Kevin, Soula and Robin are back home in Washington and I am back to work…and working on recovering from their visit. Toys are still spread around the family room and floats are still in the pool. All that will get cleaned up tomorrow. I am very much missing all of them–especially Robin. It just seems way too quiet around here. I’ll get used to it once again, but it was nice to have that little guy chattering all over the house.

Our first trip was to the Kidspace Museum the day after they arrived. There was quite a lot for Robin to see and do, but I think he was still rather unsure about being here at that point. He did like lots of the activities, especially the outdoor things like the stream and the jungle gym where he could hang from bars and climb around.

The next trip was to Disneyland! We decided to go there on Friday since that was the first day of the Halloween activities. I got our tickets from a woman who was selling them on eBay for less than half price. She buys a five-day pass and then sells them for one day uses. Apparently this is legal, but not approved by Disney. But, since the cost of the tickets at Disneyland is so damn expensive, I decided to try it. I learned from this experience that you definitely need to check out the feedback on eBay for the person from whom you buy anything! Never having used eBay previously, I just didn’t understand what I was doing. I just looked for the best price. The bottom line is that we got the tickets for the advertised price but had to tolerate waiting until the last minute to know whether we were actually going to get them and then had to put up with numerous phone calls/text messages from her–even while we were at Disneyland! It worked out, but I would NEVER buy from this woman again. There are other more reputable sellers on eBay that I’ll use if we ever do this again.

Disneyland started off great! We took Robin on 3-4 rides in Fantasyland and then headed to Adventureland. We went on the Pirates of the Carribean ride and then got a ‘fast pass’ so we wouldn’t have to wait in the long line for the Haunted Mansion. Since we had an hour or so to kill before it was time to go thru the ‘fast pass’ line, we decided to take Robin to Tom Sawyer’s Island. He seemed to enjoy running around and, as we headed back to the raft to take us back across the river, Robin decided to take a break and sit down on the pathway. Only problem with that was that Kevin was holding his hand and didn’t realize Robin was going to sit down…and kept holding his hand. Robin immediately started crying and holding his arm with his other hand. We knew something was wrong and, after getting back to the other side of the river, we realized we needed to find the first aid station.

The nurse there knew right away what had happened–Robin’s elbow was pulled out of the socket (something they call nursemaid’s arm) and we needed to take him to the ER at a local hospital. After a trek down Main Street, a tram ride to the parking area, a ride up the escalator and a walk to the car, we headed off to a nearby hospital. Fortunately the ER doctor was very familiar with this type of injury and was able to diagnose the problem and fix Robin’s arm by a few twists that popped everything back where it was supposed to be! Two hours after we had left we were headed back to Disneyland and Robin was happy and healthy once more.

Our plans for the day were interrupted a bit, but we still got to do just about everything we really wanted to do. The highlight of the day for Robin was the fireworks over the Sleeping Beauty Castle at the end of the day. He was absolutely ecstatic watching them and I’m glad we chose the fireworks rather than the light show at California Adventure. Kevin and I both decided we would have liked to have spent another day there…but that will have to wait for another visit.

On Monday we took Robin to Venice Beach. He loved playing in the sand but was not real eager to spend time in the water. The water temperature was fairly cold (probably about 65 degrees) and I didn’t do much other than walk along the edge. Kevin decided to go out into the ocean a bit further and, when he was berated by two waves in a row, he realized his swimming abilities were not the same as when he swam on the swim team in high school and got himself back to shore! We walked along the beachfront in Venice where there used to be lots of souvenir type shops. Today the shops are medical marijuana clinics and tacky t-shirt shops. We kept walking, hoping it would get better but it just didn’t. After stopping for lunch, we headed back to Pasadena.

We spent lots of time in the backyard and Robin got to spend a couple of days swimming in our pool. The pool temperature was down to 76 degrees, so they only got to swim for a short time before it was just too cold. I thought the water would be warmer, but the week of cool weather just before they arrived cooled it off more than I had expected it would. He still had a good time, though, and I’m hopeful they’re next visit will be during a time when the water is much warmer.

Robin is just a delight to be around! He was always on the go, exploring new places and things. He is extremely smart and is able to spell, read, count and do basic addition at age 3! He knows all the shapes (including such things as pentagons, hexagons and octagons!) as well as all the phases of the moon! He is fascinated by the moon and spent many hours in the backyard staring at it and telling us all about it.

And so now the visit has ended and I have lots of wonderful memories and pictures (which I’ve posted on Facebook). My grandson will be a different little boy the next time I see him, doing many new things and having many new interests. Wish I could visit with him far more often than I am able to do.