Last
updated December 18, 2008
For
Tehja and Taylor
Where are Grandma and Grandpa Sailor? - updated
Malaysia Words – New
Taylor is four! – New
July 2007: This page is dedicated to two very special people in our lives: our grandchildren, Tehja and Taylor.
They are the children of another two very special people
in our lives: our son, Dylan, and his
wife Laura.
Our
granddaughter, Tehja (pronounced “tayja” with a soft “j”) was born on
Our
grandson, Taylor (nicknamed “Tate” by Tehja) was born on
“Sweet
16” has special meaning for us, since they were both born on the 16th.
Tehja
and Taylor’s other grandma and grandpa have a farm in
They
are called Grandma and Grandpa Farmer.
We
are called Grandma and Grandpa Sailor.
The ABSeas (also known as the ABCs) … Our Theme Song
Our
first video from Tehja and Taylor was the two of them singing the ABCs. We sent them a video back with us singing the
ABCs. Since then, the theme of our communications
has been the ABCs. Earlier emails from
our son usually ended with, “Tehja says ‘ABC’, Tate says ‘happy’”.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
When Tehja Turned Three
Her birthday greeting sent from CanKata:
A B C D E F Hey
Today is Tehja's Special Day
H I J K L M N O P
Our Darling Tehja is turning Three
1 2 1 2 1 2 3
Our Darling Tehja is turning Three!
When Taylor Turned Two
His birthday greeting sent from CanKata:
T is for TAYLOR and T is for TWO,
A is for AWESOME and
Y is for YOU.
L is for LOVE and love you we do!
And send you
big kisses as you turn to two.
O how we miss you and hope when you're three,
you'll come to
see us out here in the sea.
R is for RIGHT ON, RIGHT ON little Tay,
and we hope
you have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
Blub
Blub Blub
This is Grandpa saying “hi” from under the sea.
It sounded more like “blub blub blub”.
Rub-a-dub-dub,
Grandpa says “blub”.
This is Grandma saying “hi” while she’s
snorkelling.
It
sounded more like “blub blub blub”.
Rub-a-dub-dub,
Grandma
says “blub”.
When
Tehja’s in the tub,
She
can say “blub blub”.
When
Taylor’s in the tub,
He
can say “blub blub”.
Both
saying “hi” from the tub.
Someday Beach
Dear
Tehja and Taylor,
Maybe
someday, when you are seven or eight, you can come visit us on a rocky
beach. We’ll call it “Someday Beach”.
Someday
maybe when I’m seven or eight
I’ll
fly on a plane and visit the sea.
I’ll
walk on a beach that is full of rocks
And
look out as far as I can see.
On
Someday Beach I will see the sea
And
boy how happy I will be
With
rocks in my socks, singing ABC
On
Someday Beach I will be.
Here
are some other Someday Beaches. Two of
them are exactly the same. Can you find
them?
“My Grandma and Grandpa Went To Sea”
The following lyrics are from a song by Eileen
Quinn (with Cheryl Southward), used here with her permission.
For more information on this wonderful sailor and
songwriter: visit www.eileenquinn.com
My
grandma and grandpa went to sea
They
left their house and car behind
They
left the snow and ice
They
left their jobs and all their friends
They
left a place quite nice
My
grandma and grandpa went to sea
And
I was sad, ‘cause they left me
My
grandma and grandpa went to sea
They
took their boat and lots of tools
They
took their clothes and dishes
Took
their pillows and their dreams
Took
a boatload full of wishes
My
grandma and grandpa went to sea
And
in their hearts, they took me
My
grandma and grandpa went to sea
They
saw dolphins and birds galore
They
saw manatees
Saw
new friends from all round the world
Saw
beaches and palm trees
My
grandma and grandpa went to sea
When,
oh when, will they see me?
My
grandma and grandpa went to sea
They
missed their house and car sometimes
They
missed their old friends too
Missed
the snow and ice – not much!
Missed
the park they took me to
My
grandma and grandpa went to sea
And
most of all, they missed me
My
grandma and grandpa went to sea
They
love their days and tropical nights
They
love each other more
They
love when I come visit them
They
love knocking at my door
My
grandma and grandpa went to sea
But
mostly, you know, they love me
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
This Little Piggy – August 2007
Grandma
and Grandpa Sailors’ version of This Little Piggy:
This
little piggy went sailing,
This
little piggy washed his feet.
This
little piggy had tuna.
This
little piggy had a sweet.
And
this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way to Someday Beach!
Here
are some little piggies from the South Pacific.
Two of them are exactly the same.
Can you find them?
Jellyfish
Grandma
and Grandpa Sailor saw lots of jellyfish when they were in Fiji. They are big blobs that float along in the
water and they look something like jelly.
We have to be careful with them because some of them sting – something
like a bee!
Here
are some pictures of jellyfish. One of
the pictures is NOT a jellyfish. Can you
figure out which one?
Grandma’s Poem:
I
wish, I wish
I
had a jellyfish.
Then
I’d kiss, I’d kiss
I’d
kiss my jellyfish.
YUCK
- JUST KIDDING!
Grandpa’s Poem:
If
I were a jellyfish
I’d
find a peanut
And
make a sandwich.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Tehja is Four! – September 16, 2007
Hello Tehja! What a special day for you ... you are
turning FOUR! Here's a little poem for
you:
Happy fourth birthday, Tehja-girl,
Our little darling, our lovely pearl.
We are on a Someday Beach
Wishing that we could stretch out and
reach
To give you a HUG, long and strong
And sing to you this little song:
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday Darling Tehja,
Hugs and Kisses to you.
Tehja and Taylor Are Moving!
This
winter, they are moving to Prince Edward Island with their mommy and
daddy.
Daddy
looked at Mommy and winked his eye
And
now we’re moving to PEI.
Mommy
said “Okay, I’ll bake a pie”
And
now we’re moving to PEI.
Wink
of an eye and apple pie
And
now we’re moving to PEI.
One
of the boxes below is different. Which
one? What does it say?
|
ABC |
ABC |
ABC |
PEI |
ABC |
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
An Aussie Poem by Rolf Harris (shortened version)
Tie
me kangaroo down sport,
tie me kangaroo down.
Tie me kangaroo down sport,
tie me kangaroo down.
Watch
me wallabies feed mate.
Watch me wallabies feed.
They're a dangerous breed mate.
So watch me wallabies feed.
Keep
me cockatoo cool, Curl,
keep me cockatoo cool.
Don't go acting the fool, Curl,
just keep me cockatoo cool.
Take
me koala back, Jack,
take me koala back.
He lives somewhere out on the track, Mac,
so take me koala back.
Play your didgeridoo,
Blue,
play
your didgeridoo.
Play until you are through Blue,
play your didgeridoo.
Altogether
Now!
Tie me kangaroo down sport,
tie me kangaroo down.
Tie me kangaroo down sport,
tie me kangaroo down.
Taylor is Three! – December 16, 2007
To our most favorite grandson in the whole wide world
on his special day:
Taylor is three!
Taylor is three!
Hip hip hooray, hip hip hooree!
Grandma and Grandpa - the ones out at sea -
Hope your birthday is special and fun as can be.
Kangaroos, crocodiles, wallabies too
Send Aussie birthday greetings to you
Jacarandas, koalas, and a didgeridoo
They all say Happy Birthday to You.
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to Taylor,
Hugs and Kisses to you!
All our love to our wonderful little Tater,
Grandma and Grandpa Sailor
Where are Grandma and Grandpa Sailor? December 2007
Are
they in Saskatoon?
…
Not any more.
Are
they in Moose Jaw?
…
Not any more.
Are
they in PEI?
…
Not any more.
Are
they in Ottawa?
…
Not any more.
Are
they in Lake Ontario?
…
Not any more.
Are
they in the Caribbean Sea?
…
Not any more.
Are
they in the Panama Canal?
…
Not any more.
Are
they in Polynesia?
…
Not any more.
Are
they in Australia?
…
Not any more.
Are
they in Indonesia?
…
Not any more.
Are
they in Malaysia?
…
That’s for sure!
Who is who?
It
has been a while since Tehja and Taylor have seen Grandma and Grandpa Sailor.
Are
they short, are they tall,
Are
they round as a ball?
Are
they dark, are they fair,
Do
they have any hair?
Are
they plump, are they thin,
What
colour is their skin?
There
are three pictures below. Can you guess
which couple are Grandma and Grandpa Sailor?
The
other two couples are Sylvia and Gerd of Daedalus and Lynn and Nicholas of
Trius.
Hints:
Grandpa
has a beard. Sylvia and Gerd are both
wearing white shirts. Nicholas is
wearing green.
Did You Know
A
few facts about some animals Grandma and Grandpa Sailor have seen:
KOALAS:
-
sleep
during the day and are awake most of the night
-
like
to eat tree leaves but only from one special kind of tree – the eucalyptus
-
often
stay in the same tree for days and days
-
sometimes
eat dirt for a snack (yuck!)
KANGAROOS:
-
can
hop 16 feet in one hop! (get Mommy and
Daddy to show you how far that is)
-
a
young kangaroo is also called a “joey”
-
a
mommy kangaroo has a pouch in her tummy to carry her newborn joey
-
a
daddy kangaroo is sometimes called a “boomer”
Wallaby Quiz
A
wallaby is just like a kangaroo, but smaller.
Below
are three wallabies – a mommy, a boomer and a joey.
Do
you know which is which? (Hint: you can see the boomer’s bellybutton).
Missing letter
What
letter is missing from the following words?
w _ l l _
b y
k _ n g _
r o o
k o o k _
b u r r _
g r _ n d
m _
g r _ n d
p _
Looks
like someone ate the “a”, eh?
Turkey Necks
Turkeys
…
Mommy
loves the leg,
Daddy
loves the neck.
Taylor
loves the wing,
Tehja
loves the neck.
Grandma
loves the breast,
Grandpa
loves the neck.
How
many necks does a turkey have?
Just
one?
Heck!
Winter
Thank
you, wee ones, for reminding us how magical winter can be when you are little.
Tobogganing
Grandma
and Grandpa Sailor went tobogganing too!
(But
it was a little warmer on the sand).
Crocs on the beach
Crocodile: a large reptile with strong jaws and a
long, thick-skinned body (also called a “croc”). Sometimes they eat people, sometimes people
eat them.
Crocs: comfy but ugly shoes made for sailors but
now also worn by many landlubbers (never called “crocodiles”).
Crocs
in a slew, crocs that are new,
My
favourite crocs are crocs that are blue.
Crocs
big and long, crocs mean and strong,
My
second-favourite crocs are in a billabong.
Crocs
on my feet, crocs in my teeth,
My
least-favourite crocs are crocodiles on the beach!
Nemo
Grandma
and Grandpa Sailor once travelled with a boat called Nemo.
And
they once swam with some little fish that looked like Nemo.
Here
are pictures of the Nemos that they have met on their travels:
Ten Indonesians
One-little-two-little-three
Indonesians.
Four-little-five-little-six
Indonesians.
Seven-little-eight-little-nine
Indonesians.
Ten
Indonesian kids.
Grandma
and Grandpa Sailor have met very many Indonesian children. They have big smiles, greet us with “Hello
Mister” in English, and like to shake our hands. They are very polite … almost as polite as
Tehja and Taylor! We have met so many
Indonesian children that we have lost count.
The Big Dipper
Tehja
and Taylor can see the Big Dipper in Prince Edward Island. Grandma and Grandpa Farmer can see the Big
Dipper in Alberta. Grandma and Grandpa
Sailor can see the Big Dipper in Indonesia.
On
the next clear night, let’s all get out and look for the Big Dipper. Hint:
It’s in the north.
Star
light, star bright,
First
star I see tonight,
I
wish I may, I wish I might,
Dream
of my grandchildren tonight.
Tehja is Five! – September 16, 2008
Our
message to Tehja on her fifth birthday:
Hi there Tehja! We are so excited that you are turning
five. What a big girl now, already in
kindergarten too.
We hope you have found the Big Dipper in
the northern sky. We think of you and
Taylor every time we see it.
Your mommy and daddy told us that one of
your favorite songs is "You Are My Sunshine". We have made up the following verses for your
birthday, so maybe you can get them to sing them for you:
You are our Tehja, our darling Tehja,
You are the sweetest girl we know.
When you're not with us, we miss you truly,
But the winds continue to blow.
Oh little Tehja, our lovely Tehja,
Oh every day you seem to grow.
We'd love to see you, we'd love to hug you,
But the winds continue to blow.
So, sweet one, we hope you like your song
and we hope you have a great birthday.
Please get your mommy and daddy to tell us all about it.
Flags
Grandma
and Grandpa Sailor visited three countries in 2008. Below are the flags for those countries:
Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia. We’ve
stuck in a fourth flag. Can you guess
which country that flag belongs to?
Mangoes
Grandma
and Grandpa Sailor eat a lot of different fruit while we are in the tropics.
Right now in October mangoes are in season, and boy are they good! Have you ever eaten a mango? Maybe your mommy and daddy can buy you each
one, and then you can pretend that you are having a fruit break with your
grandma and grandpa.
Mango
on my fingers, mango in my hair,
Mango
on my cheeks and mango in my ear.
Mango
is so messy it aggravates my mummy,
But
mango is so good I love it in my tummy!
Orangutans
Orangutan means “man of the jungle”,
probably because they look a lot like a very hairy human and of course because
they live in the jungle. Some have been
captured and put in zoos, but your grandma and grandpa think that is very sad
and we hope that, from now on, orangutans are left to live and play in the
jungle.
There
are two things we want you to know about the orangutans: they don’t have a tail
and they love fruit – maybe even mangoes.
And
here is something really funny. There
are some cats living near the orangutans, and they don’t have tails either!
Malaysian Words
Here
are a few Malaysian words for you to practice. The first one is easy but weird:
AIR
… an easy word, but in Malaysia, it actually means WATER. How confusing is
that?
BAGUS
(sounds like: bah GOOSE’) … means GOOD. We think Tehja and Taylor are BAGUS.
GULA
… means sugar.
GULA-GULA
… means candy.
GULA-GULA
GETAH … means chewing gum.
Is
gula-gula getah bagus?
Taylor is Four! – December 16, 2008
Here is our email message to Taylor on his
fourth birthday, along with a picture of a special cake we saw just the day
after his birthday:
Hi there Taylor. Happy 4th Birthday! Your
dad told us about the parties you had and it sounds like you have had lots of
fun. When you come to CanKata some day, maybe you can make us a pizza! And did
you know that your dad and grandpa once had remote-controlled cars and would
race them down the driveway at our house in PEI? And now you have one!
We know you like Spiderman, so here is a
little birthday poem that sound's something like his song:
Taylor Smith, Taylor Smith,
Such a cool and happy kid.
He's so smart, he's so swift,
Nobody's quite like Taylor Smith.
Look out, here comes that 4-year old lad,
He's got his gifts and he's glad,
His family loves him real bad,
We all love him - Taylor Smith!
So have a wonderful birthday, grandson
Tate, and we also hope you're having fun getting ready for Christmas.
Bye-bye for now.
All our love and hugs and kisses,
Grandma and Grandpa Sailor xx
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO TEHJA
AND TAYLOR!!