In the last post, I told you about a couple of super-easy, super-inexpensive projects I did with the boys when they visited. But I didn’t tell you about everything else…
Paducah is a great place to entertain four littles—rivers, playgrounds, music parks, trampoline parks, and discovering a fairy house, not to mention bird watching and keeping an eye out for the foxes that live in our neighborhood.
Whew! So much to do and so little time! Fun doesn’t even begin to describe the time we had!
The River and Downtown
No visit to Paducah is complete without visiting the riverfront. When was the last time you went down there and threw rocks and sticks? I’m telling you it’s calling your name. Find a kid to take and you’ll have a cover!
The River Discovery Center was having a camp and we ran into a group as we strolled around the river area and downtown. They looked like they were having fun, too! If the boys lived here year-round, they would love attending. Have any of your grands ever gone?
Playgrounds!
Our little city has a wealth of playgrounds for kiddos of all ages. We visited the Brockenborough Rotary Health Park. We played on the Noble Park playground and walked over to the new Music Park. Kudos to my friend Brenda, who spearheaded that project when she was City Commissioner!
And we took two rounds at the Keiler Park playground (because it was nice and shady!) Our first round at Keiler, I ran into a friend of ours who was also entertaining grandkids for the week. We swapped notes on what our agendas looked like.
This grandparenting gig is fun! I even boarded the circle swing myself and took a ride. Usually I’m the pusher…I’d forgotten how relaxing swinging can be. No wonder they never want me to stop!
Jumpin’ for Joy
When you have four under six-years-old, you accumulate a bunch of wiggles! The trampoline park (Vertical Jump Park) was the perfect place to expend a ton of energy.
It was funny, as we stood on the sidelines watching the boys jump and play, I told Kent, “I have no desire to do that.” He replied: “Really? I was just thinking that I’d like to get out there.” (Well, he’s not as jiggly as ChiChi who, although she walks and rides her Peloton faithfully, is starting to notice…let’s just say “things aren’t quite the same.”)
After jumping ice cream sundaes were in order. Now that was the part that I excelled at.
The Paducah Chiefs
One of our favorite outings was to a Paducah Chiefs baseball game. The weather was perfect, the atmosphere wholesome, and the boys—who all but the four-month-old play—were all in. Hot dogs, popcorn, hamburgers, chips, plenty of bottles of water served as dinner that night, too!
I can’t brag on that evening enough. Our friends Greg McKeel serves as General Manager for the team and Chip Cox serves as Manager. They run the organization with excellence. It really is an outstanding program and such a great addition to our community.
Fairies and Foxes
The backyard was where we spent most of our time, though. One of the items on their to-do list, which we created at the beginning of the week in their little notebooks, was playing “every sport.” Cornhole, badminton, baseball, football, soccer, catch, swimming, and racing were the only ones we got done.
We kept our eyes peeled for a fox the whole time we were outside. We have a family of foxes that live in our neighborhood, and since it isn’t exactly a big woods, we often spot them out on the prowl. Every time the boys come we hope to see one, but to no avail. Yet! Oh, we’ll keep trying!
Bird watching is another activity on our agenda every year. My mom got them hooked on looking through the binoculars and then searching through her bird identification book. The boys love it. I know because they stick with it. Of course, Mimi makes it a lot of fun—flapping her wings and such.
This year for the first time we visited the fairy house. It’s the cutest creation one of our neighbors constructed on a huge tree. It’s got a charming little door, complete with a bell to pull to let the fairies know you’d like to come in.
Unfortunately, the fairies were fairly grumpy. Their dad got behind the tree and hollered “Go away.” They didn’t know it was their dad and it was a teeny bit scary. But not so scary that they didn’t want to return!
The grand finale to the outdoors play was the annual water balloon fight. I didn’t get that many good pictures because I was laughing too hard at my son and husband trying to cream each other.
The Party’s Over…For Now
All in all it was a fantastic visit, and we didn’t even get around to doing everything on our list! They’ll just have to come back.
The only reason I’m not crying ChiChi crocodile tears right now is because I know the girls are coming soon…And we’ll get to do it all over again!
Do you have any traditions you do with your grandkids? Help a ChiChi out and share in the comments!
Leslie Watkins
What precious memories! Adding those to my list the next time mine are home. I need to know where that fairy house is! Better yet, I may have to create one here for the girls! Can’t wait to see what you do next with the girls! Happy Thursday, friend!
Tracey Buchanan
I am positive that you would make an extraordinary fairy house! Go for it!!