Family Visit Top Ten: Part 3

Welcome third part of my "Family Visit" post series. I've got 3 topics left. Today's is about one special person who is no stranger to anyone who reads this blog. 

The "Aria" Bonus
One of the benefits of my sister to coming to Kentucky for a visit again this year was she and her family got to know my 2 year old granddaughter. 

As it turned out Brandi had taken a couple of days off from work and planned on hanging with my "peeps" as much as possible.This meant that Aria was around a lot during the week. 

Aria took to the Pearson family like a fish to water. She spent a lot of time playing with "Dee Dee" and Teejai. 

The great benefit for me was that she want to hang around with her "paw paw" too.  

In addition to interacting with the family, Aria also did the things she always does when she visits with us. 

This meant taking me by the hand and leading me to retrieve her toys from the storage room. Then choosing which of them to take to the living room so she could play with them. She also watched her Disney sing-along videos in our bedroom while playing with her Nana on the bed.  

I didn't take a lot of pictures of her during the week but did manage to snap a few. In this one she was playing "hide & seek" with me from under that kitchen table. 

Here's another one of her during lunch at the Steak & Shake in the middle of the week. 

That afternoon I had a couple of memorable experiences with my granddaughter at Hobby Lobby. 

While Brandi, Lexi, and Teejai were shopping for material and a t-shirt to decorate I volunteered to keep an eye on Aria while she wandered around the store.

For a while I kept her busy looking at a display carousel with pegs filled with small packages of all kinds of buttons. 

She was really having fun pointing them out the ones she liked to me; then she decided to move the carousel. The problem was I was bent down over her and the carousel when she did. That's when the blunt end of one of the pegs hit me on the top of my head. Not only did it hurt at that time but later that night I discovered I had a small cut on my scalp because of it.  

After she got tired of playing with the buttons and carousel she decided to start randomly running around the bulk material area. 

I let her go because she was staying close. Suddenly she decided that she was going to "expand her perimeter" and run away from me. 

I called to her, "Aria get back here to Papa." She took off the opposite way; heading across the store. Thinking she was playing a game she was running in a zigzag pattern through the aisles. I chased after her. She thought it was funny as she continued to get farther away. 

I now had to start running as best as I could after my granddaughter. Her legs are half as long as mine. How could she run twice as fast as me?

She turned right and headed toward the front of the store. I knew I had to get to her before she got to the front door. 

About 20 yards from the front she turned left again heading back across the store. It was at this point I realized that I just might have to get some assistance. I was just about to holler to a couple of ladies in Aria's path to "stop her for me please!"

But finally, I somehow managed to catch up with her. Winded but happy that I finally got her. I headed back to find Brandi and the others. I couldn't carry her so I very firmly held Aria's hand. Brandi warned me that she would try to run away from me. Lesson learned.

Later that afternoon I had another first time experience with Aria that was a lot more fun. For the first time I went swimming with her.

Shari, Teejai, Bob, Brandi, Aria and I went to the Bryce pool for our last swim together on Wednesday afternoon. 

Although I was familiar with how much Aria enjoys swimming in the pool at Brandi's aunt's house I couldn't believe how much she liked swimming around with her "floaters" on. She's very much at home in the water. 

Aria took turns playing in the pool with both me and Shari but mostly stuck close to Brandi. Her favorite game with me was shooting me with the toy water gun she had. When she hit me I fell back and under the water. This made her laugh. 

She also let me carry her around the pool too. It was such a lot of fun. 

We stayed and played in the pool for about 45 minutes. Then it was time to get out and go get ready for our Wednesday evening family dinner. 

I know I write a lot about my granddaughter but having her around almost every day while my sister's family was here was a big part of what made the week special. 

Come back tomorrow for first of my final pair of "Family Visit" topics. It was the main reason the Pearsons came to Kentucky again this year.