Good Times with Grandchildren

One good thing about Eric marrying Nicole is that her parents live about 2 miles from us. Because of that, we are able to see Nicole and the kids when she visits her parents, whether Eric is with them or not. Such was the case a couple of weeks ago. They were able to stay for about a week, which was wonderful. I don't get to see my grandchildren very often, so when they are in town I want to be able to have some fun with them while I can.

In this post I will chronicle some of the fun things we were able to do together.

While Ethan and Ella were at the dentist, I was able to take Livi shopping for her birthday present. Since she had never gone anywhere alone with me before, she was a little nervous about it at first, but she warmed up to me quite quickly and we had a great time. On the way home after shopping, we stopped at Lancaster City Park where she played on the playground for a while. 

Ethan and Ella joined us later at my house. One activity they really like to participate in while at the house is riding the electric scooters. Although our driveway is pretty large, it can be somewhat boring to ride around and around in one area so I decided to take them over to our church parking lot where they could have a very open space for riding to their hearts content. This proved to be a very fun event for them. FYI, Livi is too young to ride the scooters, so she ran around or rode the tricycle.  Here is a video of Ethan and Ella riding the scooters.

Trying to not be so conventional, they discovered that they could even ride the scooters while sitting down. Ethan seemed to master it a little better than Ella, but they both did real well.

After Ella tipped over, Ethan kept going, turned around, and came back.

On a separate day from this, I was able to take the kids to a place in Palmdale called Mulligan's where they were able to play lots of different arcade games. But the highlight of the trip was being able to ride the go-carts. Ethan and Ella each drove their own go-cart and Livi and I shared one.  I was able to get a picture of Ethan and Ella in their go-cart before they started their journey, but being in the shade, it didn't turn out great. I also got a "selfie" with Ella and I buckled in and ready to ride, but again, not a great pic.

The worker at Mulligan's took some pics of us going around the track, but did not zoom in so they didn't turn out so good either, but I thought I would include some of them anyway.

I have to say, Ethan and Ella did extremely well.  I thought they would be cautious and drive slowly, but they were driving all out like speed demons. They were going as fast as I was!  I wish I had a video of it so you could see how fast they were going.  Watch out, Eric & Nicole, when they turn 16 and want to drive. Hopefully they will stay within the speed limit.

We still had some time together after we returned from Mulligan's so we played one of our favorite games. Each of the kids took 6 small pieces of paper and wrote down an action that someone else would be required to accomplish (within reason) and then they put each paper inside a balloon, which we blew up and put in a pile.  The kids would then each take turns popping the balloon and had to perform the action written down on the slip of paper.  Here are three samples of the balloon popping game.

The final activity was a dinner at the Beesley's for Livi's 5th birthday. It was a very nice evening ending with Livi opening gifts from grandparents. Of course she already knew what she was getting from us because she picked it out, but she couldn't wait to open it. Here is a video of her opening the gift.

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We sure do love these grandchildren of ours.

I wanted to spend time with them the day before they flew back to Nebraska, but severe back problems prevented me from being able to do so.  At least they will be back here for Christmas and I will be able to spend more time with them.

Physical Necessity

I was given some hard words to swallow from my chiropractor this week.  I hadn't seen him for about 3 years because he was in an accident and couldn't work so he and his wife decided to serve a mission. They were called to serve in Russia and they LOVED it.  Anyway, back to the hard words I had to hear --- my lower back is basically in the same condition as that of a 95 year old.  Ouch!!!  I knew my back was bad and I am always in pain, but I never knew it was THAT bad.  Four years ago I had to have a CT scan for a stomach problem and found out that I had scoliosis of my lower spine.  With new x-rays this week, my chiropractor discovered that besides the scoliosis, I have major subluxation or deterioration of the lower 4-5 vertebrae as well.  Oh joy!  I have tried to exercise to help take care of my back for many years and I even purchased an inversion table to try to help ease the back pain, but I guess I didn't do enough to slow the aging process of my back.  However, help is on the way.  My chiropractor feels that with consistent therapy and proper care and adjustments over the course of a year, he can improve my condition to be that of a 75 year old, allowing my age to one day catch up with my deteriorated spine.  Happy day!

This is a picture of my spine 4 years ago from the CT Scan. You can see how it curves.  The curve today is much more pronounced than this. I don't have a picture of it though.

I will be visiting the chiropractor 3 times per week for several weeks and then I can taper the visits down as time progresses and improvements are made.  This is something I really need to do, not something I want to do.  However, I am willing to do anything necessary in order to try to improve my health.  A healthy back means a healthier me when it is time to serve a mission once Alan retires -- a major goal of ours.

21 Day No Junk Food Challenge Update

In my last post, I mentioned that Cheryl and I had started a 21 day no junk food challenge.  I thought it would be harder than it actually was. I know it is much better for my health to refrain from eating chocolate, candy, desserts, chips, fast food, ice cream, etc., but boy are they tempting. After three weeks of not eating these items (except for a couple of cheats), I did feel much better and I lost over 3 lbs.  Not much to speak of, but if I can continue to refrain from eating these things, I know I can lose even more. I like this quote from Tom Stoppard:

"A healthy attitude is contagious but don't wait to catch it from others. Be a carrier."

My son, Ryan, is a carrier. He is a big advocate of eating healthy and keeping active and has been doing so for a few years. He is down to below his high school weight as a result and he looks great and is fit.

With the holidays approaching, it might be difficult to stick to the challenge, but I am going to make an attempt to do so. Wish me luck!