Nana and "Those Boys"

Lori and Nate brought Ollie and Sidney for a Pennsylvania visit last week.  Nana had been waiting for their visit with 2 identical toy trucks for the boys.  She showed them to me months ago and explained, "I had to get them alike or they might fight over them."  She might have been basing that on the years she took care of Lori and her brother Jeff.  I think Nana did some referee time when they were growing up.  Nana tells lots of stories about when Lori and Jeff were little.  This trip she repeated Lori's weather story.  Nana tells it like this...
  "I watched the weather to make sure that it was going to be sunny so I could hang clothes outside on the clothes line.  No sooner did I fill the lines when the sky clouded over and it started to rain.  As I was grumbling about how the weather man was wrong and that I couldn't count on him to tell me the truth, Lori looked at me and said, "Nana, if you want to know about the weather, just look up at the sky."

Nana has told me that story so many times and she chuckles with glee every time.  It must be hard for her to believe that now Lori has children of her own. 

When we got to the hotel where Lori and Nate and the boys were staying, we could hear the noise and chatter even from the hall.  We sat Nana in a chair and Lori brought the boys to talk to Nana.  Sid seemed to be in awe of Nana and kept pointing and saying, "Nana, Nana."  Although Nana was tired from the heat and her toe pain, her eyes lit up every time Sid started his Nana chorus.

When Nana gave the boys their trucks, they were obviously excited.  When all the adults in the room found that we needed a full set of tools and an engineering degree to extract the trucks from the packaging, Sharon and I knew we needed Plan B.

We whisked the trucks away from the tearful boys and - thanks to Sharon's great idea - headed to the Dollar General to return and exchange.  Luckily Jen, the supervisor, took pity on us and allowed an exchange for 2 small dump trucks and a pack of tiny cars.  When Nana gave them the new toys, the boys immediately started playing.  Whew, that saved the day!
 
Breakfast with Lori and Nate and the boys at May's - Nana's every-day pancake spot - brought more fun with Ollie and Sid. After we said our goodbyes, Nana was silent for a while and seemed to be thinking.  Then she shook her head and said, "Those boys."  I said, "Yes, aren't they so cute?"  Nana said, "Yes and they're so good-looking."

Well done, Lori and Nate.  Your visit was a success!

Nana with Sid and Ollie