Our last day in El Paso

Mr. Jones and I arrived at Diana's this morning
at about 10:00.
Matthew had woken up early with his brother
and so he was tired!
He had been cuddling with Grandpa Jones
and fell soundly asleep ...

Christopher was home by noon.
We ate a nice lunch and then decided
to go somewhere to play where it was cool.
Diana said there was a play area at a mall
not too far from them ...

Most of the pictures I am posting today are
from our playtime at the mall ...
the boys climbed into the rocket and we
did a countdown: 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-zero
BLAST OFF!
And away to the moon they went!
It's not that this mall playground was anything
special or fancy or unusual ...
but it was completely free, full of little kids,
and really fun to watch them all interact and play together!
Look at Christopher's feet -- I'm serious!
They hardly touched the ground the entire
hour we were there!
I tried to get pictures of the boys together,
but they found other friends along the way as well ...
Christopher likes to tumble and roll
and jump and play ...
he informed me today that he was going to be
a football player someday, and he
might just do it! He is one solid boy!
This little dark-haired fellow and Christopher
stuck together, helping each other on and off stuff,
calling each other "Friend."
Matthew enjoyed himself hugely in this area ...
it had some tunnels and low doorways and mirrors.
I've never seen Matthew play this hard --
he really enjoyed all of the other kids.
And Christopher just glowed -- he was having SO MUCH FUN!
He is a very fast runner -- I swear, he has little invisible
wings on his feet!
Matthew got so comfortable with this small
slide that he was going up and down
really well, saw another kid walk down
and then walk back up, so he did the same
about 50 x in a row ...
Here is the cow that jumped over the moon,
and Matthew being very agreeable to
my camera! :)

Before we knew it, it was time to leave the mall
so that we could meet Emma's bus.
We were on the corner at 3:30 like we were supposed to do.
We waited and waited and waited!
Still, no bus -- no Emma!
Emma's bus stop has no trees for shade.
We waited close to 25 minutes.
Finally, Diana used her cell phone and called the school.
They told Diana that there had been bus trouble
and that it had broken down; but not to worry,
another one was bringing the kids home ...

The bus that brought Emma home,
ran out of gas about 6 houses before her bus stop ...
Hmmm ...
There were some pretty upset and disgusted mothers
at that bus stop today ...
Emma is singing "Bah, Bah Black Sheep"
from one of her favorite children's CD's
She is showing me her little piggy keychain --
if you press the button on the top,
piggy's nose lights up and she makes a little
"snort-snort" sound ... cute!
(Guess who bought it for Emma?)
Emma has homework Monday-Thursday nights.
Tonight, she had to work on some penmanship
with writing the number "4".
She also had to color pictures that started with the letter "R"
Diana was busy with the boys, and I was
making an easy dinner, so grandpa
helped Ems with her homework.

We had a nice meal.
These Pahman kiddos really chow down!

And all too soon, it was time for grandpa and I to gather
our stuff, and say our good-byes.
Good-byes are not very fun.
I'm not very good at it.
I didn't take any more pictures, because I just wanted
happy pictures in my memory.

Our five days in El Paso are over.
I hope in some small way we were able to give
Diana some support and love.
We sure enjoyed all of the activities
with the children, all of the hugs,
and the laughter ...

Hope you have seen the pictures I have posted, Jes.
You have a beautiful family ...