It has been the best summer! We’ve been blessed to have 3 of our 4 kids visit us the past several weeks. We loved having Zach, Angela, and their three boys visit in May, then Kailen came to spend some time with us in June, and then Kam, Steven, and their three boys came in July. We’re still hoping Parker can come visit sometime soon.
I love having our whole family all together, and it’s also fun to get to spend time with each kid also.
We’ve been able to do some fun things when the kids have been here, including some traveling, and the one thing they all wanted to do was go to the beach. They are definitely my kids!
We went to Hilton Head Island and Savannah with Zach, Angela, and their boys. We went to Charleston, South Carolina, and Folly Beach and Isle of Palms Beach with Kailen. We met Kam, Steven, and their three boys in Orlando, and we went to Cocoa Beach as well as Kennedy Space Center and Gatorland.
And when we weren’t at the beach or doing the tourist thing, we spent lots of time together, making those memories that will last forever.
While our kids are absolutely awesome, I especially love spending time with and watching our little grandsons. I love their perspectives on life, the funny things they say, and the opportunity to see the world through their eyes. I really can learn so much from these 6 little guys!
11 Lessons Learned from my six grandsons
Yes, I know 11 lessons is a lot, and I actually had to control myself to not add even more lessons. But I believe these 11 lessons are short and powerful, and they can serve as great reminders to us grown ups.
Lesson #1: Learn. Learn. Learn. Tyson and I spent about an hour one morning looking through his My Encyclopedia of Very Important Things. It was so interesting, and this grandma learned a lot! I might even need to get my own copy of this book. 😉 We relied on Google to help us better understand some things in this book, like why does the Leaning Tower of Pisa lean? And what is a Lychee fruit? And what is a Cormorant bird? (We actually saw some Cormorant birds at Gatorland in Orlando!). We also used Google with Zach’s boys when we were at the beach and to answer Jordan’s endless questions. I love how curious these boys are! I can be pretty (a lot!) curious too, so I love learning new things with them.
Lesson #2: If you’re afraid to do something, do it with a buddy. I went with Zach and his family to Catch Air, an indoor playground close to our house. Jordan was afraid to go down the tube slides by himself, but he’d do it with me—no problem! Doing something scary with someone you trust can make all the difference. Even for us grown ups.
Lesson #3: Just slow down. Little legs can’t walk as fast or take the stairs as quickly as I can, and it’s okay to just slow down and enjoy the journey. Not everything is a race. In fact, most things are not races, but I know I often hurry too much, and there’s no reason for all of that hurrying. I can miss so much by hurrying through life too quickly.
Lesson #4: Make time for play. These little grandsons are all about playing. We played outside, played all kinds of games, put together puzzles, built train tracks, swam at the pool, played at the park…so many fun things! And it was awesome! I know I don’t make enough time to just play. Playing can reduce stress, reset our brains, and help us be more creative and productive. Play time is time well spent! I’m going to make a play list for myself so I can take full advantage of play time.
“Play expands our minds in ways that allow us to explore: to germinate new ideas or see old ideas in a new light. It makes us more inquisitive, more attuned to novelty, more engaged.” ~Greg McKeown (Greg dedicates a whole chapter to the importance of play in his amazing book Essentialism)
Lesson #5: Just crawl up on a couch, love sac, on the floor, anywhere, and read. It’s not uncommon to find our grandsons sitting and reading. I need to be better at remembering that time spent reading IS productive time. Getting lost in a good book can be relaxing, mentally beneficial, and a learning experience, and even when I’m reading a good fiction book, it’s keeping my brain strong. Which is super important as I gain more years in my life.
Lesson #6: Be confident. It wasn’t unusual to hear one of our little grandsons say things like, “I’m great at puzzles,” or “I’m good at drawing,” or “I’m good at….”. While we might think these things to ourselves, at what point do we stop saying these things out loud? At what point is it not okay to be proud of what we can do—what we’re good at—in a non-bragging way? I think the world teaches us to hide our talents and skills when we really should be celebrating those things we’re really good at!
Lesson #7: Take baby steps to build your courage. The beach can be a bit overwhelming for little guys, especially when they aren’t regular beach goers. So it would take a bit of time for the boys to get used to the sounds and the waves, but once they got more used to the beach little by little, before long, they were playing in the water and having a great time. Tyson actually got really brave and did some boogie boarding, and he was so proud of himself! Jordan would also go out with me for a bit in the water and jump the waves.
Lesson #8: The world is so interesting. Anything can be interesting if we take the time to notice the small and simple things—when we can view the world through the eyes of a child. All of our little grandsons just love nature and all things nature, and it’s fun to notice the things I’d miss if I wasn’t spending time with them. Whether it’s bugs, or rocks, or plants, or clouds in the sky, or cracks in the sidewalk, or turtles in a pond (where this picture was taken), or pretty much anything, the world around us is so full of amazing things. I often get too busy in my adult world to remember to take the time to see and appreciate the small and simple things.
Lesson #9: Things don’t always turn out as you expected. This one is true no matter your age, right? We took everyone who visited to the Stone Mountain Laser Show, and while all the boys were so excited to go (Jordan was counting down the days for over a week), once it began, it didn’t quite meet their expectations. They thought it was too noisy. 😂 But they got through it, and I think they’ll like it better once they’re a bit older. And that’s a good reminder for us adults: While something might not meet our expectations right now, don’t give up. It might work out later. The fireworks at the laser show are always a hit though…because…fireworks!
Lesson #10: Just do your thing. Don’t pay attention to what others are doing or to what’s “popular.” Just do your thing. Taze (3 1/2 years old) didn’t want anything to do with the water at the beach, even though most of the people at the beach were in the water. He was perfectly content to play in the sand…for hours. While we tried to get him to at least try out the water, he wasn’t interested. At all. Taze did Taze. I can learn a lot from that!
Lesson #11: Dream big! When we went to Kennedy Space Center with Kam and her family, Tyson’s dream was to see a crawler transporter, and Braden’s dream was to see a real astronaut. We weren’t sure we’d be able to fulfill both boys’ dreams, but especially Braden’s. On the behind the scenes bus tour on the way to the Apollo/Saturn V Center, we saw not only one, but two crawler transporters! Dream come true #1! Then, we went into the gift shop at the Atlantis Building to wait out the heavy rainstorm that hit, and a real astronaut was doing a photo signing in just a few minutes! So we waited around, and when the astronaut came out, Braden got so excited, waved his cute little arm, and said, “Hi Astronaut!” And the astronaut smiled and waved back at him. Dream come true #2! How often do we think our dreams are unattainable or impossible? They might not be, but we’ll never know unless we dare to dream.
I’ve loved spending so much time with our kids and grandsons this summer, and I’m looking forward to using the lessons I’ve learned from our cute little grandsons in my own life. I just love these little guys and their excitement for life and living!
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