How Time Flies

It seems only yesterday I was on Amtrak riding home from Santa Fe, New Mexico, but suddenly it was Memorial Day, and then June.

For their anniversary this year, my son and his wife wanted to spend some grownup time together in Ojai, so their 8 year old daughter moved in with me for the week. The first few days were pretty normal school days, punctuated by piano lesson, homework, teeth and hair brushing, and bedtime stories, but we celebrated Friday with a Smurf movie and popcorn. And the beginning of Grandma Camp.

Field Trip to CSC

On Saturday morning after filling three shopping bags with fruit and vegetables at the local farmer’s market, we headed for one of our favorite museums – the California Science Center. I forgot to take pictures of Adelaide’s engagement with the exhibits on Fear, Fire Safety, and Ecosystems, which were wonderful, but I did get this one from the “Science of Sport” exhibit. This interactive installation consisted of a video skills lesson then 15 minutes kicking soccer balls into either the left or right goal, guided by the goal lighting up, followed by a replay on the monitor.  After this, Adelaide patiently waited in line at a second exhibit to test her skills shooting baskets.

I’ve always enjoyed taking children – my own, my students, and my grandchildren – to museums, but the curators seem to be getting even better at creating immersive experiences that really engage kids in science and nature. Our last visit to the CSC was before Christmas to explore the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit when it was in LA. It took my granddaughter nearly all day to get her fill of the interactive exhibits there and she talked about them for weeks.

Girls Together

Sunday morning we were joined by Adelaide’s three year old sister, and Grandma had the challenge of keeping both girls entertained at their different developmental levels without friction, which can be a challenge.  I preserved this moment in time when things were going well:

Adelaide is teaching me how to play chess, and I encouraged her to use the same patience that she uses with me when I am slow to remember how a piece moves to teach her sister how to use the rolling pin with play doh. She did, and then her little sister showed her how she likes to put raspberries on her fingers before she eats them.

You just never know how these things will turn out!

Marlene

Marlene Anne Bumgarner writes primarily about food, family, and traditions. Her 2020 memoir, Back to the Land in Silicon Valley, is about raising children, animals, and vegetables on a rural plot of land in the 1970s.   Organic Cooking for (not-so-organic) Families will be out soon, and she’s working on an update to The Book of Whole Grains while also crafting a cozy mystery, Death on a Sunny Afternoon – a Harriet Palmer Mystery.