Let The Spoiling Begin!

..,Continued from  6/29/2017:
     I feel both envious of and happy for people whose grandchildren live close enough by that they can be a regular part of their children's children's everyday lives.
     As for Tom and me, our only two grandchildren, aged 6 and 4, live 2,200 miles away and we see them three or four times a year when we visit them or they visit us.
     The up side of this arrangement, though - as I remind myself and other people I know whose loved ones live far away - is that it not only gives us a destination to travel to now and then, but that it makes those times when we can be together special events, joyful occasions that will, hopefully, settle in among our and our loved ones' happy memories.
       And, an added benefit,  we long-distance grandparents spend so little time with our grand children that when we do see them we can spoil them to our hearts' content without fear of spoiling them beyond all  rehabilitation.
         Still,  a couple of weeks ago when our daughter and grand daughters returned with us to Columbus from our Chicago family reunion, Tom and I gave it our best shot.
          We arrived home from Chicago on the evening of Monday, July 19,

...after a dinner break at a Cracker Barrel in Greenfield, Indiana,

...where we had to make a stop to sign over our battered car to the care of the repair garage where it would spend a three-week recuperation after its highway attack by a demented rogue tire (see post from 6/18/2017).

     The following morning Tom and I announced to our daughter Maria that she was free to spend the day as she wished; this day her children were ours to spoil as we wished.
      We started off the morning at Tom's an my favorite local breakfast eatery, the Café Creekside ,

...where we were able to snag a great window seat from whence we enjoyed the view,

...along with the best breakfast cuisine in Gahanna.

    After breakfast I suggested a trip to the library, which the girls were amenable to.  However they asked if we could walk there.
     The library being about a half-mile from the restaurant, I told them yes, we could walk if they wanted to.

  As we soon learned, however, it wasn't  that they wanted to walk;

...it was that they wanted to fly,

...which was what they called running while dressed in their Supergirl costumes.

     So they ran the half-mile from Café Creekside to the Gahanna Library, their Grammie Patti huffing and puffing close behind,

...fortunately (for Grammie Patti) stopping now and then to check out things of interest,

...or for a photo op,

...or a little rest break.

     As always, there was much fun for all at the library.

     Sooner than I would have thought, the girls were hungry again; though I guess flying does work up an appetite.
      Fortunately we were just around the corner from a Panera,

...where we grabbed some lunch.

     Grandpa Tom having retrieved the car for us, next on the agenda was one  haircut at Ted's Classic Cuts on Granville Street in Gahanna, a really nice place where I get my hair cut these days.

Ted gave my grand daughter a cute cut,

...while the rest of us relaxed.

    After the haircut what the girls wanted to do next was go home,

...and dig into Grammie's and Grandpa's toys and play clothes.

     The girls did have to take a break from playing for their Princess Piano Lessons,

...with the help of my special Piano Friend animals,

...and my helpful colored tapes that pull off the keys like Post It notes,

...and, of course, a reward of stickers at the end.

    And then before we all knew it, it was time for dinner then the day was over.

   But happily, there was still some time left to play before bed.

  "Equal And Opposite Reactions" by Patti Liszkay
is available at
http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions,
amazon.com, 
barnesandnoble.com,
Kindle Edition, and
Gramercy Books in Bexley, Ohio