A Day at the Fountain Mall

We got a phone call early Saturday morning from our grandson, Keegan, asking if we would come with him and his sister and mommy to "the fountain mall." We knew that meant Fashion Island in Newport Beach because he has always been fascinated by the different fountains. At two, his favorite was the "Pop-Up" fountain, a flat surface with dozens of little holes through which water spurts upward to the surprise and delight of the children running across it. Now his favorite is "Old Faithful" which shoots water spouts as high as three stories. And he also carries a little bag of pennies so he can make lots of wishes tossing them into the fountains. Long story short, we accepted his invitation.

I've learned there's nothing like a few hours with grandchildren to improve the quality of one's life. It's true, we get to "give them back" to their parents at the end of a visit, but we always part with our spirits uplifted.

We met daughter-in-law Emilie, Keegan and baby Kendall for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. It was the first time in a month that I've seen Kendall - whom Gary and I have nicknamed "Keiki" because her initials are K.E.I. or K.I. and also because it's Hawaiian for "beloved baby." It was so cool to see her new baby teeth along with her chubby cheeks and big blue eyes, as you can see from the photo.

During lunch, I held Keiki up so she could see herself in the big mirror above my head. Each time I did, she would laugh, squeal or make a gurgling sound and a couple of times she blew drool on my head in the process. People all around us were giggling because she was so cute playing peek-a-boo with herself.

Afterwards, we strolled around the mall, stopping at every fountain and water feature, throwing pennies, observing koi fish in a pond, and checking out the puppies and kitties at the pet store. I could have spent the whole afternoon there, but unfortunately Gary didn't fall in love with shopping when he was three the way Keegan did. We had to leave after a couple of hours so Gary could return to watching college football on his TV in the garage. Nevertheless, we went home feeling good about life, thanks to our precious grandchildren.