Hangin' Out With Gramps

This is my cute Grandpa. He's a sunbird, wintering in St. George and summering here in Idaho Falls. He has a teeny-weeny little trailer in a trailer park with a bunch of other sunbirds, and he loves it down there. In fact, I think he went down a little bit early this year, because he couldn't wait to play with his friends and go to all the free concerts. Grandpa LOVES music. He probably goes to a concert every single night.



Mom and Dad took me down to St. George in early October to see Thriller, performed by the Odyssey Dance Theater, at the Tuacahn Theater, and oh my gosh. It was incredible to just be... me. Without having to take care of kids and change poopy diapers and get barfed on and entertain restless kidlets. I just sat in the car and read and slept and talked with my parents, without any interruption. It was wonderful!!! Ben is an absolute doll to have watched them for an entire weekend while I was away. What a babe. And I'm going to dedicate an entire post to Thriller, because it was freakin' awesome.



Since Gramps lives in St. George, he graciously offered to let us sleep in his little trailer overnight. We arrived a few hours before the performance, so we decided to take Gramps out to eat. He loves this little Mexican food place, so we went there. When he walked in, he yelled to the workers, "COMO ESTAS??" He is hard of hearing, so he kind of yells a lot. It made me laugh so hard.



Grandpa is always pulling my leg. He's one of those kinds of guys that says everything in the same way, so you can't tell if he's joking or serious. And I'm just a teeny bit gullible. So he kept saying stuff that seeemed like it could be real, and I'd go, "Really??" And then he would tease me for being gullible.



The man loves to cook. He's in charge of baking homemade rolls once a week at his neighborhood potluck. He always makes me try his newest concoction when I go to his house. This time it was lemon marmalade. It was sooo good. It reminded me of lemon meringue pie.



One thing in his fridge that I would not touch with a ten foot pole was an enormous jar of PICKLED PIG'S FEET. I'm not kidding. He eats those all the time. I really should have taken a picture of it - it's so gross. I kind of barfed in my mouth a little when I saw it. I gave him such a hard time - "You eat PICKLED PIG'S FEET???" I remember in 9th grade seminary, when our teacher used pickled pig's feet in his lesson - it was some kind of dare, and a couple of kids actually ate them. Gross. Gramps used to be a butcher, though, and he likes weird parts of animals. I know he really likes liver. I can't remember what else. And he says that they ate pickled pig's feet when they were growing up during the Depression - it was cheaper. He says that you get used to eating certain things.



Gramps bought some little futons especially for our visit, so that we would have a nice place to sleep. They aren't like normal futons - a mattress thingey on a wood frame. They are like a leather couch that you click and lay down. He had a turquoise one like that at his cabin, and when my family went to his cabin, my sisters and I always fought over who got the turquoise futon. It was the coveted sleeping spot!



Anyways, here are pics of Dad and Mom at Gramps' little place: