Day Eleven: We make the best of another rainy day, and then ... Austin!

This is the face of a very proud Nathan showing Grandpa Jones and I the railroad track he constructed on the floor of his bedroom. I have pictures of how the track turned out, and Grandpa Jones would think those pictures were important to show you ... but I need to do an abreviated post tonight because we are at Sabrina's house and I don't want to be rude, sitting here at my computer when I really should be visiting ... so just a few pictures and a short commentary of our day ...

I took this picture of Nathan sitting on the log steps leading to his kitchen. He wanted to see it on the screen of my camera and then commented: "Good job on the screw driver and hammer and the letters on my green shirt." His shirt said "Daddy's Big Helper." Nathan is kind of into shirts lately and changes his about 5x each day and then wants his picture taken in the new shirt ...

This is Nia Madelynn, who probably has the most patient father I have ever met ... she has a lot on her mind, but isn't quite able to talk in complete sentences yet, so it's kind of a guessing game as to what she wants. Nicolas does an incredible job trying to figure out what she is trying to say. After a few options, he figured out Nia wanted these little toys on her wrist as bracelets. Nia was very pleased.

It was another rainy day in the hill country of Texas ... a pouring rain, unrelenting, all-day kind of rain. So Rachel thought it might be fun to just drive out to Old Helotes (very near San Antonio) to see the antique shops ... perhaps the rain would let up by the time we drove there and we could just relax and look around. When we arrived there, it was raining harder than ever ... but what's the harm in a little rain? We decided to look at the three or four stores that were open while we were right there in town. We had a fun time of it too.

I think we were the only folk who braved the rain to do any shopping in Old Helotes today. The shop owners were SO glad to see us. They had all kinds of little snacky treats for the little kiddos, and they enjoyed every minute.

And playing the rain was so much fun ...

Just a few minutes up the road from Old Helotes, is a half-off book store (huge) that we drove to and walked around looking at books and reading stories to the kids for a little while.

I think we spent an hour inside the store. They had a great children's section. Nathan and Nia looked at tons of books. It was a very nice way to spend a rainy afternoon. We started getting hungry after a little while and drove just a little ways down the road and ate at El Chaparral (Mexican) in Helotes. It was a beautiful restaurant, very family-friendly, and we just relaxed and ate a ton of wonderful food. On the way to the restaurant, we passed a place called, "Two Fat Guys", which was an auto repair shop ... but isn't that a hilarious name?
But then it was time to say good-bye to Nick, Rachel, and the children. As Nia was getting buckled into her carseat, she very clearly said, "Good-bye, Grandpa." She gave nice kisses too. Nathan said his sweet good-byes, and Lottie was her usual pleasant little self. We certainly had a great time during our three days in Bandera and are thankful for every minute of it.

We arrived in Austin to stay at Sabrina's house tonight just before 7:00. We met their latest family member, Monty, who is an adorable golden retriever.

Karis was so excited for us to be here. She is three-and-a-half and talks constantly. I leaned over with my camera to snap Monty's picture and said (just as a joke), "Smile, Monty." Karis looked at me and said, "Grandma ... dogs don't say 'cheese' ... only peoples do that!" Karis told us all about preschool and the cool stuff she is learning. She sang us pretty songs too. She loves Sea World and if you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she will tell you she wants to be a Shamu trainer and then she can actually recite word for word, the entire speech the Shamu trainer says at Sea World before the Shamu show starts. She does little hand motions with it and it's really a scream to listen to her do it ... I think they should make a video of it for You-tube.

Jackson was excited to see us too. He is in full-time kindergarten and this is his second complete week. He's learning a lot and we are excited to get to play with him during the next few days. I've got to cut this short tonight because it's late, but I'll try to post a little something each day we are here. Until then ...