Problem Solving with Grandma

Cole has been at my Mom and Dad's this week, a respite from all of the women in his life you might say. Yesterday I received the following email from my mother:

How do you do it when you wish to watch the little league play offs and play in the pool and eat scoops, salsa and cheese? It probably involved Mom's old college TV and a trip to ACE and fun fun fun.

Attached to the email was this picture:

What you are viewing is a little boy experiencing "Heaven on Earth" or as close as he's likely to get for quite some time. In the right of the picture you see a basketball "thingy" where one can shoot the ball and have it roll back without having to er...leave the pool. Front and center you may recognize the backside of a very old (from my college days 17ish years ago) TV with the channel tuned to the Little League World series. It seems a trip to the local hardware store was necessary to commandeer a cable long enough to reach the back deck.

The blue circular item held tightly in Cole's fists is a chip and dip tray, intended for use at parties for groups and crowds to enjoy. Yes, yes you say, it appears to be filled for such a crowd. It was, however, one singular sensation who consumed the entire platter.

Seems the little fella spent over 5 hours in that setup.

Me--surprised? Not really. The architect of the entire situation also has on her "Grandma Resume" allowing a certain pair of children aged 2 and 3 years old at the time, to swim in a blowup pool IN HER LIVING ROOM. Yes, with actual water in it. If you asked her why, she would answer, "Because they wanted to swim and it was March and obviously too cold to swim outside." Then you'd receive a look that let you know what a foolish question that was. Then this Grandma-extraordinaire would tell you that she put a plastic tarp down on the carpet so there was really nothing to be concerned about.

My Man and I have a name for what usually happens for a few days after the children return from the "Land where NO is never uttered". We call it Grandparent Detox and is it any wonder?

***UPDATE***

This just in from the aforementioned "Land"...

This morning, Cole was a little sick on his stomach. In the same report I learned that the 'ole college TV will no longer work. Seems it suffered from overexposure.

"Not to worry," says Grandma, "we set that little white tv out there for today and it's working great!"

Poor guy starts detox tomorrow!