A Jack of all kinds of smiles

Up in the air smiles

The whole reason we went to England was to see Jack.
The sights and sounds of London, Blackpool, Windsor, Hednesford and Great Budworth were just welcome add-ons.
Jack is the 5-year-old child of my son Derek and his English wife Helen.
He's precocious, wise and innocent all at the same time and he talks with the cutest British accent and lilt.
Everything he says is adorable, even "I don't want to eat that as well."
He and I hit it off.
We like the same jokes.
We play the same way.

In trouble again smiles

We don't like being told what to do. (I routinely got the lad in trouble with my creative plans, encouraging him to play when he was supposed to be still and pushing the boundaries a bit here and there.)
Marc says I'm subversive and he may be right. I've never been a strict disciplinarian. (As a result I have fairly free-thinking, self-willed and, I think, self-confident children.)

Easter Bunny smiles

We had one week with Jack and we made the most of it. We went to Warwick Castle where I paid for Sir Jack to learn knight skills such as whacking the post (the enemy) at critical points like his legs and head.
At Legoland I bought him a swinging whacker ball so he could fell his foes. (His mother confiscated it several times.)
At the mall, I got him a set of Bley Blades and an arena so he could hold jousting tournaments with his spinning tops. (If he loses, he "swaps" his with the winner so he always wins.)

Getting the sword out smiles

Sitting with grandpa smiles

We supplied him with magic tricks and a set of UNO cards with which to play Speed UNO. We bought him a Frisbee boomerang.
There were also some plentiful purchases of chocolate and sugar along the way.
By the time we left, this previously obedient small child was showing some signs of fiestiness, holding my hand instead of his mother's when he could and refusing to go quietly into the night like he did when we first arrived.
He started asking for something in every gift shop.

Breakfast smiles

He wanted to come home with us in a suitcase.
Do you suppose we doting American grandparents are a bad influence?