So I don't know if everybody feels this way but to me, growing up, my grandparents houses were pretty magical places. Like my grandparents in LA had a pool, which was awesome. And that gumball machine I mentioned earlier. And a cookie jar that was always full. And special cereal just for us to eat in the morning. And an orange grove in the yard! It was all pretty special and exciting.
I didn't get a chance to spend too much time at my mom's parents house, but I remember cool things there too, like my grandad's woodshop, and their cool decorations. Their fuzzy wallpaper in the entry hall was so interesting, and I remember them having a closet full of kid's books, although my mom claims that never existed. I also read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory there for the first time. Good associations.
Grandparent's houses are cool places no matter what. They're just fun. But my mom has gone to a lot of trouble to find a bunch of cool exciting things to make her house a super magical grandmother house. Such as this awesome chinese checkers set with big gorgeous marbles.
My mom and max played with this a whole bunch. Max loved it.
And I have to show you a color picture of this set, it's too cool!
Another thing, one that Max is completely in love with now, is this cup.
There's a puppy in it. He's hidden if you're drinking milk, and slowly shows his face as the milk is slurped up. Or he just sticks his head out of the water the whole time you're drinking it. "Dog water!" Max says in delight.
He's been drinking and drinking out of it which is so cute.
The last thing I'll show you now (though there are lots more fun toys and such) is this cool marble tower thing. You put marbles up at the top and give the first one a push.
Then as the first marble goes down the little track it gets dumped into buckets which dump it down to the next level. Kind of hard to explain. But the 2nd marble waits somehow until the 1st is far enough down. It's really cool. The little marbles are very civilized and take turns!
Max calls it a marble party. It's really a neat thing.
I think Max is going to have very special memories of his grandparents' houses out here in Utah. He already has particular things he loves and remembers about each house. It's really fun for me to see. He's a lucky boy.
7 comments:
Lucky indeed. That marble tower thing reminded me of the penguin slide/stair thing you used to have. Remember? The penguins would go up the stairs and slide down.
This also reminded me of my grandparents houses and the cool things they had. Joel and I were in love with the little paper bathroom cup dispenser Grandma Williams had--we'd always go get drinks in the bathroom with those cute little cups! And at Grandma Ras's it was all about the pool table in the basement and all the beanbags. Plus she has a laundry shoot which is awfully mysterious. A cousin or two has lodged himself in there over the years--its just too interesting to leave alone and then all of a sudden you're stuck in it!
I had so much fun with you today. Thanks for being a friend and for doting on my children. I sure love you.
Oh, Megs - a laundry chute. My grandmother had one and it was totally fascinating. If we'd have gotten ourselves into it, we'd have ended up shooting out of the basement ceiling in the darkest, scariest corner of the basement. We had one in our New York house, too - but I was older then, and more inclined to worry about something scary coming UP it while I was sitting in the bathroom in no position to run.
Gin, you know I feel this way about my grandmother's house, too. Only dad's mom, since mom's mom never had a real house. Just apartments. A working widow. But that house - I wrote a six page letter to Hillary (Gin's second cousin) one time, trying to detail that house for her so she could imagine it. I still dream about it sometimes. Snow globes as door stops. The mysterious attic stair that came down from the ceiling. The little porcelain dogs on the mirror shelf at the top of the stairs. So many things.
I lived my entire life in this house remembering all that, and aware that children see what adults miss - and trying to populate the crannies with mysteries. Surely, Megs will never forget that tree in the yard that had the little bowl in it - didn't she find the Big Egg in that one day?
This is part of the function of grandparents - not the parents, because you wear them everyday - but the special sweater that only comes out in the harvest moonlight, or the Christmas eve or the times when you are suddenly alive, because everything is different, and puzzling and magical.
We are the mystery.
Totally with you Ginna. Pool, pool table, giant backyard, special candy dish, the hidden closet under the stairs...
Very cool memories.
Great post! Great memories of yours and Max's. Love it.
Ginna, this is so true. I remember so many things about my grand parent's houses. I had three since my father's parents divorced. We had the CA grandparents with the pool and the alcohol bar :) with the cool red shiny chairs. We could't go near it but I remember thinking the chairs were cool. The MT grandparents (grandma, her husband came down with Alzheimer's and went into a home when I was quite young). Her home was filled with all sorts of "do not touch just look at" objects most of which she'd made herself. Delightful things hidden here and there on shelves, in potted plants, on the floor next to doors....so many critters and things she'd made from ceramics. She had a great sense of humor and it showed in her ceramics. Mermaid soap dishes that she put glitter all over their sea shells and a jewel in their navels. Remember, this was waaaaaay before navel piercings. I have much in common with her and I am so grateful because she was quite the lady. Many things about her were passed down to me. The love of the color red....the love for crazy shoes...the love for doing hand work....her sense of humor....I'm proud to take after her so much.
Then there were the ID grandparents. They moved several times but I remember the huge white ceramic cat that went with them to each house, my grandmother's huge bed with it's bedding I thought a queen would have, grandpa's wool blanket on the couch...the newspaper wallpaper in their bathroom....
Yes, memories of grandparents houses are wonderful and your mother does a great job of filling her home with wonders for chidren and adults to find and see. I've always loved your mother's home from the first day I stepped foot into its magic interior. Max is blessed.
It is interesting to think of your OWN parents' house as a "magical" place like this, because it's true, the grandparents (just one in my case) have this special mystique. Whereas my own parents' house is just, well, home. Not magical at all. familiar and comfortable, yes. But I can see that to my children, it is so much more than that. And that is cool. And I'm glad Max is getting lots of time with his grandma and grandpa! How much fun you must all be having.
Joel commented on this as we left your mom's house on Monday, "It was kind of a magical place there growing up. We always had so much fun and it was great." This post (mostly because of your AMAZING photography!!!!!!!) has made me realize I need to start now collecting cool toys like that for my grandchildren....or, I guess I could get them for the little children I have now. :)
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