This, That, and the Other Thing

We've had a busy few days. We attended a dance program at school for Jake on Friday, as well as the dance Recital for Sophie on Saturday. Jake's First Grade class performed dances from all over the world- Ireland, Africa, Germany,Mexico, to name a few. They did a real good job and seemed to have fun doing it. At the end of each performance, the teacher would yell "Snowball",and the kids would come running to get the parents and the older grade children onto the dance floor.
On Sunday, we stopped by to pick up Nate and Jake to go fishing with Grandpa in his kayak. They came home with us after errands and waited a few minutes for Grandpa to get everything loaded. Nate caught a few off the dock, but Jake and Grandpa came up with NADA.
We've always made time for the Grands.We did daycare for Nate full time until he was 4 1/2. Then we added Luke and Jake as infants also. When Molly quit work to do daycare, we still had Luke, and then added Sophie once or twice a week since then. We like to take the kids out with us when we are doing something we think they will like, and spend one-on-one or two-on-two time together. But Max didn't need us to babysit since Molly was home with him. And he hasn't wanted to go anywhere without her very often.Slowly, but surely, he is warming to the idea of leaving her. And today we took Max to the Zoo alone. We visited the Zoo with thousands of our closest friends,and then went out for lunch. Since Max didn't want to go home, he napped at our house. The plan was for Bob to drop him home before his union meeting, but I guess we forgot to consult Max. We were playing after supper when Bob announced it was time to go home. His bottom lip quivered, and his eyes filled with tears. Our hearts broke. That persuaded Molly to let Jeff come and get him at 8:30 instead. When Jeff came to pick him up, Max said, "No!", and tried to lock the screen door. I guess he likes coming over by himself now. LOL



Jake's Dance Program at St. Pete's. Sophie isn't the only dancer in the family. Jake has great rhythm too. He took turns pulling me, Diane and his mom from the audience during the 'Snowballs.'



Jake enduring Grandma's picture taking while waiting to go fishing with Grandpa and Nate. Love the socks! My roses have gone wild in this mild spring.



Max on the iconic giraffe statue at Como zoo.



The Aquarium in the Rain Forest at the Zoo. He shuddered and hugged his arms to his chest when he saw the tarantula - wish I had a picture of that!



The bronze turtle that will give you a third degree burn on the backs of your legs on sunny days! Disclaimer: No Children Were Harmed In The Taking Of This Picture.



Tuckered out on the way home from lunch and the Zoo.



Eating a Peanutbutter Sammy al fresco on Grandma's rocker.



Grandma and Grandpa's new little buddy.