Our Favorite Pastime

Throughout the years as our seven children were growing up, George and I never had to wonder what to do for entertainment. We would just go to our childrens' activities, and that was the most pleasant way we could spend our time. Then they all grew up! Now, as our grandchildren are growing a little older, we are back to what we like doing best--watching our grandchildren in their activities.

For the past few weekends, we have gone to Orlando to watch Carter and Jenna in their activities.  Carter is on the eighth grade football team.  We even like going to their practices--crazy, huh!

With 95 degrees plus weather in addition to the humidity which makes it feel 105 degrees, those kids are required to take lots of water breaks. 

Jenna is on the cheer leading squad.  Again, we enjoyed watching them learn their new routines. 

Amy and the kids went one weekend with us.  They sure loved getting in Kyle and Kim's pool.

We went to eat at a Cici's Pizza and there was a little arcade room.  Guess which game Lola wanted?  I know she has seen her brothers watch "Transformers" so many times.  She really thought she was playing!

Look at how intense she is!

We, also, went over to Downtown Disney.  The kids favorite is to go to Lego Land.  It is always fascinating to see the newest creations.

This little gremlin-type guy was spitting water on everyone.  It actually felt really good on such a hot day!

We then went to the Dinosaur area.  Isaac looks in pain--I don't think he really wanted to turn his back on those moving, growling creatures behind him!

But, Lola wasn't having anything to do with those dinosaurs.  She was crying and shaking so bad.  I think she still has nightmares from when we took her to the Dinosaur Zoo.  I think we've scarred her for life!  George had to stay outside with her the whole time!

One area in the Dinosaur exhibit allows the kids to "dig" for dinosaur bones.  Brady and Isaac loved that.

So that Lola could enjoy something, too, we took her to see the princess collection.  She loved that and wasn't a bit afraid, even though they weren't real.

The next week, we went to a Jamboree where a couple of teams came in and played each other with refs, cheerleaders, announcer, everything, for practice. 

Seriously, we almost baked to death, but we learned to bring our umbrellas for shade which helped a little.

Carter's chin strap broke the first play, so they had to quickly fix it to get him back out again.

Carter is #35 and plays tight-end and wide receiver on offense, and linebacker on defense. 

And, back to the pool afterwards.  Thank goodness for the pool!

Harley is not a big fan of the pool, but when he does go in, he does a nice little puppy dog paddle.

This weekend, Carter went to the Boy Scout Camp which is only about a mile away from where they live in a wooded area.  They only got about two hours of sleep because it was nearly 90 degrees all night long!  Next time, Carter's going to bring a little hand fan. 

This is all on a person's private property who allows the Scouts to stay there.  It has a beautiful shallow river where the boys canoed.

George and I wanted to go for a walk, so Brady and Jenna went along on their bikes.  We came to the park area, Brady stopped, got off his bike and started picking up the cans and bottles that people had rudely left behind.  Brady can't stand messes!

So, Grandpa George started helping with the clean-up process. 

This is a little lake inside their subdivision. 

I had to take this for my two sisters, Beverly and Joyce.  Remember when we filled a whole bottle up with these little round marbles we collected from the field next door to our house.  Our mother saved them on the porch for our dad to see.  He laughed so hard, he nearly cried.   I think those little marbles we found were from rabbits, but these are from the many deer that just roam the area in the subdivision. 

This is right behind Kyle and Kim's house.  They are very sweet little deer who don't seem to be that afraid of people!

This was on real game day.  Again, stifling heat, but those cheerleaders just kept up their enthusiasm and routines.  Jenna does such a great job!

There are only a few of the girls on the team that have had very much gymnastic training, so Jenna does quite a few gymnastic stunts like backhand springs and cartwheels each game. 

She is the girl that's closest to us. 

Did you ever think you would see Kyle with red on?  But when he came to the game, he had on his BYU blue, and the other team was blue.  In the South, most everyone wears the color of their team, so Kyle quickly bought a red shirt for the game.  It was a good thing because he had to hold the downs sign on the field for the whole game.  I guess we have to start liking red--but only when we're watching Carter and Jenna's teams!

All of a sudden, out of nowhere, the rain started falling.  Thank goodness people had umbrellas for the sun--little did we know that we'd be using them for rain.  That rain must have been a little left over from Irene.

Soon it was raining so hard, even coming in the sides at us.  We literally were soaked clear through everything.  And the girls just kept going right on, as well as the players out on the field.  Amazing!

Carter played on offense the entire game.  He worked so hard.  They were playing the best team they would play because they were playing outside their league and that league allowed 9th graders on the 8th grade team.  Even though they lost, Carter's team learned a lot and they could be proud of their efforts.

Thank goodness the rain had stopped by the time Carter's team played--and it had cooled down a little.

As you can see, we are having a great time watching the grandkids in all their activities.  Thanks for the memories!