Muffin Muffin who has the Muffin?

Well the Vovo's and Grampa and T~T (aka Tracey P. Whelan) did for six glorious days.

It amazes me how our grand babies grow ... Well Connor will be five in a couple days and who the heck could possibly believe THAT, but he still won't talk to Grammie or his hopping pal Rick (or anyone else for that matter) - on the phone ... heart breaking, do YOU think!!! UGH enough said with that ... there's been at least an ocean of tears shed over it. Master Connor is on board to bear the rings at Uncle Chad and Aunt Amy's wedding in just a few weeks, carrying the special pillow, made by Grammie, for such a duty ~ the jury is still out (well as far as two people are concerned anyway) as to whether those rings will be guided down the aisle by Master Connor ... when he makes up his mind to do something (or not do something, as in speak on the phone) well that's it! HMMMMM there may be a long history of stubbornness here - his great grandparents on one side, his Grammie (aka - ME) his father ... is there a pattern here?

Anyway, we've been so fortunate to have Patrick, Bethie and Princess Muffin, Pieface, Paigie here since Saturday (although yes they did leave yesterday - thanks for the kick in the posterior Chester!)

So, mostly this post will be about the Whelan (New Hampster branch of the family) visit to the sunny (but not so warm) southern parts of Florida.

Ms Paige has many many nick names in case you hadn't noticed - poor child may not know what the heck to answer to in years to come. One of her names is "baby bee" coined by her Mommy in her blog, so appropriately enough her Vovo's (grandparents on Bethie's side but I can NOT get the accent marks to be properly placed in our "word" program (not on a mac) so suffice it to mean Roy and Betty) bought her this precious little ensemble with bees on it.

Alright, now for some photo explanations ... obviously our Princess. This was last Sunday (the Princess family arrived on Saturday) and Sunday was a birthday party graciously hosted by the Vovos.

One might wonder while viewing the photos above what on earth do these people have on their heads. Well let me try to explain .... many years ago, in a land far far away ....

Patrick Joseph Whelan graduated from Daniel Webster College. In a fashion encouraged and provided by his Father (oh how I wish I had a digital copy of a photo of that wonderful occasion, to post here), we all wore "boppers" to said graduation - you could see us throughout the assembled group of proud graduate supporters as we sat in our entire row, proudly wearing our celebratory boppers (for that occasion our boppers were large hands).

Then again, in the Richard tradition we all (well hopefully all) wore boppers at the celebration of the impending marriage of Patrick and Bethalene the night (or two) before their wedding ~ those boppers were hearts (see Mama Bee's blog for a photo if desired) ~ Don't worry Chad and Amy, we won't do it next month (unless, of course you give us free reign and encourage such behavior ... yeah yeah .. do you think we can get that fun and crazy and festive and celebratory???

WOW I certainly digressed on that one didn't I ... the photo above is Grampa, Princess Muffin and Vovo all decked out in their bopper finery - especially for the occasion of our Princess's first birthday.

Our Ms Muffin doesn't like anything on her head or over her eyes - so it was no small miracle that I captured this shot of her Vovo putting her new pink, ribbon embellished, cap on her head - of course the cap had "Princess" proudly embroidered on it!

Above, the cutting of the cake - no more or less involvement in this cake cutting that the one in NH a few days prior. What can I say, our baby just isn't into getting her hands dirty!!! HUH - how will she ever help us in a garden Betty??

Nor is our girl fond of her feet in the sand at the beach or the "cold" (hmmm) water of the southern Florida coast!

On Tuesday the Muffin family came to visit with Grampa and T~T (well and Sir Arlo as well) at the "campground".

Miss Muffin got to sit and enjoy a snack in her T~T's prized chair - a chair from way way way back in my childhood. When the "legend" of this chair happened my family lived in Brattleboro, VT (Sunny Acres - behind the high school ??? I'm trying to remember - look, it was many years ago and I was just a wee bit of a thing). I was sitting in this lovely little child's chair (with the caned seat, which clearly was, at one point a "potty chair") I decided to turn it upside down and declare it "my piss pot" ... well such a thing was NOT done in our household and I got my mouth washed out with dial soap for such an infraction .... It was delightful to see my Muffin sitting and enjoying herself in said "piss pot" and clearly with no threat of dial (or thankfully, any other) soap.

People who've known us for several years know the stories and adventures of Wendy and Pig (aka Babe) who've traveled far and wide with us over the years - cruise ships throughout the Caribbean, San Francisco to be there when I turned 50, Hoover Dam to scare the be-jeebers out of Rick as they posed for a photo, Gettysburg to explore the sights there (and sit/ride on the cannons) .... on and on... Anyway, they came out the other day to play and be loved by our Princess Paige - shown below doing a Muffin version of a hug .... what a serious face!

Now our girl doesn't like anything on her head or face that she hasn't put there (for a brief second) so to capture the shot below was nothing short of a miracle - not to mention her Vovo keeping her hands busy enough that she couldn't take the "shades" off .... Every girl coming to Florida must have shades ... is she a "styling" Muffin or what!

The last night the "kids" were here we went out to a Japanese restaurant. What a wonderful time we had. WE had the hibachi grill and "chef" (what is a hibachi cooking person referred to as??) to ourselves. Our girl LOVES her miso soup - although none could compare to the miso that her Uncle Tim creates just for her.

And she loves oranges as well (good thing she's in Florida to enjoy a plethora of citrus fruit), word has it she also enjoys lemons and/or limes!

And she made a new friend - "Sugar Sue" (correct Mama Bee?) who of course fell in love with our girl and gave her her very first matchbox car (or was it hot wheels?) which she thoroughly enjoyed.

On the way to meet up with the Bee Family and the Vovos we came upon this MetLife blimp. We'd seen it hovering above the area a few days ago, but jee whiz to see it this close and tethered was a nice surprise - wish we'd had time to inquire and explore but we were on our way to the Japanese restaurant above ... If you remember several posts back when we were in the Upper Peninsula with Larry, Sheila and Donnie and we stopped at the Sault St. Marie Locks on Lake Michigan I commented how intrigued I was by locks - well blimps are as intriguing to me - I guess it's all because I just don't understand the entire concept - locks maybe, but blimps, well why do you need this hugemongeous craft to soar around - a craft that only carries (I sure could be wrong with this, 'cause like I said, I don't get it) a few people? Anyway, we were stopped at a traffic light and Rick pointed it out to me - just a few feet to our left - I was much more concerned that we were late to meet up with the group!! So glad for the "photo op" - even if the photo isn't great!

So for other things that have been "happening" this week ... My daughter in law's (Trisha, mother of Connor the ring bearer) parents left the cold of Michigan with their friends Sam and Carol last week to motorcycle the warmth of Florida. They left the trailer that carried the bikes in the Florida panhandle and went down the western side of the state, spent a night in Key West (everyone should at least once in their life) then headed to Daytona for a "look see" at bike week there, after which (I think) they headed back over to pick up their trailer and unfortunately head back to the chills and drifts of Michigan. BUT, while they were passing through our area (West Palm Beach) they stopped and spent a night and we had the pleasure of enjoying a dinner together - It was so nice to be with them again - Good people, good food and a good time ... travel safe our friends ...

We will be leaving here in a week heading northward to fly out of Jacksonville in early April for the wedding of Chad and Amy. Since Jacksonville is about 300 miles from here, it is far too much for us to do in one day, so I'm investigating (without a whole lot of success) a stop somewhere in between. It is so challenging to find places that have sites long enough to accommodate us without disconnecting the trailer from the coach, further more it is a HUGE challenge to find campgrounds that have the decency to reply to an email - guess the economy isn't' all that bad in the campground world - do you think, if they can't even reply to a flippin' email?

So with all that said, we have a couple things we'd like to do in the week remaining here. Today we had a fellow wash the coach and the coach roof (UGH what a chore that is) so that can be crossed off "the" list. I thought perhaps, for "old times sake" we might do a Diva Duck tour of West Palm Beach and Rick wants to do Lion Country Safari - since we are staying here and hear the lions and monkeys/baboons (YUCK YUCK YUCK) frequently - wish I could post the sound because it really is pretty cool......... not to mention we haven't really explored the downtown area of West Palm Beach and/or used the dining certificates I bought at restaurant.com (one of my favorite sights that I've been using for years)

Thanks Chester for the "push" to get it done ...