A Visit from Grandpa Greene

Last week, my 93 year old Grandpa Greene came for a visit all the way from Florida. For those of you who have been reading my blog for awhile, you've heard about Grandpa Greene before - and he is quite the character. He's VERY hard of hearing (okay, let's be real - he's DEAF), he dresses like he's straight out of the 70's and has quite the little temper, especially when you come between him and his food. However, he also provides us with HOURS of entertaining stories, which I then get to share with you... and what can be better than that?

Last weekend, while he was spending the day with us here at our new house, we made the mistake of leaving our garage door open. Before we knew what was happening, Grandpa grabbed one of our bikes and TOOK OFF! Yelling at him to stop didn't work because he couldn't hear us, and since Grandpa had no idea where he was going and probably wouldn't have been able to find his way back, my Dad ended up having to grab a bike and chase after him. I just kept imagining having to call the police to report him missing:

"Yes, Officer, my 93 year old Grandfather took off on my bike and now we can't find him. Describe him? Well, um, he's in sea foam green bell bottoms, a wife beater and suspenders. Oh, and he has a big gold chain around his neck. No, that's not a joke, Sir. That's really what he's wearing..."

Luckily, my dad caught up to him and was able to bring him home before one of us had to make that somewhat humiliating phone call.

As much of a handful as Grandpa Greene is, he loves his family and he absolutely adores Rory. Grandpa went out and bought Rory an excersaucer, which he LOVES (and I love even more, because he can now entertain himself for hours! Yipee!) and Grandpa got a real kick out of watching Rory figure out how to use it.



I took a lot of pictures while he was here, but the one below is my favorite. Four generations all in one picture - how often does that happen? I personally think that Rory is starting to look a bit like Grandpa Greene and the rest of the Greene Family men, don't you think

Hangin' with Uncle Jer

Don't they look cute together?

Let the Hunting Begin!

Our friend, Sara, gave us this hunting hat that used to be her nephew's - it will be the perfect attire for Rory's very first redneck Mariposa Christmas!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Having a baby is an amazing thing. Almost everyday, I watch Rory learn to do something new and it completely blows me away. Now, not only has he learned how to stick his entire hand in his mouth at one time, but he has also learned how to hold various toys in his hands and stick them in his mouth, too. And lately, he’s been practicing using his vocal cords and I love the cute little sounds he makes. But my favorite thing has to be the giggling. We never know exactly what’s going to make him start laughing and it’s not the same things from day to day, but as soon as it happens, we make complete fools of ourselves to keep him going. Yesterday, it was making duh-duh-duh sounds and waving my arms around like a crazy person. (Good thing no one was around to see that!) The day before that, Hoby was pretending to box with Rory and he was laughing like it was the funniest thing ever.

It’s the best sound in the world and it makes it all worth it.

A Blast From the Past

Wendy, a friend of mine from Disney Cruise Lines who I haven’t seen for at least five years, came to visit today. She was one of the inaugural crew members with me on the Disney Magic back in 1998 when Disney first rolled out their new cruise line. There were sixty of us in my department that spent almost every waking minute together for three months while training and preparing to launch the brand new ship – in Orlando and in Italy - and then once the ship finally got off the ground, we all worked our butts off to try and make it smooth sailing. What crazy days those were! And even though I eventually got tired of being perpetually perky for Disney and moved on, I’ve always looked back on that experience as one of the great ones of my life. I’ve often wondered if I’ll ever do anything else that will top that.

Feeling Like Gumby

This past week has been absolutely nuts. Between trying to learn my job at The Mother of All Coffee Houses, preparing for the big move to our new house, and taking care of Rory, sometimes I felt like my mind and body were being pulled in a million different directions. Now that we’ve finally moved and we’re getting somewhat settled into our new home, I’m desperately hoping that I’m able to relax a bit and start enjoying things again.

It certainly hasn’t been helping matters that my job is not going well. My training STILL hasn’t been completed and as frustrating as that is to me, it’s even more frustrating to the poor people who are scheduled to work with me. No one likes to work with the person who can’t pull his or her weight on the job – and I hate knowing that person is me. Yes, I realize that it’s not my fault and I also realize that it’s bound to get better with time, but right now I absolutely dread going to work. And to think that I was expecting it to be a fairly easy job, one that I would look forward to because it would mean a small break from being a mommy during the week and a little bit of socializing. Boy, was I wrong! Never in a million years would I have imagined that working at the Mother of All Coffee Houses would be such a royal pain in the ass!