My brother comes to visit ...

My brother came to town on business Wednesday and stayed through until early Saturday morning. He spent one night at my Beach House, and then stayed the other nights with mom. I was able to get Friday OFF work (yay!), so we drove out to our favorite places and enjoyed a great day together.

We drove all around Lake Muskegon to the north side and walked the boardwalk down a little ways so that I could take a few pictures of the Coast Guard Station and one of my favorite lighthouses ...

And then we drove back the way we came, back around Muskegon Lake to Pere Marquette Beach. And as we were driving on Beach Road (I think) I looked over at the lake and pointed … "What's that white stuff along the shore?" I asked my brother. We abruptly stopped the car, pulled into a parking place, and we ran on down to see! 

ICE! Are you kidding? It was 71 in Grand Rapids when we left earlier in the day … and it was truly COLD out there at Muskegon … but I never expected to find ICE on April 17!

It really cracked us up ... 

We did our usual walking and exploring--but kept each excursion somewhat brief because mom was in the car. She was not in any hurry to leave, though, so we did enjoy ourselves on this beautiful brisk day.

 We left Muskegon and drove down to Grand Haven … because … we HAD to!

 We found fog rolling in. It was very chilly and windy. We walked the pier. I did not get any pictures of the shoreline; but I have NEVER seen the water this high in my life. There is hardly any beach!

 Look what we found at the end of the pier!

 ICE BERGS! Yikes!

 Look how HUGE this is!

I LOVE it when my brother comes for a visit. I was so thankful to spend the day with him. He has returned to Florida now and I am singing the blues … sigh. Love you, David.

Gargling is so much fun, Grandma!

The other day I was over at Brendan's house for just a little while and he entertained me the whole time! He was thirsty and went to the kitchen to get his white grape juice.

He brought his cup into the living room and proceeded to show me how cool it is to … gargle! 

 After all, this is what daddy does every morning by the bathroom sink ...

 Brendan has the whole thing down pretty good, I think ...

 And naturally, he takes great delight in this!

 Because he is a great little kid ...

 … who enjoys everything!

 So he gargled for me about 10 times ...

So, of course, I photographed it from start to finish … because I adore this little boy.

Kaity Jane in April

This is our Kaity-girl … isn't she sweet? She is outside at her house, playing in her yard by the bird feeder. 

 I love you, Kaity!

 I'm not sure what she is pointing at because I was too intent on taking her photo!

 And now it is going to bother me … perhaps it was a squirrel?! Yikes. I wish I knew!

 We played inside the house for just a little bit. There were guests because of a barbecue and Matthew's birthday and most of the activity was outside where it was a little chilly!

Love you Kaity-Jane! You are a sweet little granddaughter.

Mr. Pelican sails the ocean blue ...

Brendan came over to MY house yesterday and we played and played and played! Paco the Pig and Cocoa Cat are always included in our playtime. Brendan loves these puppets entirely.

He loves it when I animate them for him, and he is pretty good at doing it himself! He put Paco on his hand and asked? 

 Brendan insists that one of my nicknack lighthouses is really a lighthouse BOAT. He was excited to show it to Paco.

 Brendan was making Paco sing a little tune here ...

 Brendan's sweet smile while eating a BIG chunk of watermelon ...

For some reason, Brendan has taken a recent liking to another one of my nicknacks … a pelican that was a gift from my brother, David … all the way from Florida! 

 Brendan introduced Mr. Pelican to the trucks ...

 And then I retrieved my wooden sailboat (from the top shelf) and brought it down to show Brendan. He was SO in love with this!

 He decided Mr. Pelican MUST sail the ocean blue ...

 And in his usual style, Brendan played with this sailboat and Mr. Pelican for a VERY long time ...

 He had so much fun!

 Brendan checks out every single angle of every little thing … enjoying himself hugely in the process.

 THEN … we decided to paint. So we painted a sailboat, a pelican, and another picture too. Brendan was very pleased.

 The pictures below completely crack me up. Here is Brendan, after we had finished our paintings, requesting to see a "steam locomotive" (annunciated perfectly). So I got on the internet and found a 28 minute video of steam trains of all sorts … these pictures are Brendan watching the wheels and imitating them with his arms and hands … he is quite amazing at it.

 The face below says it all … "I AM LOVED, GRANDMA!"

 And no playtime would be complete without a car wash! So, we naturally got our matchbox cars all shiny and clean once again!

 We even played a little music … Brendan is very good with music!

 He is quite a natural!

I love you Brendan, sweetie-pie!