Second week in June...Nannie and GG visit!

As soon as we got back from Sanibel, Karmann and I were lucky to have both my mom and Nannie come visit Karmann and see the new house! They were able to stay for almost a week. It had been since Karmann's 1st birthday that all 4 generations were together! I was lucky to take a few days off of work so we all could hang out.

I think they liked the house, though Nan had a little bit of difficulty remembering where things were in the kitchen. We don't have upper cabinets, so our glasses are in the cabinet next to the fridge, and our dishes are in the drawers. Because our fridge is in with the cabinets, she would get confused as to tell which one was which. But, I don't blame her since it is so unusual. Nan really enjoyed our back deck and loved to watch the birds and squirrels and raccoons play in the trees. It was hot, but she still ate breakfast out there every morning.

One day we decided to go to Winter Park and I wanted to take Nan on the boat tour and show her all the huge houses along the lakes. My mom would spend the hour with Karmann shopping on Park Ave. while we were on the tour. Nan wasn't quite sure what to expect, but she wanted to go. The boat tour takes place on pontoon boats, which are not covered, due to the bridges within the canals that you go through to travel between all the lakes. So, to make a long story short, within the first 5 minutes on the water, we were going through one of the canals. And, though there are clearly signs that say "no fishing in the canals", there was a boat with two idiots fishing in the canal. They thought that they could squeeze into one of the boat house alcoves and let our boat go by. Well, I forgot to mention that the Captain of our boat was about 85 years old, so he revved the engine to get by, and low and behold, the boat got wedged between their boat and the edge of the canal. Of course, my version of this story is going to be skewed, because all I cared about was Nannie not freaking out...which she didn't exactly, thanks to the very nice people on the tour with us, who quickly jumped on the banks and helped get us unstuck. Within the 10 or so minutes that all of this was going on, the Captain was revving the engine in reverse to try and un-wedge us and get us on our marry way. So eventually, we did get free and tour through the southern lake where Rollins College is sited. Then, back through the canal - no problems this time, and back into the main lake.

Just as we got passed the no-wake zone, the Captain again revved the engine to make up time and head to the northern lake. Just then - and yes, you will never believe this - the engine fell off the boat!!!! I am not kidding you. The back part that it was attached to was rotted, and the engine was hanging down and off by one piece of wood!! It was probably weakened by the revving of the engine in the canal. So this time, Nan did freak out a bit. We were in the middle of the lake, and she can't swim, and though everyone on the boat couldn't really believe what was happening, I could not believe this was happening to me - or us - of all the tours - why in the WORLD, was this happening while Nan and I were on the boat?!?!

SO thank goodness again for the nice people on the boat who reassured Nan that just because the engine fell off, we were not going to sink and she was not going to have to swim back to shore. Luckily, since we were back in the main lake, the Captain radioed to the dock, and they could see us, and they quickly brought another boat for us to transfer onto. This was also a challenge for Nan, but I went first and she was fine just after me. So that was another 15 minute delay, but all was fine thereafter. Beside the drama, the tour was great, Nan was impressed by the houses and the scenery, and I'm SURE neither one of us will ever forget it!

Other silly things from that week include Karmann calling Nannie "grandma" - which is only funny because Nan has always been called Nannie or Nan and she doesn't even really answer to Grandma. It was also funny because if you show Karmann a photo of Nan, she will say "nannie" to identify her, but I guess in person, she just identified her generically as a grandma! I would blame the daycare for this confusion, as they have "grandmas" in each classroom that volunteer and help out, and that's probably what Karmann associated her with. So I would correct her, and she would then say Nannie, but I had to do it almost every time. Karmann bonded with Nan because she would put lip stick on her lips, and Karmann thought that was pretty cool! My mom was still called GG - as Karmann sees her on Skype quite a bit, and knows her better that way. Karmann and GG had fun too - especially pulling weeds together in the back yard to help me out. It was a productive week:)