Texas Grandsons - Days 1&2

Sunday - My house is filling this afternoon for a short time as Jen, Bekah, Jake, Jon, Braden, and Josh arrive.  Jen is on a mission to drop kids off all over north part of the state today.  We are her first stop and Josh is going to stay with us for a few days.  I am so excited as this is his first time staying with Gammy and Grandpa without mom around.  Jon and Braden are being dropped off in Denton at a swim camp and then Jake and Bekah are off to Abilene for baseball and drumline.  Jen as a job interview while in Abilene and WOW --- did I forget anything?  We do get about an hour to sit and visit before she has to get on her way and I love this time together.  Teenagers can be just oh so fun.

As soon as everyone departs, Grandpa and Josh set about making airplanes and testing them out.

It is nice enough outside that the front yard works perfectly as a flight zone.

There is a learning curve going on but in no time he is able to accomplish a flight that starts on the front porch and makes it to the sidewalk.  Success!

Even I have to give it a try.

We need a treat for later so I ask Josh if he likes Jello and his response is, "only orange."  I go back to the pantry and lo and behold -- I have orange.  Yay.  I get everything ready and when the airplane flights end, we get started on it.

Instead of a big bowl, we opt for several small ones that he now has to get into the refrigerator without spilling.  "I can do it."  Look at that grin.

Mission accomplished.

Now to head to the store for some groceries, but wait -- oh yes -- first a trip to the bookstore.  We try Half Price Books without luck but hear an absolute squeal out of Josh when he locates his books at Barnes and Noble.  This kid is literally jumping up and down with excitement.  I love it.

Next stop is the grocery store where Josh gets to help pick out his food.  First stop is produce where he must locate 2 fruits and 2 vegetables that he likes.  Yes!  Now on to meal with the same criteria.  Another yes!  I simply cannot stop giggling to myself at this point as he turns to me and says, "now can we get some REAL food?"  What??  He wants macaroni and cheese and ramen.  THAT is real food.

Back home -- new planes and practice gentle gliding instead of throwing so hard.  They will get this figured out this week - of this I am sure.

Mister and I found a new puzzle this week and Josh is pleased to be the first one to try and work it.  He absolutely does NOT want any help from me so I sit and rip out seams on my quilt while I watch.  Now doesn't that sound like fun?  Our first day has gone well --- time for bed as we are off to the aquarium tomorrow morning.

Monday - It is day two and Josh hasn't asked to go home so I guess we are doing okay.  We are off to the aquarium via the dart train today.  Let's get going.  Josh is pretty excited about taking the train and soon we are zipping down to Fair Park.  We have a little walk to take and as we go past the ponds, everyone takes time to wander a bit and look for turtles.  Again we are fascinated with our spring -- today is a bit chilly even.

Beautiful!

Let's not forget why we are here.  Off to the aquarium we go.

Once we arrive, our first stop is the touch tank where we are able to get an almost private lesson about the inhabitants of the tank.  How fun is that?  Josh really gets to learn a great deal and touch many different sea creatures.  What a treat.

A few groups come in while we are at the touch tank so we decide to quickly go down to the sting rays before it becomes crowded.  As we arrive, Josh looks at me and says, "I am not going to touch them."  Really?  Somehow I think that will change.  It isn't long before he has hands in the water, BUT he is very picky.  He will only pet the small, light gray ones.  That's it and there is no getting him to do otherwise no matter how many times the larger ones come up to him almost begging for some love.

I catch Mister doing some love of his own as he watches the rays for quite awhile.

A starfish gives us a perfect view as well.  We make a trip through the tank rooms after our time with the rays AND sea turtle before it is time to leave.  As we are starting our walk back, Mister quickly spots a large turtle in the pond.  Quick -- a picture.

Josh is a bit unhappy as we didn't buy anything in the gift shop so I ask him to pop into a rock formation for a picture.  He goes, but a smile is just not gonna happen.  Ugh.

We get down to the train stop with about 15 minutes to kill.  Mister wanders off as Josh and I take a seat.  It doesn't take long before he lays down.  I think we have wore him out -- he says he is tired and would like a nap.  Well -- we can do that.  The train arrives and we are soon on our way home.

With a rest behind us, Mister is complaining that there are not any cookies in the house so Josh and I get to work to solve the problem  Chocolate Chip Cookies are soon underway.  I have this wonderful apron that all the grands get to wear.  This one actually has one of Josh's handprints on it from when he was much smaller.  How fun is that?

I love time in the kitchen with my grands.  Especially if we are baking as I feel very comfortable with that.  It is a love I established early on and sharing it with another generation is awesome.

He does well and we use the same setup as we did with Elena.  Hey, if something isn't broke, don't fix it -- right?  We do make one change though and I get out a portion scoop and he has a much easier time after that.  What was I thinking?  Goodness.  Once the cookies go into the oven, we get a break and in absolutely no time at all he has the beater that was so difficult to wait for.

The cookies are ready and the house smells divine.  Although he is a bit nervous about the hot pan, I show Josh how to move the cookies to cooling racks and then he refills it for another batch. He is now ready for his own cookie but I tell him that we have strict rules in this house and Grandpa always gets the first cookie so he loads up some on a plate and gets a glass of milk and heads for the office to deliver his treats.  Grandpa is all smiles and within moments Josh is as well.  Nothing like a warm cookie to dunk in a glass of cold milk.  Ahhhh.

The rest of the evening is spent playing games and I think Mister and Josh must have played at least a dozen games of Go Fish.  By the time they were finished, he knew all the color names fairly well.  Too fun.  What a great day but as usual, we are beat.  Night.