Little Bean comes for a Visit

The Prospector and I packed up the dogs, on Christmas Day, took the truck (and the car) and drove down to the Bay Area, to my sister's house. I actually got my husband to leave the mountain and stay overnight with the stipulation that the dogs would come too.

My sister's house was beautiful and we had a wonderful day... a special family get together that was enjoyed by everyone.

 I stayed an extra day and then picked up my youngest grandson, Little Bean, for his first trip to Noni and Papa's house by himself.  He is six years old. He had talked about this trip excitedly. He was telling me all the things that we could do when we got to the farm.
But first we had to drive up into the mountains for two and a half hours. To a six year old  two hours is like ALL DAY.

Mommy said that he would probably fall asleep a few minutes after we started. RIGHT!
Instead of falling asleep, he decided to watch everything and ask questions. The main one was, "Are we there yet?" I'm sure you've heard that one before??
He said he couldn't sleep because the sun was in his eyes. We were driving east and the sun was, indeed, in our eyes.When we turned north to drive over the San Joaquin River, again, I thought he might take a nap. He got really quiet. When I looked back to see if he was asleep, he said, "Noni, why do you and Papa live so far away? How long before we get there?" I told him that we had another hour and a half to go.  I told him that we use to live in the town we had just passed through and that was where his dad grew up. His next question was, " Did you have kids when you lived in that town?" I realized that I was going to have to be very clear from now on... that a six year old only processes NOW and that it's very hard to understand a timeline of Daddy being a baby, then a child, then a Daddy. This is not an easy concept.
So I tried again.
"Well Bean, Daddy use to be your age and then he grew up. You will too." Before I could add any pertinent information to back up my statement, he said, "What are those tall white things over there?"
Thinking I had dodged a bullet (sorry!) with the human development issue, I responded quickly, "Oh, those are windmills. They make energy from the wind."
"But they don't go very fast.". He was really watching them and then he added, " How do they go faster?'
"They need more wind. The wind makes them go faster."
He looked at me and said, "Oh." and there was a moment of silence. Only a moment. Then he saw the sheep.
 "Look Noni. What is that?" A huge flock of sheep were lying out in a field enjoying the sun.
"Those are sheep." I said.
"Oh." he said. "Some are little."
"Yes, Bean, the little ones are called lambs."
"That's nice. I would like to touch them."
"Well Bean, the guardian dogs probably wouldn't let us touch the babies."
(OOPS!!)
"What dogs?" He hadn't seen the big white Maremma's that were lying around with the sheep.They really blend in.
"The dogs that watch over all the sheep out there. They live with the sheep."
"The dogs LIVE with the sheep?"
"Yes!" I said, "They are trained to take care of the sheep."
"Even in the rain."
"Yep, even in the rain."
We came to the Rio Vista Bridge and turned east again.
Bean spotted a hawk on a telephone line.
"Look at that bird."
It was about then that I realized that my grandsons attention span was saving me from serious discussions on any one subject and that all answers could be in very general terms. It also made me realize how new his view of life was and how he still had such a sense of wonder about everything.  He was discovering life.
What happens when we grow up? Where does that wonder go?
We stopped at a Farmer's Market to use the bathroom and we saw a goat and some chickens.

Between the Farmer's Market and Highway 5, in the Central Valley, we saw Egrets, hawks, more sheep and some starlings doing their graceful dance together in the air. I saw all of this though the youthful eyes of my grandson. I had seen it all before. I drive this route all the time. This time was different.
We drove to a gas station  and filled up. Bean noticed that there were two red trucks and a red sports car in the gas station. He said that he wanted a red sports car like that one. I said that it was beautiful and someday he could probably buy one. He said "Yes, I will."
 Then he wanted to know how long it would be before we got to see Papa.
I said, "About an hour."
"Why does it take so long?" Bean was getting restless.
I said, "It just does."
"We-ll Noni," ( this "well" had two syllables and an accent on the "we".), he said, " I think that you live too far away. I am tired of driving."
I'm sorry Bean, but we are more that half way there now. We will be there before you know it."
LOOK, Noni, I see COWS!"
Bless the milk cow farms in East Lodi. They don't know how much time they consumed and how they made the last leg of a trip across the Central Valley of California a whole lot faster.
"I love cows, Noni."
"Do you Bean?"
"Yes." he smiled, "They are my favorites."
Bean doesn't think that they need extra hay. He thinks they should eat the grass that is in the field.
Bean doesn't like the smell. ( I admit. It was pretty bad.)
Bean says that cows are really big and they lay down in the "muddy-poopy"mess and that is why they smell so bad.
I joked about which ones were the "chocolate" ones that gave chocolate milk.
He wasn't sure about that, but... could he have marshmallow's in his chocolate milk when we got to the house... and did we have the little marshmallows for his MARSHMALLOW GUN that he brought with him.
I told him we did.
We finally got into town, picked up the mail and headed down our road and home to PAPA and the dogs. They were all waiting for us.
The Bean rested, ate dinner, played with the dogs, watched a cartoon movie, played outside and made me a special puzzle picture at his brother's favorite desk in the extra room.

He was settling in and getting use to being with Noni and Papa in what he called "the house with lots of old things in it and no other houses around it." He wasn't afraid. He seems content. 
Little Bean was here for a few days, suit case, Bug Vacuum, Marshmallow Gun and all.

Uh, oh! We are going to have to put shoes and socks up somewhere safe. You know how Carl likes to steal  shoes and socks..
Tomorrow we will climb the rock wall, build a playground, throw rocks ( Yes, you can do that here. We have acres of rock throwing space.) and go buy a pair of boots at Wall Mart. He needs an extra pair for the hike with Noni and Papa.
Sweet dreams little guy. See you in the morning.

A Good Tired

My grandson was visiting one day when he asked, "Gramma, do you know how you and God are alike?"  I mentally polished my halo while I asked, "No, how are we alike?"  "You're both old," he replied.  ~Author Unknown 


I had to laugh when I read this. It's so like a child. It's so like the Bean..  the ability to make you feel like the most important person in his life and then honesty that takes you to your knees.
We had such a good time this weekend. There were moments of "This is how it's going to be, young man." or " We don't touch the computer and we don't throw the dog's bone across the living room and into the kitchen." but most of the time it was wonderful. The Bean is 5. He's learning how to be a human being. We had to give him a little slack. 
He and the Prospector had an ongoing conversation about Cheerios. Papa told him that he thought Cheerios would be a great present for the Bean's birthday in March. The Bean  said "NO PAPA." and Papa replied, " But you love Cheerios. It's a great gift."  The Bean looked Papa in the eye and said...." PAPA, you don't give Cheerios for presents. ONLY TOYS." So Papa, of course, had to keep bringing it up and every time he said something like "How about some Cheerios with your eggs?" or "Would you like some Cheerios with that piece of chicken?", the Bean would start laughing and it got pretty silly around here.
I made this collage to show you the speed with which we moved for 4 days.....

We have forgotten how children are going, going, going.... from the moment they wake up until they finally fall asleep at night.
Yesterday before we left to meet Daddy and little Bean in Stockton, he had one last run with the dogs....

He ran around the yard with the dogs and then he told me that he didn't want to go home. He got really quiet and stood looking out across the hills. He said, " But I have to go because my brother will be sad if I don't come home." I walked over, gave him a hug and said, "That's OK Bean. You can come back anytime you want to, but I agree that little bean will be sad if you don't go home." He gave this some real consideration  and then said quietly, "Yea, I gotta go home." 
So we went to say goodbye to the goats. 

Bart and the Bean had a moment together with lots of eye contact. Brownie grabbed the hay right out of Bean's hand. Murphy and Freckles seems very thankful that they were getting an extra late morning snack. Then we said goodbye to the goats and walked up to the chicken coop.

The Bean found one egg in a small box but there were three hens in the big nesting box so we closed it back up and let them lay their eggs without any of the ladies getting upset. He carried the egg back to the garage and carefully put it in the outside refrigerator. He's getting so good at this.

Then, one more farewell to all.
 We packed up all of Beans toys, special drawings, artwork, clothes, cookies we made and the apples he bought at the store for his family. He said goodbye to Papa and off we went. We drove down to the truck stop on Highway 5 in Lodi to meet Daddy and little bean at the Taco Bell. We had arranged to meet "half way" so the trip would be only 2 hours, back and forth, instead of 4. 
About 15 minutes into the drive, the Bean fell asleep.

I didn't take a nap! I wanted to sleep too. Oh, how I wanted to sleep.... but I didn't.
Bean woke up to his brother crawling across him saying. "Hey, wake up. Do you got any candy?" He didn't, but he had found a rock that looked like a number "1" on our walk Friday that he had saved to give to his brother. It was amazing that the flat shale rock was shaped this way but little Bean was not too impressed. He like a red sucker better.
We transferred everything from one car to the other and said our goodbyes. My son gave me a hug and said "Thank you, Mom." That made the tiredness go away.
I gave the boys a kiss, waved goodbye and got into the car and headed straight for Starbucks.

My plan was to drive on into Stockton and see my Mother-in-law. She fell and broke her shoulder and hip a few weeks back and has been recuperating in a convalescent hospital for over a month. Last Wednesday she was able to come home. She has family there 24/7 right now. 
She is doing really well and looks good. She is a "trooper". It has been a very hard recovery for her and she is not happy about all of this but she is trying to be patient. She's 89 years old. She has always been so active and in good heath.  She has always had more energy than all of us put together.... no, wait.  Who I'm I talking about? The Bean has that energy too. His great grandmother must have pass all that energy on to him. He must have inherited the Energizer Bunny Gene. The Prospector has it too. It looks like a small animal attached to the DNA with a leash to keep it in place. It's a wild thing. I've seen it. I know it's habits.... intense, active and a mind of it's own. Can be combative and hostile sometimes when it gets loose and runs amuck
I left Stockton and drove home, up into the lovely mountains. I ate dinner and was in bed by 9:00 p.m. I slept for 10 hours straight. UNHEARD OF!! I'm usually a "night owl". The Starbucks latte, the black tea at dinner and the chocolate for dessert didn't even touch the depth of tiredness I felt. 
Today I just took it easy. The dogs keep looking for the Bean and in between they take naps. I'm still tired..... but it's a good tired.

Help! We've been taken hostage by a 5 year old...

Our oldest grandson, the Bean, is here. He's five years old. Brought him back on Thursday. Haven't stopped moving since. He goes home tomorrow. Can't talk right now. Very busy.  More later.