A few weeks ago my wife got a call from our niece, Dr. Michaelyn Notz, asking if it would be possible for us to babysit their kids this past weekend.
My grand nieces (I feel old just saying that) are 8-year-old Savannah and her very energetic 3-year-old sister Maggie. They are simply adorable. But like any kids of that age, who knows how they will behave out of their parents sight.
Michaelyn and her husband, Dr. Greg Notz, are both physicians at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville and they had a big weekend planned with friends at Lake Wallenpaupack in the Poconos. Sometimes you just need a break.
‘Why certainly, we’d be thrilled!’, my wife Heidi replied. We had no plans for the weekend, my daughter Brianna, who had experience babysitting the girls in Danville, would be home, and ‘Grand-Uncle’ Joe would get to be Mr. Fun.
So we marked the date in our calendars and that was that. Except…
Heidi was traveling that Saturday to a wedding shower in Meadville for her childhood best friend Robin Strobel’s daughter Jamie. Hmmm. No worries, Brianna is great with the girls so we are covered.
Except…
Brianna was attending high school friend Taylor Springer’s wedding on Saturday and wanted to hang out with her high school friends Kelsey Kirsch, Sydney Grubb and Alli Fleagle who now live all over the country.
Hmmm.
Looks like it was left up to my son Ryan and me to come up with enough activities to keep the girls happy, well-fed, and hydrated without getting sunburnt.
Wait. Think about it. You are leaving an 8- and a 3-year-old with their recently-turned-57, out-of-baby-sitting-practice Grand Uncle Joe and his equally inexperienced 17-year old son Ryan in charge?
No sweat. We got this. Provided the weather cooperated we had time planned to see the Arboretum and then spend time at the Welch pool followed by time at the Welch pool followed by more time at the Welch Pool.
Friday night started with Aunt Heidi and the girls seeing Despicable Me 3. Maggie just loves the Minions. The girls came back and we watched some Disney channel before they hit the sack. It was about this time that reality began to set in. I was in charge of two very active and precious young family members and was being counted on not to screw it up. I was having flashbacks of Barney, Bob the Builder, and the Wiggles. Yikes.
Wait. I can handle this. It’s like riding a bike, sort of. When I went to sleep I felt confident I was up to the task. Get a good night’s rest and seize the day. You can do it!
The world’s most neurotic dog, our beloved 15-year old rescue Sportster, had other ideas. Sportster woke me up several times to let him out. In fairness, the old guy is battling cancer and is out of sorts. Eventually I woke up for good at 4:30 a.m. Checking the weather update it looked 50-50 on rain so the Welch pool strategy was already looking iffy. My big day as Mr. Mom was off to an inauspicious start.
The girls were up bright and early and they couldn’t talk about anything but going to the Welch pool. It was too early and the weather forecast was still shaky. With Heidi’s help we packed up the girls and headed up to the Arboretum.
The Arboretum was a big hit. The girls were full of questions and we were fortunate enough to run into one of the guides who gave us some good tips. The girls especially enjoyed ringing the musical chimes, playing on Parker the Caterpillar, seeing the cavern, and peering into the kaleidoscope. Under the category of “prior proper planning prevents poor performance” we were armed with my massive golf umbrella as Mother Nature doused us with the first of several showers. Suddenly the pool plan was in danger.
The rain continued so Ryan and I put our heads together (there are people chuckling at that thought) and we decided it was time for plan B to go into effect. What was plan B you ask? Well, it turns out we have a college campus in town. Who knew!
So we went to the HUB-Robeson Center to check out the Penn State Bookstore. But it was closed. No fear, the HUB has an aquarium and we went in search of Nemo. OK, all of that took 15 minutes. Now what? I peaked outside and the rain had stopped. So we walked over to Old Main to hear the clock play “Hail to the Lion” and took some photos. Hintz Alumni Center was next. But, it started to rain again. Back to the HUB, just in time.
We went up to see the “tennis shoe man”, literally a mannequin made out of cut up sneakers. We checked out Old Coaly’s skeleton. The skeleton of PSU’s first mascot, a mule, is really in the HUB, in case you didn’t know. Now what? It’s still raining, nothing seems to be open, and then Ryan throw’s out a perfect pitch.
“Let’s go to the Creamery for ice cream!” he exclaimed expecting to hear unanimous buy-in. Savannah looked at him and said, “Yuck, I want to go to SweetFrog!”.
Ryan recovered with a great comeback. “But Savannah you can go to a SweetFrog anywhere, there is only one Creamery.” Savannah thought for a moment and agreed to give it a try. As we drove to the Creamery the sun appeared. There was hope! Briefly.
As we parked at the East Deck and walked over toward the Berkey Creamery the skies opened up again and we decided to make a run for it. So I grabbed Maggie football style, tucked her under my arm and we dashed into the sweet smelling confines of the world-famous Creamery.
The girls looked like they had just won one of the Willy Wonka Golden Tickets. Now came the tough part, selecting a flavor. Ryan explained how only one person had ever been allowed to mix flavors and he was the President of the United States.
It was a bonus that we were served by Creamery employee extraordinaire Susan Watson. She is a long time acquaintance and whips up the best milkshakes around. Savannah even had her picture taken with Susan.
Savannah picked Birthday Bash, Maggie chose Chocolate Marble, Ryan chose Alumni Swirl, and I went with my Peanut Butter Swirl. By the time we were done horse trading, Maggie had the Birthday Bash, Savannah had the Peanut Butter Swirl, and I had the Chocolate Marble. Birthday Bash was the clear favorite for the girls. There were messy faces and smiles all around.
The rain had subsided again so we decided to make the pilgrimage to the Nittany Lion Shrine. We took numerous photos and the girls were jazzed. They are now thoroughly brainwashed on PSU, and I never set out for that to happen. Honestly. Stop smirking. Their dad went to Bucknell and Mom went to Indiana University in Bloomington, so do you really think I would stoop to such tactics? What do you mean I’m smiling like the butcher’s dog?
It was a great impromptu tour of campus and the girls were still smiling.
The forecast was not improving but once again with the magic of smartphones we recognized the storm was heading south, and points north were clear of precipitation. It was time for Plan C. Now what was Plan C you ask? Why it was Bernel Road Park, the airport themed kid’s park not far from the University Park airport. What a terrific spot. After 30 minutes of fun the girls were getting a bit antsy. They wanted the Welch Pool.
Unfortunately we could see the storm over State College in the distance. Think fast Grand Uncle Joe we need a Plan D. Plan D? Hmmm. Wait a second D stands for ducks and where are there ducks close by? Talleyrand Park. So we packed up the Joe-mobile and headed north to historic Bellefonte. Well, you thought the girls loved the Creamery ice cream? They were in Wonderland Alice feeding the ducks, geese and fish.
It was so cool until…
“Uncle Joe, a bird just pooped on me,” Savannah cried out.
Actually she was a good sport about it. I told her how that happened to me once at a softball tournament and my uncle told me it was good luck. Yeah, his good luck that it hit me.
Finally at 1p.m. the radar looked clear over State College. Time to grab lunch, change into swimsuits and head to Welch pool, which didn’t disappoint. The girls were all smiles at all the fun stuff to do and they even had the chance to see cousin Ryan and his State High golf teammate Tyler Nordblum, square off on the water obstacle course in the big pool. Tyler came out on top in race one and Ryan in race two. We were set to stay late. But then, it happened. Someone had an accident in the kid’s pool. Are you kidding me? The pool was closed for 30 minutes.
Think fast Grand Uncle. Need a Plan E!
Plan E? Hmmm. E for Eats. Time to head home get changed and head to dinner at that fine summer dining experience, the concession stand at Montressor ballpark off Bristol Avenue. Ok, Ryan and I did want to see State College play Bellefonte but the girls enjoyed the game and the food and slushies.
So the story ends there, right?
No way, still one more adventure left in us: Happy Valley Mini-Golf.
Savannah is actually a darn good little golfer and she held her own. Maggie appeared to be struggling as she just wanted to play her own way, by her own rules. I thought she was getting tired and frustrated at how hard the course was for a 3-year-old. She wanted to know why she didn’t get her ball back after the 18th hole? Which of course, is because it goes into a collection box. It took a long time but we finished and headed home.
The girls got baths and dressed for bed. They had to be exhausted — I know Ryan and I were. Wrong. They were wide-awake and wanted to watch “Scooby-Doo.” So we fired up the Xfinity On Demand and proceeded to watch a “Scooby-Doo” movie. Savannah made it through to the end but Maggie couldn’t quite make it so Grand Uncle Joe, picked her up and put her to bed. Everyone was gassed and by 10 p.m., all were in bed, including the Grand Uncle.
Sunday morning rolled around and the girls got dressed up for church (for which they were really well-behaved). But as we were preparing to head to St. Paul’s United Methodist, Maggie looked up at me with this great big smile and said, “Uncle Joe, can we go mini-golfing after church?”
Such were our Battista “adventures in babysitting.” I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
