When people ask me how many grandchildren I have I always say seven because one is in heaven and was miscarried. My grandchildren are very special to me. I have unique relationships with all of them. When I started blogging over a year ago I thought it would be good to blog about each grandchild. Last fall I blogged about my granddaughter Adelyn and what a special summer we had together. This blog is about my nine-year-old grandson Zane.

Let me tell you about Zane. Zane lives in St. Cloud and is the son of my oldest son Josh and his wife Kristine. Josh and Kristine (Tofte) graduated from LQPV in 1995, Zane is their only child. Zane is in fourth grade and attends Foley Middle School, 15 miles from St. Cloud where Josh has been a math teacher at Foley High School for 19 years. Zane loves school, sports, he’s very active in karate and enjoys being around family. When Zane and I are together we have so much fun and have created some great memories. That is my goal as a grandpa to create memories with each of my grandchildren. So let me tell you a few memorable moments with Zane.

Zane was staying the weekend with us a few years ago and when he comes to Madison he loves going to Kennedy’s Bakery, the Dairy Queen and attending a movie at the Grand. On one occasion we got in my car to drive to the Dairy Queen, Grandpa failed to put his seat belt on. Now remember the kid is like only 7 years old at the time. The conversation went something like this.

Zane: Grandpa put your seatbelt on. Grandpa: Oh, we are only driving a couple of blocks to the Dairy Queen. Zane: Grandpa it doesn’t matter, put your seat belt on. Grandpa: Okay. We get to the Dairy Queen parking lot and start a video from my phone to his mom and dad. I thought he wanted to let mom and dad know he is at the Dairy Queen. The video starts, and Zane starts in about how grandpa refused to put his seat belt on. He was telling on me. I showed Kristine that my seatbelt was currently fastened, but Zane wouldn’t let it die. “Mom, grandpa doesn’t think it’s important to wear a seat belt” I tried to take the phone from him and we both were laughing and fighting for the phone. It was all in good fun. I learned a lesson that day, set good examples for your grandchildren!

One of my favorite memories with Zane is when he was about 5 years old. I was in Madison and he was home in St. Cloud. We were Facetiming on our I Pads, doing a live video feed. He was sitting on the couch and I asked Zane if he would like to come stay at Grandpa and Grandma’s this weekend? Zane jumped off the couch and said “Let me go ask my mom” So being familiar with their house, I noticed on my I Pad that he was making his way down the hallway to the bathroom where his mom was in the shower! Yes, in the shower! He opens the bathroom door and I could hear the shower running and I quickly realized what was about to happen. So being the gentleman that I am, I turned my I Pad upside down. I could hear Zane tell his mom that he was Facetiming with grandpa and that grandpa wanted to know if he could come to Madison this weekend. The next thing I hear coming from the shower is a very loud scream! We still laugh about that.

I am going to brag a bit now about Zane. He really is one of the most intelligent kids I have ever met. He learned the ABC’s before he was one-year-old. He is a math whiz; I wonder where he got that from? He loves to play Wheel of Fortune with grandma, he shocks me how well he does with that game. This past weekend he showed me his report card, and it was A+ in every class but music he got an A and he was disappointed about that. I find him to be a very caring person and he always says thank you.  He sure is fun to be around. I really appreciate every moment I have with each grandchild. I pray he remembers all the moments with grandpa when I am long gone. I love spending time with Zane. He is a special guy.