Grandpa D went on his annual fishing trip with several other members of the family. This is the weekend after Mother’s Day. This is the weekend that Eric and I go to visit Grandma D.
We got up Saturday morning and ate breakfast. I fixed pancakes as usual. Just before breakfast, I asked Eric if he knew what we were doing after breakfast. He did not know, of course. So, I told him that we were going to Grandma D’s house. He jumped and cheered all the way down the hallway. He was very excited. Mommy left before we did. She went to spend the day with her mom. Eric and I finished getting ready for our trip. First, a bath. Then get dressed. Next pack the car. We rode in my camaro. Eric is so excited any time he gets to ride in “Daddy’s Purple Car”! Eric climbed into the back seat and away we went.
The drive went well. We stopped a few times for potty breaks. We sang songs and talked about going to Grandma D’s house. Eric was very excited! We arrived just as Grandma was crossing to her mail box. Eric and I waved as we passed to turn around and park at the curb. Such good timing to arrive while Grandma was outside.
Eric and Grandma went into the house, while I unloaded the car. It is surprising how much stuff you need for a one night trip when travelling with a 3-year-old. It is even more surprising that it all fits in my camaro somehow. Eric and Grandma played cars in the living room for a couple hours until time for dinner. They also played on the piano for a while. I enjoyed watching both of them having so much fun! I let them play and only interrupted to remind Eric to use the potty. I actually took a short nap while they were playing in the kitchen floor rolling a ball back and forth. I was nearly exhausted from a long busy week and a few short night’s sleep.
Time for dinner! Grandma picked out a cool restaurant for us. We all rode over to the restaurant. Eric insisted that he wanted pizza for dinner. I assured him that the restaurant would have pizza. We arrived and went inside. Eric was amazed! The restaurant was full of trains! There were model trains running inside a display case. There was a larger train for the kids to ride. There was a train that delivered food right to our seats! It was definitely going to be a fun dinner!
We finally peeled eric away from the display case with the model trains, so we could take our seats at the counter. The waiter took our order, and while we waited for our food, we watched the train come around and deliver food to other families at the restaurant. Eric thought this was pretty cool! While we waited, we went over to the big train and bought a token to ride.
Just as we were about to get on the train, we heard the whistle that meant our food was on its way to our seats…via train. We hurried and sat back in our seats to wait for the train to arrive. When it stopped, the waiter promptly delivered our food from the train cars onto the counter in front of us. This was very cool! Eric thanked the waiter for his pizza, and the train left to return to its station in the kitchen.
We ate our dinner, and Eric was ready to ride the big train. Eric held up his token and smiled!
He gave his token to the conductor and hurried over to the passenger car on the train. He sat down and patiently waited for the ride to begin. I cannot recall ever seeing a bigger smile on his face! When the ride was over, Grandma bought another token, and this time Eric jumped into the engine! So much fun!
We finally dragged Eric out of the restaurant to go home. When we go tback to Grandma’s house, she fixed Eric a bowl of ice cream. After ice cream, Grandpa called to check in with Grandma, so Eric took his turn to talk to Grandpa. Eric related most of his day to Grandpa, mostly about the trains at the restaurant. Grandma read him a couple of books before he went to sleep. Of course, Eric had found the two longest books in the pile! I don’t think it bothered Grandma, though.
For breakfast on Sunday, Grandma had made one of her famous breakfast cakes! Eric’s favorite breakfast! He ate his fair share, and Grandma boxed up the leftovers for us to bring home. After breakfast, Grandma and Eric played while I packed up our stuff and loaded the car. It was finally time to leave. It is not easy to break up those two having so much fun, but we wanted to get home to Mommy before she missed us too much!
Happy Mother’s Day Grandma D!