Fun Weekend

Saturday was a no Sales Tax weekend here in Tennessee. Now back home we didn't have these kinds of things (occassional stores would have a "we pay the tax" sale but that was it) because when you live in a State with State income tax, they want as much money as they can get. We have a couple of these a year, usually during back to school time. It's limited though, so don't go thinking you can run out and buy that new boat....wrong answer. It's usually on School clothes (or any kind of clothes really) up to 100 dollars. Computers too, up to a certain price. As it was this special weekend, my oldest Step-Daughter Amanda brought my Grandson Jay and her Fiance Drew down to go shopping. Liv, of course, loves to hang out with her big Sis so she went too. Which left the day for me and Jay to go do Nanu and Grandson things. The boy will be 4 next month, but I swear to you the things that come out of his mouth are very advanced for such a young boy. He has great vocabulary and speaks very well for a 4 year old. He's been wanting to go fishing ever since we gave him his Mother's old Snoopy fishing pole. Well the pole, being 20 years old, wasn't working all that well. So his Nanu (me) promised him they'd go shopping for a fishing pole. We made the excursion to Dick's Sporting goods. I had a backpack full of Jay stuff; extra clothes, snacks and of course we had to bring a drinking vessel filled with water (it was damn hot) and Tyson as well. Tyson is a stuffed bulldog plush toy that had to come along. We made room for Tyson. As we were driving off, Jay tucked securely in his booster seat and buckled in, Jay asked me where we got the new car from. I told him this is the same one I've always had. He then asked..."Oh...then why does Nana drive all the time?" Very perceptive Child. Off we went to Dicks and Jay picked out a Scooby Doo fishing pole, complete with Mystery Machine shaped tackle box and a rubber fish casting plug for practicing (let's just say the kids got an arm....I had to get that thing out of the trees in the front yard a number of times). We next visited Nana at Ross where Jay proceeded to tell Cathy in front of her boss on the way out "Don't work too late Nana." Cath's boss thought it was great. From there it was off to Cedar Creek Sports Center, our local Family run batting cages, driving range, putt putt golf, bumper boat and go kart racing place. Prices are cheap too. A round of golf for Jay and I was 5 bucks. Of course, Jay took one look at the Go Karts, hit the golf ball twice and said "Nanu, let's go on the Go Karts." The owner of the establishment was nice enough to let us resume our game whenever we wanted. We did the Go Karts twice with Jay saying "Go faster Nanu" the whole time. Then we played an almost full round of golf. After that it was into the arcade to win some tickets for prizes. My Grandson still needs to learn the concept of "roll" the ball when it comes to Skeeball....not throw the ball...... He also likes Air Hockey....."Look Nanu, the air makes it float...." it's amazing to see someone else's perspective on things. He will be 4, he's never seen Air Hocky in his life. It's pretty damn cool when you are 4 how air blowing through holes can make a plastic disc float. Then it was off to the local park across from the house and back home. Whew!!!! Never thought a 3 and a half year old could wear ya out.....