Thursday, September 8, 2011

Creating Memories

This weekend we head up to Minnesota to see Mr. E and Miss N, our grandkids who live up there.  On Saturday we'll be headed to Shakopee for The Minnesota Renaissance Festival (http://www.renaissancefest.com).  I can hardly wait.

Last fall was the first time we had attended with our grandkids (ages 4 & 2 then) and we wondered if they might be too young.  Silly Grammy!  It was one big land of enchantment for them, a feast for the eyes as they gazed in wonder at queens, kings, knights, fairies, horses, glass-blowers and much, much more than I have mentioned here.

Having been to the festival several years ago, I remembered seeing a lovely fairy named Twig there and wondered if she would be there last year.  So I used my trusted friend "Google" and sure enough, Twig was slated to be at the fair.  In fact, we even found Twig on Facebook.

I showed my grandson, Mr E who immediately fell in love.  We had to email Twig to tell her we were coming and would be looking for her the next day.  I was quite pleased to get a reply from her that very evening.

As soon as we arrived the next morning, the hunt for Twig began.  All through the day, about every half-hour or so,  Mr. E would ask me where Twig was, did I think we'd find her and so on.  We found the Blue Fairy, who gave the kids lovely colored stones (which they still have), a fairy who sprinkled them with pixie dust and even a faun, but no Twig.

Finally as the shadows were getting longer and we were beginning to despair of ever finding Twig, we looked up and there she was!  E shyly went up to her and told her of his quest to find her.  She communicated beautifully with him and his sister with her lute and her lovely face.  E was delighted and so were we all.  Of course, I took a picture of Twig and E to preserve that precious memory.  Little boys are only four once and that look of amazement fades all too quickly for this Grammy. 


Making memories of something special you do together isn't terribly hard but the event becomes even more special when you give yourself and your grandchildren something to look forward to.  I recently read that people are actually happier when planning their vacation, than they are when they are ON the vacation. So let's get those grands excited about Grandpa coming!

So next time you have a chance to visit your grandkids,  talk about the visit before hand, tell them what you plan to do with them, what books you'll read and if you're looking forward to building Legos or playing Barbies with them.  It's one easy thing to do to easy those moments when you first get there and they may be a little shy.

And don't forget to bring the camera.  But I'll save that post for another day!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Tech-Know Grammy Deal of the Week

Though she sometimes feels like it, Tech-Know Grammy did not live through the 1929 "Great Depression."  However, with today's economy, I'm sometimes afeared I'm gonna wind up selling apples on the street corner.  Although we're not yet putting newspapers in our shoes or standing in the bread lines,  I'm always lookin' for ways to get more for less and save some cash. Don't know about y'all but my very favorite price is "FREE."   One thing I plan to do is share all my penny-pinchin' secrets with all y'all so we can save those pennies for a trip to see the grands!

This week my daughter shared a great deal with me from a web site called "A Story Before Bed." http://www.astorybeforebed.com/books



For a limited time (according to the web site) you can choose a book and record yourself reading it to you grandson or daughter or just about anybody, I reckon.  You must have a web cam hooked up to your computer.  If you have one of them there fancy laptops, you most likely have one built right in to it.  If you have a regular desk top, you can purchase a small web cam for a small price that will work just fine. 

When you've got the web cam ready to go, you click on the web address in purple above and register for an account.  (That takes longer than making the book.)  They will pretty much tell you what to do from there. (I realized after we made our book I shouldda been taking a movie of us doin' it, but maybe we'll try to do a second one for you sometime soon.  I'll try to get a video of this up on YouTube soon.)

After you record the book, you can put on on your Facebook profile page or on your young 'un's porfiles iffin they have one.  You can also send it to their iPad, iPhone iffin they got one of them fancy things.  Otherwise, just a plain, ole link on email will take 'em right to the page where the kiddos can see your smilin' face and hear Grandma read a nice bedtime story.

If you don't have time to make a book right now, you can even sign up on the web site to be reminded to come back and make one later.  That's what I did.

Just so's ya know, the free stories are mostly for the pre-school set, no "Hunger Games" here...yet.

Iffin any of y'all  are itchin' to see me and Papa's rendition of "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" ya can wander over to my Facebook page and take a gander-- Link below: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Tech-Know-Grammy/211405318918235.






Friday, September 2, 2011

Tech-Know Grammy

Welcome to"Tech-know Grammy: Long-distance Grandparenting in the Digital Age”

My Mission: To teach technically challenged grandparents (like me) how to be a real presence in the daily life of your far-away grandchildren no matter what their ages.

It’s great to be a grandparent, isn’t it? Many of us could hardly wait for our kids to have kids. Kids we could play with and spoil and then send home at the end of the night.

But something happened on the way to the sainted grandparent status—somebody moved. It might be you, it might be your children, in our increasingly mobile society not only are our families living in different cities, frequently we are not even in the same state or country.

But that doesn’t mean you have to be a stranger to your grandkids. In today’s technical society there are dozens of ways to reach out to your grandkids. With a little effort, a little learning and a lot of patience, you can learn how to stay connected and close, and let them know and experience the special love that only exists between the “grands.”

Whether your grandchildren live across the street or across the world, this timely tool box contains the keys you’re longing for to create a loving and continuous communication with your long-distance grandchild.

So what are you waiting for? Plug-in, turn-on, tune-in (as we said in the 60’s) and let’s get SKYPE-ing, Tweeting, friending and connecting with the newest generation.

My prayer and my passion:

“Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me.” Psalm 71:18