On the road with my granddaughter

My granddaughter and I have been putting on a few miles lately, as we travel around Up North.  I enjoy the driving and the scenery, so I’m easily entertained, but I wanted to make sure Goodnight enjoyed the driving, too.

We made a stop at a thrift store yesterday and while GN was in a different section of the store, I browsed through the music CDs.  Though I do not collect Christmas music like I collect Christmas videos, I spotted two music CDs that I though would pass the time very nicely.  I got much more than I hope for with my purchase that required mere coins and no paper bill.

As we drove from one location to another, I asked GN to be in charge of the music – no personal devices and no headphones!  She put in the first CD.  It was a mixture of artists singing one Christmas song apiece.  It was Ricky Martin’s version of “Ay Ay Ay It’s Christmas” that got her going . . . well got us both going.  Neither of us had heard it before.  Each time she hit repeat, she turned the volume up a bit. 

Ay, ay, ay, it’s Christmas and I don’t know what to do
Ay, ay, ay, it’s Christmas and I don’t have a gift for you
I can give you ay, ay, ay, all you need is ay, ay, ay
Un poquito ay, ay, ay, on this Christmas night, yeah.

We listened to it several times before we played out the rest of the CD.  It had a great beat.

The next CD was a collection of what I would have called children’s Christmas songs, but it ended up entertaining a teen and a gram, too.

We were rolling merrily along and enjoying the tunes until “Percy, the Puny Poinsettia” played.  Goodnight laughed so hard that we couldn’t hear all the words.  She picked up the CD case to tell me the name of the song and discovered there was a lyric sheet inside.  She pulled it out, hit repeat and sang along.  I Loved that moment!  I think we listened to it three or four times before we let the CD go to the next song.

I know, it’s not Christmas now.  But my point was to make the driving pleasant and that was the result.  Good memories for both of us.  I love my granddaughter’s easy willingness to do things that may not be considered ‘cool’ all the time.  Thanks, Sweetie!

A brief post about how I discipline my granddaughter

In my current position as legal guardian of my only child’s only child, I prefer to wear my Grammy hat as much as possible.  However, since I can’t sugar her up and buy her battery-operated toys that make a lot of noise and then send her home for someone else to wind her down, I have to keep some disciplinary tactics in my child-rearing tool bag.

Though it’s not the method I use with the most frequency, my favorite tool is a periodic slow drive past a prison, jail, or other facility of incarceration.  We have several fairly close to home and that includes the remains of an old, historic jail as well.  Our slow drive past the facilities does not go without a discussion of the myriad of reasons that can get one a ticket to a room there.  I suppose I watched too many episodes of Dragnet as I was growing up.

There comes a time, however, when the infraction deserves more than a drive past a facility.  Sometimes a more ’hands-on’ experience is called for.

 

Though Goodnight committed no infractions to the Grammy Code and was a good sport about this photo,  . . . Ye Old Jail Cell at Paul Bunyan Land near Brainerd, MN did include a toilet and a cot. 

 

 

Looking for Babes

The title of my post is intentional for two reasons:  1) I have been getting way too much spam for sex-dating sites and I was curious what would happen if I used the title I chose; and 2)My granddaughter and I actually DID go looking for Babes.  But wait!  Before you click delete, don’t forget . . . we’re Up North.

Babe-hunting Up North is different.  We were looking for Babe the Blue Ox.

American folklore gave us a mighty lumberjack, clad in a flannel shirt: Paul Bunyan.  Any story worth its weight in lumber, should include a pet, or at best, a beloved animal character.  Babe the Blue Ox fits the bill.

I’m not going to retell any of the legends here.  They are easily accessible.  This is the one with which I am most familiar.

Any good legend needs to be kept alive by retelling, so it falls to me to tell tall tales to Goodnight.  That explains why we went looking for ‘Babes.’

Babe and Paul in Bemidji, MN

Babe painted on store front in Akeley, MN

 

Babe and Paul Bunyan near water tower in Brainerd, MN

Babe outside Paul Bunyan Land near Brainerd, MN

Babe loaded on trailer inside Paul Bunyan Land, Brainerd, MN

Buckin’ Babe ride for little tikes at Paul Bunyan Land, Brainerd, MN

Paul Bunyan Land is a theme park Up North.  More about our adventure there in a separate post.