New Year in Texas

December 29th

Reading books en route to Abilene. Alana did okay on the flights, but there were a couple of melt-down moments. I guess that comes with having a toddler. 

When we arrived in Abilene, we enjoyed a yummy dinner prepared by the Blansingames (my dad's sister and her family). We didn't expect we'd see them, so it was a nice surprise. We even got to meet Amelia, my cousin Josh's baby. Of course we visited with my grandparents too. They were the stars of the visit after all and we hadn't seen them in a long time. I'm so glad Alana got to meet them and spend time with them. Thank you to the Peterson's for letting us stay at their lovely, spacious, and comfortable home!

December 30th

We stayed busy getting groceries at Walmart, visiting, and getting Alana acquainted with not only her great grandma and grandpa but also with the pets in the house. She was apprehensive of the dogs at first (Jack Jack and my parent's dog Jumper) but didn't mind them by the time we left and even petted Jack Jack. She loved Fetch the cat immediately and called him "Mao".

Alana and Jack Jack

Alana and "Mao"

We also made progress on grandma's puzzle

One of the most touching parts of this visit was watching grandpa take care of grandma. Every day, grandma exercised by walking several laps around the house.  Grandpa would lead the way and grandma was close behind with her walker.  Even Alana wanted to join, so hand-in-hand, we followed.  As we began walking, grandpa said we'd have to excuse him because he likes to sing to grandma while they walk. He started singing "Till the End of Time" followed by "Return to Me". I was really moved by the lyrics of the first song and could barely hold back tears. For those of you who don't know, my grandma has Alzheimer's and needs help with most daily tasks that she can no longer do for herself or remember to do for herself.  Seeing grandpa lovingly and patiently take care of her and then hear him sing these beautiful words to her was very touching -- what an example of unconditional love.

Till the End of Time - Lyrics

Till the end of time, long as stars are in the blue

Long as there's a Spring of birds to sing I'll go on loving you

Till the end of time, long as roses bloom in May

My love for you will grow deeper with every passing day

Till the wells run dry and each mountain disappears

I'll be there for you to care for you through laughter and through tears

So take my heart in sweet surrender and tenderly say that I'm

The one you love and live for till the end of time

December 31st - New Year's Eve

We enjoyed more puzzle time, we explored, ate Chinese takeout (grandpa's treat), and played Dominos after dinner. By the way, who would have thought we'd have a white New Year in Texas of all places and this picture just shows the start of it. 

After dinner and before we played games, we took a picture with grandma and grandpa in their apartment. 

Their apartment is very nice. A seamless addition to the Peterson home. I envisioned a separate unit, but their places are attached and one can actually enter the apartment from the house and vice versa. It looks like one house from the outside. 

Alana had fun playing in the famous heart-shaped tub. This seems to be a big hit with every kid who visits Uncle Dempsey and Aunt Terri! 

January 1st - 2nd

We were supposed to leave for home in the early morning on the 1st, but our flight was canceled due to weather as were all other flights on the 1st and 2nd. After realizing we wouldn't get out of Abilene until the 3rd at the earliest, we decided to drive to Austin where it hadn't been snowing and stay the night with Wilson and Tanya and fly home from there.  We left after lunch, which was great because we had time to finish the puzzle!

Four generations

All done with the puzzle!  Grandma was impressed that there were no missing pieces.

The roads were bad on our way to Austin... 

...but we made it, and enjoyed catching up with my sister and her family. The kids warmed up quickly to each other.  They played Ring Around the Roses...

They tackled "Uncle Andree", as Jonas called him :)

And they read books.

The next day, we ate a delicious breakfast and played outside.

We also attempted to get a cousin picture, but Alana was not interested.

So, we started finding everyone's noses, thinking that might get her in the right mood...

...but she still wasn't interested. 

Ally had a great idea of giving Alana some sun glasses, and although we lost Jonas, I'm happy to have this picture of everyone else smiling :)

  

Happy New Year!