Scenes from Summer 2022

Scenes from Summer 2022

Welcome back! I hope everyone enjoyed their summer, making memories and more with loved ones.

I was blessed with memorable moments with many a loved one since pressing pause on Grandma’s Briefs for the season.

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Rockin' PawDad's party

Rockin' PawDad's party

The recent weekend in which my family was all together—a relatively uncommon occurrence even in the best of times—featured not only Robert’s baptism, as I previously shared, but a milestone birthday celebration, too. That milestone being Jim’s sixtieth birthday.

The birthday festivities, organized primarily by Megan, revolved around a rockin’ theme as …

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Summer 2020: What I didn't tell you

Summer 2020: What I didn't tell you

July 25, 2020, marked the eleven year anniversary of Grandma’s Briefs. During many summers, I’ve taken a break from blogging from Memorial Day through Labor Day, to allow me time to enjoy summer fun without being obligated to publish anything.

This past summer, I chose not to take a break. I figured that with Covid restrictions and all, I’d have little to do and lots of time to write about the little I might do and see and ponder.

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Some grand news amidst all the bad news

Some grand news amidst all the bad news

So much bad news surrounds us lately. Most of it beyond bad, in fact. Bad news about the pandemic, about politics, about inexplicable injustices and more batters our brains and hurts our hearts pretty much every single day beyond anything we might have imagined mere months ago.

Yet amidst all that bad news, I have some good news.

Some grand news.

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Flat Stanley Part II

Flat Stanley Part II

Flat Stanley Part II

Long, long ago in the pre-coronavirus days (okay, March 11), I published a post here on Grandma’s Briefs about the super time I had showing Flat Stanley around Colorado Springs. Camden had sent the character to me as part of a school project, with instructions for me to introduce Stanley — and ultimately, Camden’s classroom via a presentation by Camden using all the materials I collected for him — to the highlights of my city.

I did show Stanley the best of the Springs then returned him — and loads of literature and pics of his visit — just as instructed, for Cam to create his presentation.

Then schools closed.

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Snow day for Flat Stanley*

Snow day for Flat Stanley*

*Alternate title: Oh, the things that we do for our grandchildren!

I don’t typically make comments or judgments about the physical appearance of folks who visit my home. Yet, a friend of my grandson Camden recently stayed at my house and I just gotta say, well, that kid was thin. Flat, in fact. So flat that the descriptor is officially part of his given name.

Yes, it’s Flat Stanley of whom I speak.

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Grand fun: A Bearizona visit with Arizona boys

Grand fun: A Bearizona visit with Arizona boys

Hard to believe it’s been nearly a month since Jim and I visited our grandsons (and daughter and son-in-law) in Arizona.

Hard to believe, too, that I’ve not shared the stories of all we did (other than make bracelets) during that visit. But with Benjamin’s milestones to mark soon after our return — such as his first haircut and his first birthday — details on our desert visit to see Brayden, Camden, and Declan were put on the back burner.

With temps hovering just below freezing and a snowy scene outside my windows as I write this, today seems an especially ideal day to recap one particularly grand fun-in-the-sun outing we had our grandsons at the outset of autumn. That being the day we spent at Bearizona Drive-Thru Wildlife Park, located about an hour south of the Grand Canyon.

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Oh, yes we did: Bracelets with boys

Oh, yes we did: Bracelets with boys

This past weekend, Jim and I kicked off fall with a quick visit to see our grandsons in the desert, as I’d mentioned here was on the calendar. During the visit, I did indeed make bracelets with the boys, just as Declan had requested.

Thing is, despite his enthusiasm upon seeing the paracord bracelet kit I’d brought in my Grandma Bag, Declan bowed out of the bracelet making in mere minutes. Which worked out for the best as bracelet-making was quite a feat for a five-year-old. Well, a feat for this grandma — who’s 10 times that and more — as well.

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