Misses

I miss my Grandpa. I miss him saying, "I'll be out the door at 6 a.m. for my morning walk. If you want to go, wake up before then and be out the door with me at 6". He wasn't kidding. 6:01 a.m. He was already down the sidewalk. Those walks were great. We'd walk to the beach (he was like maybe a ten minute walk away) and by the bluffs. We'd get to see all the sea lions hanging out on the shore and rocks which usually only happened really early in the morning since there was hardly any people around at that hour. I miss my Grandpa and Grandma saying, "Whoever loses this card game will buy you and your brother ice cream". I loved it when Grandpa would lose because he would get us the double scoop! And it was always a fun walk to the nearby Thrifty's for the ice cream. I miss catching tadpoles with my Grandma and Grandpa under the nearby bridge, in the creek. We'd ride our old Schwinn Beachcruisers and walk them under the bridge, jars in our hands and try to collect tadpoles which would change into teeny tiny frogs. It was so exciting.

I miss sitting on the lawn at the university with my mom and brothers for Fourth of July and getting ice cream from that Mexican ice cream cart with the guy who pulled it and the little bell that would ring as he was walking. I miss going with my older brother Chuck to the store in the mall where my mom worked to wait for her to get off. I also missed doing that when she worked at this headquarters building, and my brothers or my little brother and my dad and I would sit in the grass waiting for her.

I miss having pet ducks and the nasty water in their wading pool had such a funky smell but it was so exciting to go to the backyard to chase around the ducks every day, pick them up and pet them (except for "Rambo", my little brother's duck, that one bit).

I miss wearing the same awesome Snow White costume my mom made for me year after year for Halloween. That was the best costume ever! She is seriously the best mom ever.

I miss going to my Great Grandma's and her always having fresh bananas for me (I loved bananas when I was a kid, still do, but when I was a kid it was as good as mac'n'cheese).

I miss my Uncle telling me funny stories about a belly button that would run away, those made me giggle so much! Along with other great stories he would tell, he was always so good at that. It was so cool to see him doing the same thing with my kids a couple weeks ago! I got all nostalgic and what not, ha ha!

I hope I can do for my kids what my mom, my dad, my brothers, my grandparents and my uncle did for me. Kids, if you ever read your mommy's blog....maybe you should be out catching frogs, chasing ducks or getting ice cream instead! Or take a walk on the beach. I hope I'm doing for you what my family did for me....