Visit with Rachel, Will, and Jamie (and Myles)

Aside from staying at the Gonzalez Bay Resort, we spent much of the time in Houston with Aunt Rachel, Will, and Jamie. Gram met us for dinner the first night we were all in town and I had to get a picture of her with all the grandbabies.

In fact, while we were all in Houston, I had to also get professional pictures of the grandbabies. I arranged for all of Sydney and Jack's cousins to be in one place and got grandkid pictures for both Jeremy's mom and my mom in one torturous photo session (which included a swift outfit change for my kids so that it looks like we did these on two different days, which was somehow important).

The pictures turned out really cute, though.

After pictures, all of the kids got a treat. My mom brought presents for Sydney and Jack AND Will, which I thought was very sweet of her.

The day after the picture session, we went to the Children's Museum (Jeremy was able to join us for part of the time and then he left again the next day from El Campo). Notice Aunt Rachel and her kids, me and Jeremy and our kids (please don't notice my daughter picking her nose), Kim and then the bonus in the middle. That bonus is Myles. Danielle's son hung out with me, Sydney and Jack most of the visit. He was extra hands, eyes, and at times, an extra brain. I highly recommend anyone traveling (mostly) alone with kids get themselves a helpful thirteen year old. But you can't have mine.

Before Jeremy got to the Children's Museum, Myles played in the Kidtropolis with Sydney, pretending to be on the evening news, going shopping at the market, and taking the cat to the vet. He also went up, down, around (and possibly got stuck - but don't tell him I told you) in the large climbing structure with Will. As hard as it was to keep up with two kids away from home, it was much easier with Myles around and knowing how much I relied on him made me appreciate the great job my sister-in-law is doing on her own and gave me a lot more respect of the day-to-day challenge of being a single mom.

I also really appreciated Myles's sense of humor. Remember that all of the kids got a treat after pictures, right? Well, Rachel and I took Will, Sydney, Jack and Jamie to the Lego Store in the mall after pictures and Myles came with us, pushing Jamie's stroller through the mall (even though he's thirteen and his friends go to that mall). At the Lego Store, Myles picked up a really cool Lego minifig of a court Jester and said, "Wasn't I a good kid during pictures? Do I get a treat?"

Did Myles get the minifig? Oh, yes he did. And I, I mean, Sydney, got one, too! Myles also at various points talked me into buying Turkish Delight (World Market apparently sells this stuff, although it is not enchanted and will not make someone more likely to do your bidding; wait, it did make Myles more likely to do my bidding; it worked!!!), cool flip up shades in neon pink to match the green ones he got, and more lemonade than he had any business drinking (he apparently has a lemonade limit -- we are working on a 12 step program right now).

One of the last things I wanted to do with Sydney before we left was take her to a park I played at as a kid. Both Jeremy and Danielle vetoed my plan for Avenue A park, pointing out that it was sketchy at best when I was a kid and that was two decades ago. So instead, I took her to Bay Area Park.

I still wished I had gone to Avenue A (during the day, with Jeremy armed) because for the very same reason Bay Area was the right park to go to, it was the wrong park. It is a much, much, much nicer park in a much, much, much nicer part of town. But that means that they have had the money and the inclination to replace all of the old metal structures with new equipment. None of it looked familiar to me. But I could tell Sydney that it was a park that her daddy and I had both played at when we were kids, even if that slide behind her may be younger than she is.

Like I said, it was a really good visit with a lot of great family time. The nostalgia factor was overrated, but I think it often is, so I'll get over it in trade for fun new memories with cousins.