Tuesday

While Kevin was in school today, I went to visit Karin's grave and give her fall flowers which Kevin had helped me to arrange.

After attending a Rotary meeting, I stopped at the church to see Karin's memorial cross now that it has been permanently placed on the roof.



Kevin wanted to take a bird's nest to school from his backyard tree. He climbed the tree to retrieve it.



We took the waxed paper-ironed leaves outside to remove from the waxed paper.


He put the finishing touches on his pumpkin and placed it on their front steps, then readjusted his spider webbing.

He is supposed to take a ghost to school on Friday for their Halloween celebration. He wanted to use a white garbage bag, and we tried to think of something that would work for a head. He didn't have a balloon or a ball, so I suggested wadding up some paper. That worked fine!

He had math homework to do tonight which Daddy helped him with. I was very impressed with Daddy's teaching abilities! :)

Note that Kevin is using Guinness as a foot stool!

Monday

I drove Kevin to school again this morning, and returned to the kennel to pick up Guinness. He was his goofy self. I think they had some trouble controlling him, because they use a strap leash, not his pinch collar. He is a very strong dog and can easily take a caregiver for a walk! They had not bathed him, so they gave me a coupon for a Caribou Coffee down the street while I waited.

After school, Kevin and I took Guinness and Pebbles for a walk on the wonderful wooded path we found last week.





They had purchased a pumpkin painting kit with stencil, so Kevin wanted me to help him paint his pumpkin. First, we transferred the stencil markings to the pumpkin with Mommy Kinga's help.


Then Kevin painted the face,

The neighbor brought her pet chameleon outside. Kevin enjoyed playing with it.

Sunday

My conference finished this morning and we moved out of the condo at noon. We went to Margaritaville for lunch and ate outdoors on the "ship."
We met Tootsie outside the restaurant. She is only 8 months old!
While inside, Kevin and I saw the Margarita fountain turn on!
Kevin played some fun games with Daddy.
Happy family times!
There are lots of activities for tourists at this Boardwalk area where we had lunch. Steve, Kinga, and Kevin had come here while I was in sessions. They bought Kevin's Halloween costume here -- Robin Hood -- at MagicQuest. Kevin wanted to play miniature golf one more time before leaving town, so Grandma got to enjoy some fun too.
Boys cannot play on land alone...Sometimes it is hard to wait for your turn.
He looks fairly serious here! In fact, he made a hole in one today!!!
Kevin has always had problems with win/lose games. As long as there is no winner, he loves games, but he does NOT like losing. That is something Grandma tried to focus on a bit this summer when he was with me. I introduced him to baseball, and we read stories about baseball with the intent of learning that losing a game is OK. The fun is in playing the game. I was delighted to hear him say, "It doesn't matter who wins as long as you have fun!" YAY!!!! Maybe we can try a board game again someday! :)

Saturday

When I returned to the room between sessions, they were on the beach somewhere.

I looked over our oceanfront twelfth floor balcony to see if they were in sight. They were walking back to the hotel beneath me, so I called out to them. It took them a few seconds for them to figure out where my voice was coming from. Kevin found me first! Can you find them?

They are in the center of the photo on the sidewalk between trees.

Kevin brought back from treasures from the beach:

Tonight, I enjoyed a fascinating evening dinner with speaker where I had a wonderful table of new friends including an agent.

I returned to our room at 9:00 hoping Kevin would still be awake, and he was! And they had bought his Halloween costume at a magic store -- Robin Hood with bow and arrows! Jupiter is clearly visible tonight, and four of its moons can be seen with my telescope. Unfortunately, Kevin could only see the one moon on the left side of the planet. The other three were clustered in a triangle, from our perspective, close to the upper right of the planet. He could not see them no matter how I tried to focus and draw a diagram for him.
I took this photo earlier in the evening so that you can see Jupiter.

The Beach!

I was not involved in my conference until later in the day, so I had time to play with Kevin. He wanted to play "hide the thimble" this morning using a spoon as the thimble. We both found some pretty crazy hiding places. We use "warm" and "cold" and "HOT!" clues to help find it. In this picture, he was discovering he was becoming warmer as he walked towards Daddy's shoes.
Even though it is only in the 60s, the water was calling Kevin. They went for a walk on the sunny beach, with Kevin in his swimming suit, while I did some preparation for my conference. When I went out to check on them and have lunch, he was wet. I went upstairs for a towel and dry shirt for him.

We ate on at the hotel's bar on the beach. We sat at a table while he lounged by the pool having his picnic. The unheated pools beckoned him.


Then he found a hot tub!


And finally ate his lunch.


I kept trying to sit near him to make sure he was OK, but he was on a steady move between pools. While reading, he would disappear and I would be calling his name and asking people if they had seen a little blonde boy, which they had. One woman asked me if he could swim. "Yes, much better than I can!" I found in him another hot tub with another boy and grandparents.

At Kevin's House

Yesterday, Guinness and I drove to Kevin's house arriving last evening. It was dark when I arrived, and I could not see any house numbers to find their house among the street of Charleston homes with long front stairways, so I called them to say I was on their street and ask how to find them! I couldn't tell them where I was obviously. Steve thought he saw me and told me to back up to where they were standing on the sidewalk. I backed up, but no one was in sight. Thankfully, Kevin saw my car way up the hill! I saw barefooted Kevin sprinting up the steep sidewalk on his tippy toes! I followed him down the hill as he danced the whole way. So cute! He leapt into my arms when I got out of the car. Excited Guinness bolted out of the car running all around the neighbors' yards before we corralled him. Before entering the house, I put doggie boots on Guinness to protect their hardwood floors. They lasted about ten minutes. Pebbles wasn't thrilled with Guinness's presence but tolerated him. We brought a new stuffed toy for Pebbles which was torn apart by this morning.

I closed Guinness in Kevin's toy room for the night, but the doors did not shut tightly. In the middle of the night, Guinness jumped on top of Kevin! We managed to get Guinny to sleep at the bottom of Kevin's bed rather than on top of him.

Kevin had a late start for school which was nice for everyone. I love how they facilitate school drop-offs! The older elementary children stand along the sidewalk -- one to a car length and wave the cars through and signal when you should stop. The older student opens your child's car door, greets them cheerily and says goodbye to the adult driver! Very smooth, very polite; a nice way to start the day!

I took Guinness for a long walk before taking him to the kennel for his vacation time. My sidewalk became a Y with a wide, paved path to the left leading into woods. What a lovely spot!!! Thank heavens for my iPhone with map to tell me where I was! The long trek through the woods brought me to a sidewalk beside a highway. Without the digital map, I would have had to turn around to go home, but, with the map, I could see how to get back to their house, having made a huge circle.

I picked up Kevin from school and told him about the wonderful path I had found. We pulled out his bike. I had feared his neighborhood hills were too steep for him to ride, but I realized, being there in person, that he was capable of navigating them, at least, going down. I followed as he rode down the hills quite successfully and I pushed him up hills until we reached the wooded path. The woods are beautiful and colored leaves are covering the ground.


Kevin first spied red sweetgum leaves and HAD to take a few home. He found yellow tulip leaves in various sizes from small to giant. Those two trees are the most colorful today, though we did pick up a catalpa and a walnut leaf.

On the ride home, he was paying attention to all the fun Halloween decorations. I noted a house across the street with several painted pumpkins. Kevin squealed they were Angry Birds, and left his bike to cross the street and climb the steps to get a closer look.

I saw someone peeking at him from in the house. Soon a mother and boy from Kevin's grade came out! The boys recognized each other, but had not met. We praised their pumpkins and had a fun chat with new friends!

We stopped at the playground down the street from Kevin's house. He is gaining in physical strength and abilities!



Another indicator of maturing is Kevin's speech! He is sounding much more sophisticated!

Kevin helped place the leaves between wax paper for me to iron them to preserve them a little longer.

Grandma is here to attend a writers' conference at Myrtle Beach! Steve, Kinga, and Kevin were eager to join me in a luxurious highrise condo hotel and play on the beach for the weekend while I am in sessions. We drove there this evening.

When we arrived at the condo hotel and entered the parking ramp, Steve commented, "Only special people can get in." Kevin replied, "Oh! That's good to know!" When everyone laughed, he said, "It's good to know that you are easy to crack up!"

Steve and Kevin came with me two years ago. We had an oceanview room then. This time, it is an oceanfront room. Fabulous view!