Going To Lola's House

The kids expect certain things when we visit my Mom and Dad. Eric expects to get "rice soup". Natalie expects to get salmon. All the kids expect lots of food, especially mangoes. When we arrived last Friday evening, Eric and Natalie immediately sat down at their dining table to eat.

Anthony just expects food--any kind of food, but especially some type of meat. Here he is eating some barbecue. Notice the earphones around his neck that he didn't bother putting away first before sitting down to eat. In the car on the way to Houston, he was truly multi-tasking. I snapped a picture of him (not shown here) with the earphones in his ears that were also attached to his iPod. He also had his laptop open so he could do some homework. Luckily for him, he doesn't suffer from the same motion sickness that strikes the members of my immediate family. He also had his phone so he could text his friends at the same time he was doing the other stuff.

I caught Alex mid-blink here, but he had the same blank stare that is on Patrick's face. They were both mesmerized by the TV and the Ghost Whisperer show that was on at the time (one of my parents' favorite shows). Alex is eating some "rice soup" at the same time.

I took the rest of these pictures on Sunday morning. I found it interesting that Natalie jumped at the chance to help her Lola water her plants. That yellow object in her hand is a squash that she helped Lola pick. She also helped pick some green beans. Notice that she is wearing jean shorts and a T-shirt. She was going to wear this to the Mother's Day brunch. When I asked her to change into the purple T-shirt/skorts outfit that she had packed, she refused, saying that she hated the color "purple". I don't know why she packed that outfit if she hates the color "purple", and I don't know why she picked out that purple outfit when we were at Target several months ago. She has also worn that outfit many times. This is why nowadays, I don't try to buy her clothes when she isn't with me. She ended up wearing the same dress she wore all day the day before. *SIGH*

Notice the Thomas PJs that Eric is wearing outside. Lola bought these for him along with another matching set. She also bought him some Thomas swim shorts and presented all of them to him on Friday night when we arrived. He loved them, of course. Notice that he is also wearing sandals. I've been pleasantly surprised that he has chosen to wear these exclusively since I bought them from the Gap a couple of weeks ago (and not his usual socks/sneakers). It's just as well since the weather here has turned quite hot (up to the 90s). Lastly, notice the large Thomas train that he is trying to balance in his arms. Yes, he dragged this pull-toy outside with him. I think this used to be my nephew's but now it's at Lola's house for Eric to play with whenever he visits. He even slept with it at the foot of his bed while we were there.

I love photos like this that are taken from behind. (Are you reading this, Catherine?) This is just my mom spending some time with her grandkids and enjoying it. The feeling was mutual.

I'll try to post some other miscellaneous photos in the next day or so.