Fun with Nathan and Nia!

Mr. Jones and I were very pleased to receive a visit from Rachel, Nathan and Nia this morning. They've been in Grand Rapids for a little while and their return flight to Houston is tomorrow. We were really glad to see them before they went back home ...

And speaking of them living in Houston, that is all going to change for them this month! They are moving to San Antonio. Nicolas has been offered (and accepted) a new job there as manager of two rather up-and-coming sandwich shops. He is very excited about this job opportunity and promotion. We congratulate him! Plus, it will make our vast, bi-annual circuit of Texas a little less daunting! However, we will still want to go to Houston every now and again to visit Aunt Peg.

See this picture of Nathan? He is looking at the clock that hangs on the wall just above our children's train table. He was rather shocked at the sounds that came from it! Each hour on the hour, it makes quite a racket and simulates an approaching train. The audio is light-activated, and it was pretty bright in here this morning.
Nathan was quite taken with it and wanted it to "do it again!" We explained the hourly thing to him, but almost three-year-olds do not really comprehend time. However, as the morning progressed, with each successive hour, Nathan grew more and more apprehensive of these oncoming trains and would jump up on the couch (for safety!) shouting, "Oh no!"
Here is Nia enjoying the train table as well. She turned 10 months last week. She crawls anywhere she wants to go and is pulling herself up to furniture and seems almost ready to walk!
Look at that cute little tuft of hair on the top of her head! And it's so soft! She is a very pleasant little one, very smiley and happy.

We had fun playing in the family room for awhile with toys that hadn't been played with since Christmas!

Thomas K came in to check out the action, persistently meowed for his cream, got all tangled under my feet and attacked me as a result ... I hate it when that happens, but I was thankful it was me he scratched and not the little kids!
We enjoyed some snacks at the table. Miss Nia is very serious about her food.
I think Air Force One was Nathan's favorite toy of the day. He made very authentic plane sounds as he flew it all over our house.

Queenie Nia joyfully went down for a two-hour nap and we took Nathan outside in the yard to play. We've had really mild and beautiful weather all day today ~ not hot and sticky like so many 4th of July's I remember.

We got out our sidewalk chalk and drew some pictures on the front driveway. And then we made a really long and windy road to travel down ...

We have some neighbors who were outside shooting off firecrackers and Nathan kept running to the porch saying, "Loud boom boom!" I agree!
It looks like Mr. Nathan has just about run himself out of energy in this picture. He was enjoying Tommy's company, playing hide and seek with him in the front bushes for awhile ...
What beautiful grandchildren! We had such a nice time with everyone today!