The Toy Closet

We have a toy closet. It takes up two-thirds of the closet in the front bedroom. Many of the toys are ones I kept that belonged to our sons when they were growing up. Other toys we've added along the way for our older grandchildren. I think there is plenty to keep all ages busy.

This morning I introduced our youngest grandbaby to The Toy Closet. She is ALMOST walking but manages to get anywhere she wants to go by crawling very skillfully and confidently. Until this morning we've always kept all the doors to the bedrooms and bathrooms closed when she was visiting so she could crawl all over and stay out of harm's way. This morning I left the door to the front bedroom open and let her follow me down the hall and into the room with The Toy Closet. It was fun watching her explore. Before she comes again, I need to rearrange the closet some and move all the toys that are appropriate for her down on her level so she can help herself.

See the brown bear by her right foot. My Aunt Sarah gave that to us several years ago. When you squeeze his paws, feet, and ears, he quotes a Bible verse. Of course, Little Bit didn't know what the bear was saying, but she thought it was funny to have it "talking" to her!
~Nancy~

Friendship

My dad had a great group of friends when he attended Abilene Christian College and they have always continued to keep in touch through the years. They have rejoiced with each other during happy times and also grieved during sad times. This past February 18th, the ones who could make the trip traveled to Fort Worth for a day of visiting.

Lunch at El Fenix is always a good choice!

Looking through yearbooks and old letters.

It had been two years since they were all together and had a great afternoon catching up with each other.

After dessert, Dad got out his fiddle and played a few tunes.

Then Marcene and I joined him for a few verses of "Beautiful Texas".

Chauffeurs for the day! (the daughters)

It was a fun day and ended with everyone hoping to be back next year...

All Aboard!

As mentioned in the preceding post, Mom came up for a visit and spent a week with us. During that time she got to see the newest great grandbaby Teagan, and to see in person how much great grandbaby Charlotte has grown since Christmas. On Friday, 2/25, I drove Mom home to New Braunfels (in her car). In exploring my options for a solo return to Dallas, I checked out the Amtrak train service. There was one train headed back to Dallas (on its way to Chicago!) the following day, Saturday. My sister Louise had previously ridden the Amtrak from Fort Worth to New Braunfels (actually, the nearest "stop" was in San Marcos, very close by) after seeing her daughter Heather through the first week or so of motherhood with Teagan, so that she could visit with our mom.

Given I had plenty of time on Saturday, I opted to make my trip home on the Amtrak's "Texas Eagle". The price was definitely right at $29, which was but pittance compared to bus or airline fare. The drawback, of course, was the time it takes compared to driving one's self or flying. The tracks aren't good enough in most places to allow for faster speeds, so the journey is not the quickest. But, the amenities are nice with very large seats with multiple position settings and feet rests, etc. Each pair of seats had access to power plugs, so many on the train plugged in laptops or other electronic devices to watch movies or whatnot. I overheard one person ask if WiFi access to the internet was available, and the answer was "not yet." So, perhaps that will be an available feature in the near future. Personally, I plugged in my iPhone and watched our progress across the state of Texas using Google Maps and GPS, all the while listening to music from my digital library. The stops made on my segment included: San Marcos, Austin, Taylor, Temple, McGregor, Cleburne, Fort Worth, and finally Dallas.


Here are my brother-in-law, and my brother and sister-in-law seeing me off at the San Marcos station. The train arrived 7 minutes late, at 8:37.

Here is a shot out the window as we crossed Austin's Town Lake. The crossing is just west of where I35 crosses the lake. The Austin train station was just across the lake.

During the stop in Temple, I decided to grab me something to eat from the dining car. Choices for lunch included various sandwich flavors, burgers, pizza, and other items which were "microwave friendly." I don't know if the dinner menu offered actual "prepared" food or not, but for lunch, it was all pre-made. The cheeseburger I opted for was not bad, though not as good as a freshly prepared hamburger...

The train depot in Cleburne...

The Fort Worth skyline...

Travel between Fort Worth and Dallas paralleled I30 to the south. Here is a shot of the Dallas Cowboy's Stadium, between I30 and the train tracks...

As we were about to cross the Trinity River in Dallas, I got a good view of the giant "Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge" being constructed. This giant arch will have all the support suspension cables strung out each direction to support the road bed. (your government tax - and a lot of private - dollars at work...)

After crossing the Trinity, we turned to the south and came across the railroad bridge overlooking Dealy Plaza to the east. The curved road in the left of the picture is where Kennedy's car was located when he was shot...

The Amtrak train pulled into Union Station shortly after passing Dealy Plaza. I hopped off the Amtrak train, then crossed two sets of tracks and waited about 10 minutes for a Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail train to come along. This DART train then carried me to southern Plano to the stop at Hwy 75 and Bush Turnpike - some 6 or so miles from home. Nancy was waiting for me at that station and we toodled on home from there!

The ride was relaxing, and I spent most all my time looking at the countryside out the window and following along with where we were on my phone's GPS. The Amtrak train leg of the trip took about 6 3/4 hours, but the time passed pretty quickly - and I got to enjoy an experience I had never had in my long years on this earth!

Cheers,

Tom

Visiting

We enjoyed having Tom's mom in town last week. We were busy everyday in order to get all our visits in! Tom's sister had driven their mom up on a Friday then flew on home to Colorado the next day. She had been in Texas to celebrate the birth of her granddaughter by helping out the new mom for a few weeks. And, this was the main reason Tom's mom came to visit - meeting her newest Great-granddaughter!

Isn't she a doll? Just look at all that dark hair! Her name is Teagan. I'd never heard of that name before but within the first week of her birth I heard it twice! Where have I been?

We drove over to their house after Sunday lunch and spent the afternoon. Such a good visit! She was very co-operative and dozed off and on and let her great-grandmother cuddle with her for a very long time.

Of course, I had to take my turn... and count all her toes and fingers and tell her what a special little girl she is.
Thanks for having us! We enjoyed meeting your little girl (and visiting with you,too!!)!

Monday evening our son Mark, daughter-in-law Hattie, and their daughter Charlotte came for a venison supper and a few hours of visiting. We'd had Sunday lunch with them before heading over to meet Teagan, but it was at a restaurant and way too quick.

Tuesday we met Tom's cousin, Nancy, for lunch in historic downtown McKinney. Visiting with Nancy is always fun and after lunch we looked over her booths at an antique mall off the square. She and her husband are also in the process of renovating a house in the McKinney historical district that was built in the early 1900's. We drove by for a look see, but only from the car. We didn't get out since the workmen were working on leveling the foundation and we wouldn't have been able to enter the house. Can't wait to see how it turns out. Unfortunately, we didn't think to take any pictures while with Nancy.

Wednesday is Kindermusik day with our granddaughter. Charlotte enjoyed having her great-grandmother come and observe her class!On Thursday, Tom's cousin Dorothy came for an afternoon of visiting and catching up on all the family members. It's always a pleasure to spend time with Dorothy and hear all about her kids and grandkids.

Friday, Tom drove his mom home but detoured in the Georgetown area to have a leisurely lunch with cousin Glenn and his wife Elaine. Glenn always likes to tell us he is Tom's oldest living cousin!

We were so pleased Tom's mom felt like making the trip! What a blessing!
~Nancy~