A Trip to Ontario

April 03

Tripping to Ontario

I have the two best grandchildren in the entire universe.  We were a strange crew travelling together.  Me, my daughter and her daughter, my son and his son.  No spouses….just happens to be how it turned out and who was able to get away to go and visit my parents who are both in a nursing home.  They all slept over at my house the night before we left to facilitate getting everyone to the airport at by 6:00 a.m.  So it was an early early start for everyone.  The ‘girls’ got to sit together and the ‘guys’ had a seat with another passenger, who probably wasn’t looking forward to a four hour flight with a four year old.  But before we landed he remarked to both of them what a well behaved well mannered child he was – to which my grandson replied, “Yes, I am.  I LIKE to co-operate.” 

Once we had collected our luggage and taken bathroom breaks and found our rental van and strapped the two kids into their booster seats we started the second trek, a 3 hour drive north west.  We stopped for lunch and one more bathroom break, but otherwise went straight through.  The two kids chatted and played and laughed the entire way.  And when we got to my sisters house, they just kept on playing until it was time for bed.  Obviously no hassle when that time came, even with the two hour time difference, because they were both exhausted.  There was never a problem going to bed or sleeping in a strange place.  They are both quite adaptable.

We were up bright and cheery the next morning and went to visit my dad (grandpa/great grandpa) at the nursing home.  Just before we arrived in Ontario my mom had been taken to hospital with what the nursing home thought was congestion and flu, but it turned out that she suffered a mild heart attack in the early morning after she was admitted.  When you’re dealing with 90 year olds, you learn to expect just about anything.  Dad is in a wheel chair since having had a stroke a couple of years ago, and despite attempts at physio, he hasn’t shown much improvement or ambition to get better.  So, if he’s happy, why push it?  He is lucid and funny most of the time, and very accepting of the situation and his condition.  That first day we saw him he was very concerned about mom, but also happy to see his grand and great grand children.  The kids were quite interested in great grandpa and said hello and showed him the things they brought with them, and then went visiting some of the other residents down the hallway.  I love how kids are so completely accepting and unbiased and unafraid.  They met a lady who had a lot of stuffed animals on her bed which she showed to them, and they listened to another lady who said nothing but “you betcha, you betcha, betcha betcha, you betcha….”  They still talk about the ‘betcha lady’.   Kale explained and demonstrated his transformer dinasaur to anyone who would listen, and Kenzie organized her Polly Pocket case at the dining room table to the delight of great grandpas’ dining companions. 

My nephew drove from Windsor to London to pick up his girlfriend and then home during a busy school week to see grandma and to see us.  He stayed overnight and left the next morning, so it was a quick trip but wonderful to see him.  Kale gave him a tour of the house…..pointing out his and his sister’s bedrooms as now belonging to Kenzie and Kale.  He also told him the pool table in the basement was a bowling game for adults. 

We went out to restaurants several times.  Both kids are accustomed to placing their own orders, mostly for chicken fingers or pasta, and always chocolate milk.  Once when we dined out we had to wait almost an hour at the table, for the rest of the party to arrive, and for our food.  The kids spent the time drawing on placemats – when one was filled up front and back, someone would pass them another one. 

We have some great photos of the two of them at a park and playing on a sandy Lake Huron beach.  Kenzie collected a bag full of rocks, sand and sea shells which we had to cart all the way home.  Although the weather was still cool, they were able to play outside a lot with side-walk chalk and kicking around the remaining piles of snow.  They both got stuck in the mud in the garden.  They referred to my sister as “grandma’s sister” and her husband as “that guy who lives here”.  They watched movies, played dress up, made up games and read stories to eachother.  One of their favourite books was Gilles Tibo’s “Where’s My Hockey Sweater” which they dubbed “The Messy Hockey Guy”.   

We were able to have them make two very short visits with great grandma after she came back to the nursing home and was unhooked from oxygen and intravenous.  She was incredibly happy to be able to see them, however briefly, and they were very willing to give her hugs and kisses.  Kale made her a card which contained a picture of himself, an upside down swimming fish, a square fish, and a tulip.  For any grandma, no explanation is necessary.  On the day we left they gave and received long hard hugs from everybody.  You would think after a week together and facing another long trip they would finally start to be argumentative and whiney, but it didn’t happen.  They laughed and played together all the way back to Toronto, and for an hour at the airport.  They watched their little tv screens the whole flight home. 

I don’t know how much of this trip they’ll remember, since they’re four and five, but I know none of us will forget how incredibly well behaved they both were.  We had a good time.  It made my parents happy to see us.  We made a happy memory.