What we did today in El Paso

Diana had a 9:00 appointment this morning
so Grandpa Jones and I took Matthew with us to
run a few errands.
Emma was in school all day
and Christopher was at Head-Start until 11:30.

We ended up spending more than an hour at the
local Super Wal-Mart --
We had a whole list of stuff we needed, and
this place had the right prices ...
It was another beautiful, hot day
in El Paso ...

Christopher was picked up from school,
Diana made us a yummy lunch,
and then the boys and grandpa and I

headed out to try and find the
Railroad & Transportation Museum of El Paso ...

I think grandpa got lost (oops!)
because after we had driven for about 15 minutes,

he pulled into a parking lot,
yanked out the laptop, and tried to find out
where in Texas we were!
Mr. Jones bought a program called
Earthmate which is supposed to tell you
exactly where you are and then you can tell it where
you want to go and it is supposed to get you there ...

Well!

It's difficult to read the computer screen in a car that is
drenched in sunlight ...
plus the program seemed a little bit mixed up
as to where we actually were!

We ended up finding Union Station

(because Mr. Jones followed the tracks, etc.)
got the boys out of the van (finally!)

and saw two really long trains go by ...

UNION STATION at El Paso

It's a good thing some trains showed up!
We had been telling Chris and Matthew
while we were driving all over town
for over 45 minutes that they were going to see trains today!
We really had intended on going
to the Railroad Museum -- there was supposed
to be a restored 4-4-0 "Classic American" 1857 locomotive
on display there ... we ended up driving
by the museum on the way back home;
but by then, it was late and time for Emma
to come home from school.
I don't think the boys would have been
terribly impressed with it ... but Mr. Jones
would have enjoyed it ...
Christopher is getting SO big -- he weighs
over 38 pounds!
Inside Union Station ...

Before we knew it, it was time to return home.
Emma's bus arrives at 3:30 and I promised her
I would be there, along with her mom, to meet it ...

The bus was absolutely packed with kids ...
Finally Emma came down the steps!
I can hardly believe she is in Kindergarten already ...

Diana had been "talking" with Jesse
the last few days on-line ...
Today, she got a real treat when they were both able
to SEE each other and type messages ...
this is what the screen looks like!

Diana told Emma that she had a big surprise for her.
As soon as they walked home from the bus stop,
Diana was able to get Jesse's picture to appear on the computer
and he typed a message to Emma!

See? You can see Jesse on the bottom left hand
of the screen -- Diana is in the top picture,
and then they type and talk to each other on the
main part of the screen.
Almost 8000 miles, with a delay of a few minutes or so ...
amazing, eh?

Emma and I and Chris worked on preparing our dinner.
We got the chicken ready to bake,
pre-cooked the potatoes,
put it in the pans and stuck it in the oven for one hour.

We also made a pudding dessert ...
with Oreo cookies in the middle
and whipped cream on top ...

Here we are breaking up the Oreo cookies ...
except Ems and Chris were hungry
and kept eating the cookies faster
than they were breaking them up for the dessert ...
We also prepared the fruit.
We took the grapes off the vines and washed them ...

I did all the cutting up of apples
nectarines and strawberries ...

Emma and Chris helped me make
the fruit dip, and enjoyed licking the spoons afterwards ...

While we waited for the chicken to cook,
we colored pictures and used stencils to help us draw shapes ... Here's how nice our fruit platter looked!
Emma wanted to eat it right away,
but had to wait until we set the table
and fixed the plates ...
so I gave her a little kiss to help cheer her up!

I enjoy a day like this very much --
just hanging around and doing household stuff ...
playing with my grandchildren is a real joy,
something I am incredibly thankful for!
It was also nice to SEE Jesse!