More than just a zoo

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I have a love/hate relationship with zoos. I hate that animals are caged and domesticated to a degree simply so we humans can ooh, aah and ogle the once wild — and sometimes rare — creatures.

That's the hate part of it. The love part is the amazement in the eyes of children when they see the creatures up close, as well as my love for photographing such moments. And I love, too, photographing the animals. It's hard to resist the lure of a good zoo.

boys at aquarium

When Jim and I spent some time with Bubby and Mac a couple weeks ago, we visited one zoo that's far more than a zoo...

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Making cookies and GRAND Social No. 92

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When Jim and I visited Bubby and Mac last week, one of our activities — at Bubby's request — was making cookies. The boys donned the nearest aprons, I supervised the mixing, and PawDad supervised the placing of M&Ms on the cookie dough before the pans went in the oven.

making cookies with grandchildren

All of us were in charge...

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Grandma's all-around good sport

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child on park play structureI have a handful of skills that I enjoy sharing with my grandsons, activities I consider myself good at and that I'm happy to encourage them to become good at, too. For them at this age, that's mostly reading, crafting, cooking, playing games plus a few other rather sedate things.

And then there are the skills this not-so-agile grandma...

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Crafts with kids, 1986 and 2014

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Throwback Thursday

October 1986 —
Craft time with my two-year-old daughter, Megan:

child doing crafts

February 2014 —
Craft time with Megan's two- and five-year-old sons, Mac and Bubby:

boys doing crafts

Today's question:

What do you do with your grandchildren that you fondly recall doing with their parent(s)?