A Day with the boys

Reading Chris’ post entitled In my park 11 years ago I started thinking back to a similar day with three of my grandsons. July 2022 and a really Happy Granma’s Day.

3 out of 4 ain’t bad

Eleven years ago yesterday I had a day with three of my four grandsons and what a great day it was.
Then, they ranged in age from 12 to 16 and the difference in ages was not very pronounced. They got on so well together. The 16-year-old was particularly careful to include the youngest one in everything, although he is well able to look after himself.
Having picked one up from his mother’s office and the other two from the train station we set off for the garden centre to collect the final two bags of stones for the patio.  I was planning to use some of their time with me (and their energy) to get this job finished eventually.  It’s never too early to learn there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Well, Granma was so busy talking that she got onto the motorway by mistake and had to drive miles out of her way before arriving at the garden centre.
Here we were greeted like long-lost friends.  Lotte ( my small Tibetan Spaniel) and I have been regular visitors to the centre since the patio was first thought about.  And they recognized Jae (the youngest) from our last visit.  So, purchases made the boys loaded the bags into the back of my car and we set off for home.
They came in for a drink and biscuits before starting – don’t all workmen?  They certainly do here in New Zealand.  And for the next half hour, the street rang with their laughter as they spread the stones, filling in the blanks that Jae and I had missed last week.
Soon it was finished and everybody had a great time.  Isn’t it so true that many hands make light work?  And what joy to be surrounded by happy, laughing young folk. Then lunch.  Easy to feed growing boys.  Plenty of sausages, buns, mayo and tomato sauce and the boys made their own hotdogs.  I demurred.  Hotdogs are not among my favourite things
Now what to do for the afternoon?  They couldn’t make up their minds.  Of course, they were slightly constrained by the fact that Jae still had his leg in a cast.  So I made the decision.  Sir Peter Jackson and Weta, the animation and special effects company – Lord of the Rings, The Last Samurai, King Kong, Xena Warrior Princess among others – are based in Wellington and they have the ‘Weta Cave” a museum open to the public.  Strangely none of us had been there before and so we took ourselves off. This was very interesting as it had models from all the films Weta and Sir Peter have been involved in and of course, they had many collectables for sale.
Then on to the Roxy Cinema another of Weta’s projects. The old cinema had been abandoned years ago.  It was derelict and had been so for some years, following a brief period as a shopping centre.  The shops were very sad and there was no good reason ever to go there. And then the building was purchased and brought back to its glory days.
The Roxy has a rather pleasant cafe on the ground floor.  So after touring around the cinema we sat for a breather – tea for Granma (well, I am English after all), coke for one boy, hot chocolate for another and for the third, and eldest and so sophisticated, iced coffee.
And there our adventures ended.  A trip home where they watched a DVD.  My son and his wife joined us for dinner and then later my daughter and her eldest son came in for a short time.  Drew had been competing in a water polo tournament in Auckland and Cate had picked him up at the airport and thought she would call in not only to pick up her younger son but also to catch up with her brother, his wife and their boys.
It was lovely to have both my children and all their children together.  A rare happening and a fitting ending to my lovely Granma’s Day.

“To be a really brilliant grandmother
remember what it was about your own that you loved most,
then imitate her.”
Judith Baxter – 1938 –

JB July 9, 2022