Thursday, January 3, 2008

Grand Rabbits?

Ruthanne and Terry, Shelley and Matthew came to Grand Rapids yesterday afternoon to visit with Nana and Roy and to deliver Christmas presents! Mr. Jones and I got to be part of the fun. I received such a nice gift of a 2008 day-at-a-time calendar with a lighthouse picture for each day! I was going to save it and only look at one picture per day, but last night I couldn't help myself and got all the way up to May 17 (Jesse's birthday) before I finally put it down and went to sleep. My favorite lighthouse so far is the Split Rock Light up in Two Harbors Minnesota. It sits way up on a high cliff and is amazingly beautiful. But the most fun of the day was my great-nephew, Matthew. He is at the perfect age ~ he completely entertained all of us for the entire afternoon!
We met at Nana and Roy's house. Matthew especially liked Nana's Christmas tree that played Christmas carols and had three cool trains that circled around it. The top very-tiny train was stationary and Matthew was very disappointed that it didn't "go." We told him that train was resting. He very badly wanted it to "wake up" and get going! He was delighted with this train tree and we just enjoyed watching his wonder ...
Here is Grandpa Roy in his own abode. This is the basement of his house, and he built and finished all of this with his own hands. It is very homey and warm and beautifully made. I wish you could see it!
Some of Matthew's toys from home were brought along to keep him busy, but he really was wondering ~ "Where were the rabbits?" I have lived in Grand Rapids for almost 37 years now and never once did it cross my mind to look for rabbits! However, wee Matthew was told that he was going to Grand Rapids today and just thought for sure there were rabbits somewhere. Shelley was explaining this to me, and I thought she meant that Matthew understood there were rapids here and he wanted to see them. I was amazed at the brilliance of this just-turned two-year-old! How could he possibly know what a rapid was? But then Shelley clarified that Matthew got it into his head that he was going to Grand Rabbits! So, the search was on! Terry took Matthew on a search for rabbits all over Roy's house. They found lots of interesting things, plenty of stuffed bears and toys, but Matthew wasn't easily fooled ~ thankfully, these little ceramic bunnies satisfied him. There WERE rabbits here afterall! I missed taking the picture of him smiling, walking around with one in each hand!
Grandpa Roy told stories of finding rabbits out in his garden and shooting them (!) but we didn't let Matthew hear those stories ...
Here is Terry teaching Matthew about money and the difference between a penny and a quarter. They had previously been all over the house looking at all of the neat clocks that chime and cuckoo, in between looking for rabbits.
Terry got out his IPOD to show Nana something and she was so entertained by it! She and Roy sat there amazed by the technology for quite awhile.
We all had dinner over at Arnie's on Leonard. Matthew decided he liked those yucky dill pickles and that it made a great lizzard tongue. When it was time to go, Terry took the pickle away and Shelley lifted Matthew up to take him for a diaper change and he said, "Where did my tongue go? asked the lizzard!" Little kids say such cool stuff. But I definitely liked the rabbit thing best of all.
The Grand Rabbits!

4 comments:

Thursday said...

"Grand Rabbits"! That's great!

Emily said...

Where is that light house in Minnesota?

Mom Jones said...

Emily -- It is in Two Towers, Minnesota and it is on a 130 foot cliff that overlooks Lake Superior. The picture of it is so beautiful, that if I could, I would go TODAY and take pictures of it! I haven't checked it out on a map, but I am assuming it's way north. I'll google it and let you know! :)

Unknown said...

I couldn't believe it when I checked your blog this morning and you had already so wonderfully recapped our nice day yesterday! It was wonderful to see you again. I like this new trend, of seeing you more often. always a joy. =)

p.s. he's still talking about the rabbits!