Alarm bells should have rung much earlier.
We were having a great time. Their parents weren't there to tell us to turn the volume down as we romped around on the backs of dinosaurs and hurtled through the air wearing fairy wings.
I decided it was time for something quieter.
Quieter according to my grandchildren involved paints and brushes, little jars of glitter, some glue and big bits of paper.
I was told they were "up there".
I had to get a footstool to bring everything down. We painted and glued, glitter and paint in proliferation for about 20 minutes. The clean up took 30.
It was time for a snack.
My treasures told me the snacks were kept "up there", as opposed to their normal daily fare.
The footstool came out again.
Such a celebration had to be eaten in style. It was decided to create a picnic, using the tea set.
I asked where the tea set was and was told it was "up there".
We sat on the picnic blanket and it was suggested some of their best toy friends should join them. (My grandchildren are personal friends of Buzz and Woody). Guess what? The toys were "up there".
It was all too late by now, but it was starting to dawn on me that their parents (of the keep-the-noise-down variety) had put all this stuff "up there" for good reason.
- Linda Muller
