Saturday.

Cousin Sandy and her husband Dave came over for dinner and Friday evening. We let the kids stay up past their normal bedtime (grandparent prerogative). Norah got sleepy about normal time and went down easily, but Grace did her best to defy her body and keep her peepers open until 9PM. Me,"Are you sleepy Grace?" Grace, heavy eyelids popping open, "No!" A few minutes later she fell asleep almost on her feet. The kids were perfect for company. It was the type of encounter where company left thinking our grandkids are all fabulous polite little angels. Don't tell but there was a bribe involved. Paulette told the kids that if they were good they could have ice cream for breakfast. Talk about incentive. Click on the picture to enlarge it and you will see that is not cereal in their bowls. (We did give them a regular breakfast later.)


We figured they would all sleep in come morning. Jay hates to get up for school at 6:30 each morning. For a kid who likes school you would think he was going to the dentist to have a root canal when we tried to roust him from morning slumber. You can guess what time he was up on a non-school day. At 6:30 our door squeaked, and he and Gracie tromped into our dark room with light sabers blazing asking the Force for breakfast ice cream. Note in the picture it is still almost dark outside. In retrospect we should have offered him ice cream for breakfast on school days.

Norah cut a few teeth in the last couple days. She is feeling a lot better.

Only one more day to go. We have short-timer syndrome and I am particularly antsy to get home.


After ice cream, Norah leaning back in her lounge chair.

All in all a good week.

Gulf weather is strange for a desert dweller. The pleasant breeze was from the Gulf of Mexico last night. When we went to bed it was 74 degrees. When we got up it was still 74. Three hours later a stiff wind blusters from the north, the temp has dropped perhaps twenty degrees, wind chill probably adds a feel like an additional ten degree drop, and the sky is intermittently spitting a wintery rain.