See You Later Alligator, After A While Crocodile

I'm not sure if alligators in the water are a big problem in Birundi, all I know is Stela isn't taking any chances. Even though she has splashed in our swimming pool a good part of the summer, she often straps on not one, but three life jackets (just in case.) After she has them securely fastened she will dive in and boy, let me tell you, she is buoyant! She pops up out of the water, barely getting wet. The cutest scene of all is when this little seven year old, three deep in life preservers, acts as the chief lifeguard for her three-year old sister, Aline. She is continually watching to make sure Aline doesn't float too far away from the stairs. Aline, surprisingly, is content with just one life jacket. But then she has Stela to keep her safe.

All I want for Christmas is my....

Meet Scotty David Edwards. Scotty is the roughest, toughest grandson ever. Take his teeth for instance. Yes, he has lost a few as most kids do. But Scotty never lets his baby teeth get sorta loose and then by wigglin' and wigglin' for a week or so, the tooth eventually, hanging by a thread, falls out or is gently nudged by dad or mom. NO! Scotty's teeth only and always leave his mouth with a modicum of violence when his mouth collides with one or the other of his siblings' heads. In addition to this rough and tumble individuality, Scotty is also a lot of fun. When he visits, we play basketball and tennis in the gym. He is highly motivated in tennis right now because Grandma can still "smoke" him, and he does so want to win. I am very much aware that my prowess will be short-lived as this grandson is no stranger to extreme competition. Grandma loves you, Scotty.

First Ever Birundian Olympic Swim Team

Invited my African friends over for a swim. We invite them over several times per week to cool off in the pool. They usually beg for life jackets and goggles. I strap the life jackets on the 3 and 6 year old, but encourage the others to practice actual swimming. It wasn't until the Olympics started that they really got interested in swimming. Now, Jeneseri (12) and Nelson (8) swim all over the pool. Friday, we learned the backstroke and the butterfly. They also now love to practice trick "dives" just like in the Olympics. Check out the action

.

What to do on a hot day in Phoenix?

We visited the ten grandchildren in Phoenix last week and found ourselves with a very hot afternoon with nothing to do. Big surprise in Arizona! FYI for moms or grandmothers in the same situation. Rush right over to Sam's Club and buy the paper airplane book. Contained therein are specialty papers with the fold lines imprinted and there are detailed directions to go with. We folded and practiced piloting and then we had the Olympics of Paper Airplanes. What fun we had gliding and crash bombing them across the room and down the hall. We even had an around the "world" event. Congratulations to EJ, Jackson, Davis and Brooke. Perhaps we have some future pilots aboard.

Mirror Mirror on the wall

We have another three year old in the family. Ella just celebrated her birthday on August 15th. Move over ToysRUs as we have found the Costume Closet a great place to shop for birthday presents. All of our grandkids love to dress up and Ella is no exception. She even had a Sleeping Beauty castle cake for her birthday party. (See link to Ty and Tiff's blog.) Doesn't she look so sweet in her Snow White regalia? Happy Birthday Ella!

Like Father like son

Those of you who know Devin well, know that he is a gigantic food afficionado. He is known for his very enthusiastic MMMMMMMmmmmm when he is served (practically any kind of) food. And so the perfect toy for Baby Hugh is our container of (fake) food. As he is Devin's offspring, he gobbles down most anything and even gives it the MMMMMmmmm approval rating.

Snowbird in Summer

Whit and Laura plus the four kids visited last month. We spent an evening in the canyon, riding the tram at Snowbird and loving the beauty of our Utah mountains. We saw a number of deer as we rode the tram. Our time at the summit was cut short as a thunderstorm was rolling in. You do not want to be on an 11,000 foot peak when lightning is afoot. Note little Ty is now on solid foods. He thinks Papa Hugh's backpack is especially tasty. Whit, of course, has summitted much higher peaks. His climb in Africa of Mount Kilimanjaro was a 19,000 foot "hike." Whit will also climb Mount Owens (Grand Tetons) on Labor Day weekend. He has a group of friends from all over the country that climb with him each September. Whit and Laura have moved an incredible 12 times in 12 years of marriage so they have friends everywhere.

Oh me oh my! I started scrapbooking!

Yes, I did it. I started scrapbooking digitally. It is pretty fun and so easy. About 8 years ago, I thought I would be such a great grandma and make some scrapbook pages for my grandkids. Well, we all know how that turned out. The first four grandkids got a couple of pages just because Kate needed a summer job and helped me out. The other 12 grandkids, zilch! Just recently, Becca got into the memory maker stuff and also taught me a few of her tricks. I found it fun to place a grandchild on your lap and let him help you create the page. The photo posted here is an example. Davis picked his own photos, paper, font and mat. Well, okay, I added a few things too. I think it looks out of the galaxy cute.