April 13, 2009

Great-Grandparents Allen

I'm so grateful that my Grandparents Allen (dad's side) are still alive and that my kids get to know them a little. I don't know what memories the boys will keep of them, but I love seeing them together. We went and visited them Monday night at their assisted living home.

Grandpa Allen will turn 90 this year! And Grandma Allen is 85. Grandma is in some stage of Alzheimer's and has trouble seeing anything, but she's so cute about it. Grandpa is so good to her--he has developed so much patience!

When I was a little girl, Grandpa would wrap his legs around us and put us in a "Bear Trap" and we would try to get out. We would laugh and yell as we tried to break free. It was so fun to see him trap my boys (maybe with not as much strength as there used to be), but the boys laughed and teased as they tried to escape.

The boys were looking through all of Grandpa's stuff he keeps next to him while he sits in his chair. Since Grandma can't really see, she asked Grandpa what they were doing. Grandpa replied, "Just exercising their curiosity"! (My favorite quote of the night.)

Grandma has always loved children. I was so happy to see my boys run up and give her big hugs and sit with her. They were so kind to her , even though I think they were asked the same 2 questions over and over again. She even tried to play with them! She would ask them how old they were and then say "Are you 2 years old?" They would laugh and tell her how old they were. Then she started another game. She would cover up her mouth and say "Don't kiss me, don't kiss me!" So then the boys would try to sneak up and give her a kiss on the cheek. They were all laughing. It was so sweet.

I really wish I had pictures to remember those sweet moments that the boys had with their Great-grandparents Allen, but I guess I'll just always have them in my memory. I hope there are many more times with them!

I'll have to post pictures of them when we get home to Utah. I have some cute ones of them there.
mommy said...

That's so sweet. Write it down in the boys' journals so they can always have it.