Life, with Grandchildren, Part 2

It was a Sunday morning when the next carload of grandchildren arrived...oops there were three children and a dog. Ben was a little beagle who was thrilled to have two weeks of very few restrictions. He was not well favored by several of the residents but he was tolerated.
He loved following the trail of a bunny rabbit, especially at 3am. Poor Alex had to roll out of bed and shut him up.

Andre was always hungry for some "homemade bread"! His first question when he arrived was, "Do you have any homemade bread??" We heard it so often we were afraid he would turn into the Pillsbury dough boy!!

One afternoon we decided to go looking for a hot springs that we had heard about. We read on the internet it was a 2 mile hike under a canopy of douglas fire trees. Sounded like my kind of hike, all shaded. Alex didn't want to go so he stayed home with Great Grandma.  We had about a 35 minute drive to the trailhead. At first we all stuck together but as the trail got steeper, Martin and Rob walked on ahead. The canopy of douglas fir trees never materialized, a fire had burned the whole mountainside.

The trail was about like a cow path. I walked slower and slower till soon I was walking alone. Andre came running back to me, he decided I needed a body guard in case a bear came after me. He had a stick, (gun) he was going to shoot the bear with.

Well, maybe he would just hit him on the head and the bear would run. Thankfully we never met up with a bear, my escort was making way too much noise to see any kind of wildlife.  After walking for several miles we finally came upon the hot springs. It was worth every bit of the walk, we just wished we would have started earlier so we could stay in the water longer.  The warm water felt so good on our tired feet

Walking back was a lot easier, it seemed like it was all downhill. We also had a little boy singing, "The Ants go Marching"...all 10 to 12?  verses, we didn't have to worry about bear on the way back either.

Andre wanted something that he wasn't allowed to have. He got quite upset and declared he was leaving! "And I'm not coming back till cwollege" He stomped up the stairs, he was gone so long that we forgot about his threat. Sometime later he was looking in the refrigerator.
 Leah said "Hey, what are you doing? Get out of there!"
"I'm looking for food to take with me"
Then we noticed his duffle bag sitting by the door, two water bottles in the side pockets.
"Oh no, nobody takes food when they run away", Leah told him.
But I'm just a little boy, I will get hungry and die if I don't have food."
"You have to hunt for your food. You catch a rabbit and find a sharp stone and skin it, then..." she remembered the burn ban was in effect because of all the forest fires so.."you lay it out in the sun to dry, then when it is hard you can eat it." Andre did not look impressed with her story but he shrugged his shoulders, picked up his duffle and struggled out the door. It looked like he had all his earthly possessions in there, as hard as it was to carry.
A little while later he was back, heading for the steps.
"I thought you left" his mother commented
"I need more underwear"was the mumbled reply
I just about lost it, but his mother raised her eyebrows and said, "I'm impressed!!"
While he was still looking for extra underwear, Caroline, a cousin,  came to play with Allie for the afternoon. Andre decided to put his plans on hold for a bit!!

Allison and Caroline played dress up all afternoon. They even snagged a handsome prince.

Alex is becoming quite the young man. We didn't dare take his picture until he combed his hair. Sometimes it took him so long to comb his hair I forgot I was supposed to get a picture.

We took the family to Hell's Canyon. It was so smoky we didnt get any good scenery pictures.

Sometimes you just have to work with what you can get.

One Sunday we went out to Washington to church. On the way home we stopped at a rest area. Everyone got out except Alex and I. He sat up and looked around then reclined back on the seat. "Grandma," he said, "if you see any pretty girls walking past, wake me up."   "I surely will" I said. Just then I saw a very pretty girl walking out of the restroom, heading our way. "Here comes one," I whispered. He shot up, looked around, , "where, where" "Right there", I said and pointed to his sister Allison. "Awww, Grandma!! he moaned as he flopped back on the seat.

Our neighbor has a small pony the children like to ride. Alex and Allison rode him but when Andre got on the pony, it took off running. Andre was holding on tight till he eventually got bounced loose and hit the dust. He wouldn't get back on unless somebody would lead the pony.

            A real western outfit!!