My Papa Jim

While my parents were here visiting in May, Andrew and I took a road trip with them down to Newport News, VA to visit my mom's dad.  I call him "Papa Jim" because he felt like he was too young to be called "Grandpa" when his first grandchild was born.  He is now 85.  He lives in the memory care wing of a really nice nursing home, but the one person he never forgets is his one great-grandson, Andrew.  He adores Andrew.  During our whole visit he kept saying "I like that little boy" and "He's a smart little boy".  

Here's our four-generations photo

Andrew loved playing with Papa Jim's canes

Andrew and Papa Jim had some time to hang out on the back patio and roll a tennis ball around.

When you're in Virginia, you have to do some kind of historical sight-seeing.  We went to Fort Monroe, where Jefferson Davis, the president of the confederacy, was imprisoned for two years after the Civil War. 

Andrew and my dad checking out a big old cannon in the fort

I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph my child sleeping.  We shared a room with my parents, but Andrew was still able to sleep really well on a twin-sized inflatable mattress we brought.  I was so relieved that it worked!  Sleeping child = happy mom.

Andrew takes in the sunset over the water

This was Andrew's first time at the beach since he was a baby.  He wouldn't go into the water, but eventually came up with a game of picking up rocks or handfuls of sand and throwing them into the water, then running away from the waves.  He finally got caught by a wave and got soaked, but was a good sport about it.  Here he is with my mom looking at the water.

My parents put together a world map with pins showing many of the places Papa Jim has been in his life.  As a retired captain in the Navy, he's been to a lot of places!  He and my Grandma Olive also took up traveling as a hobby once he was retired and they were empty-nesters.

Andrew had fun playing with Papa Jim in his room while we worked on the map project.  

Andrew discovered Papa Jim's clip-on tie collection (you can see it draped over the back of his couch in the background).  Despite being 85 and living in a place where all the other old people walk around in sweats all day, my Papa Jim wears trousers, a button-down shirt, and a tie every day.  When he goes outside he always wears a hat (he calls it his "chapeau").  What Not To Wear would be proud.

I couldn't help taking another sleeping-Andrew photo.  This was the last day of our trip, right before we headed home.  He was so tired that he fell asleep without the car even running.  We were parked at the gas station and I was talking on the phone.  One minute he says "hi" to Paul on the phone, the next minute I look back and see this: