically zero risk involved we of course deeply felt our mortality and cherished our time together.

28_895 Anne & Sandie

28_895 Anne & Sandie

When I finally got to see her again four hours later, needless to say we were even happier and more aware of joyful Aliveness. Her nurse Sandie was hovering gently and efficiently, so before long we were out getting medicines and supplies. During the drive we talked about our time apart. Anne’s report was quite brief, since she was unconscious nearly the entire time. Then I talked about having met the “Two Grannies” who were waiting for Virginia’s husband. We talked about their retirement sailing adventure around the world and our Big Adventures in Tripp, and when she mentioned her blog I of course told her about this one. Before long Anne and I were back home, and now she’s cozy in her throne with me waiting on her hand and (especially) foot.

3775 Beckoning Her Footman

3775 Beckoning Her Footman

Thanks for all the kind wishes from friends and family. The warmth of your caring and support is so nourishing for mind, body and soul. We look forward to seeing you soon, and Anne particularly anticipates going for walks. 🙂

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