Swingin' Good Times

        

As we say goodbye to Fall and hello to cooler weather this winter, I didn't want to miss the chance to post these.  

The kids have loved swinging these past couple months.  Lucy learned to pump her legs all by herself, and she has been so proud of herself and happy.  

It's so fun to hear her say things like, "I'm going to touch the sky!  Look--I'm going even higher than the roof!  I can do it by myself because I'm FOUR."  

 

Elliot is giving it his best effort, but of course he's not quite there yet.  Maybe in the spring. 

All the kids love to "spider swing" with Mimi.  

 

It's a special thing that they only do with her--usually when she's over to help on Tuesdays. 

Oliver loves to swing, too.  He's been in the baby swing so far, but I bet in the spring he'll be ready for a "big kid" swing.  For the first time, we won't have a swing for each kid!  

 

That will be interesting. 

Beaumont

The final part of the Galveston-Houston-Beaumont trip was, of course, Beaumont. 


After dropping Daniel off at the Houston airport (for his business trip to Mexico), the kids and I drove the 2 hours to Beaumont to visit Sadie and Pop. 



The most "interesting" part of our short road trip was a stop at a disgusting (falsely advertised "clean restroom stop") gas station where the water out of the faucets was actually yellow.  I've never seen that before. 
 

Elliot kept asking why the water was yellow, and--determined not to think about it--I replied that I didn't know. 
 

Lucy helpfully offered, "maybe someone peed in it." 



Because the in-stall experience was hygienically deficient by every conceivable metric, skipping the hand-washing was out of the question. 
 

So we washed our hands quickly with yellow water and rushed back to the car.  Ugh.  We had JUST pottied at a nice, clean restaurant 30 minutes ago. 
 

Unplanned gas station bathroom stops with three kids under age 5... they are the worst.



Anyways, we did safely make it to Sadie and Pop's  house and quickly settled in. 
 

Lucy was delighted to be able to sleep in "her bed" again, and all the kids were excited to re-discover the various toys in the playroom and guest rooms.



On one of our days in Beaumont, we tried out the new Beaumont Children's Museum, which was awesome! 
 

There were SO many exhibits that captured the kids' attention. 
 

We could have spent a whole day there. 
 

While the aesthetics were less impressive than, say, the Perot Museum in Dallas--the exhibits were far more numerous and more interesting to my kids.








 








On our last full day, Sadie treated the kids to Build-A-Bear. 

 

Lucy remembered her experience from last time and didn't even have to be told how to give her new friend a "bath" in the little "sink" at the back wall.
 

We learned our lesson after the last experience and insisted that our new furry friends be left "floppy" so they'd be extra cuddly. 



Elliot went home with an "Eee-eee" named "Serious George," whom he seems to be in the process of re-naming "Ivan." 



Lucy went home with a puppy named "Woof-woof," and Oliver went home with a sweet, soft little bear whom he loves but who remains nameless.


 The kids had a marvelous time visiting with Sadie and Pop, enjoying treats here and there, and being doted upon.  It really is a special thing, to get to visit Sadie and Pop. 

They are already looking forward to their next visit and wondering when that will be.    

Visiting Cousins and Grandparents

The next part of our whirlwind trip was an afternoon with the kids' cousins (and my SIL and BIL) in Houston. 




I wish we got to see them more often, but it's nice that they're close enough that we can visit them (and they can visit us) every so often. 



The kids have a great time together at every visit. 





Oliver loves climbing into cupboards and onto shelves.



Joshua went from refusal-to-take-a-cousin-picture to insistence-on-multiple-solo-pictures within about 10 minutes. 



That seems to be pretty typical of a two-year-old.  Isn't he cute?



Jonathan seems to really enjoy being the oldest cousin. 

 

He and Lucy always have a really nice time playing together -- maybe it's an oldest thing.



The kids are already looking forward to their next cousin play date.



After dinner with cousins, we spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa, Nonnie's parents. 




Even though we don't see them very often, it was so helpful to be able to remind the kids who they were, saying, "remember when Grandma played hide-and-seek with you at our house?  And Grandpa kissed all your boo-boos?"



They knew exactly who we were talking about and were excited to get to spend the night at their house.

Oliver asking "please" for a train

Garbage trucks are a treat, no matter the city

It was so good to see our out-of-town family!  Can't wait for next time.