Early Wednesday morning I received a call from my sister Stephanie in Houston. With forecasters warning of Hurricane Rita’s approach and experiencing firsthand the increasing panic of fellow Houstonians at the bank, gas station and grocery store, she wisely decided to pack up the twins and head north to Dallas. Her husband Al was already in Dallas on what he was expecting to be a daytrip for business. He headed over to my house, and we anxiously waited to hear Steph’s progress.
We were hoping Steph would get as far as Waco, but the highways were already getting clogged with the millions fleeing the impending storm. She decided to head west towards Lexington and our aunt’s house instead. A trip that usually takes 1 ½ to 2 hours took 8.
Thursday morning, Steph headed north again. It took her another 8-9 hours to get to Dallas (this trip usually takes 3 ½ hours). By this time, I had left, travelling on business to Pittsburgh. But Al was at my house to welcome his family. He had gone shopping and stocked my pantry and fridge with all their favorite foods.
When I arrived home from the airport on Friday, it was so nice to come home to Stephanie in my kitchen and two precious little ones playing in my backyard! Steph and Al were very appreciative and thanked me for opening my home and apologized for the “invasion,” but I didn’t mind. I enjoy my home’s solitude and quiet, but sometimes it gets lonely.
Paige and Graham are talking so much now, and they sing! Paige especially enjoys singing. Al and I took them to the park near my house and took bread to feed the ducks nearby. On our way back, I was carrying Paige, and I started singing “Twinkle, twinkle little star.” She joined right in with her sweet high voice.
Graham is still a charmer. He has a devilishly handsome grin, and he gave me lots of kisses. He enjoyed strumming Grandad’s guitar (he calls it “pittar"). Paige is slower to warm to people, but my heart soared when she scooted her body to lean against me as we were watching Dora. And on Saturday, when we went to the mall for lunch, she called out my name and grabbed my hand.
Now my house is quiet again. I am putting things back in their proper place (my house wasn’t exactly toddler-proof), although I still haven’t found my tea cozy…
6 comments:
Oh Emily I bet you were so relieved that they were ok. Your dad just emailed me about their trip over, it sounded so stressful. It seems like you really enjoyed their visit though, Paige and Graham are so cute, you are such a loving aunty to them.
I'm glad you had a good visit with everybody!
When Graham was over at my house, he sand ALMOST the whole rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" on the phone to Nana.
VERY CUTE! He's such a charmer!
Usually Paige takes awhile to get used to me, but she went right to me and smiled - when I picked her up.
Very sweet.
I must say, under the circumstances, the kids were AWESOME!!!!!!! I know they each had their moments.....but I couldn't believe how well-behaved they were!
I'm still finding toys around the house....little reminders of my sweet cousins. =)
Love-Bevie-
ooopppsss mis-spelled said....
SAID, NOT SAND!!!!! hheee heeee
Love-Bevie
Oh, I'm sorry Em, I think I stuck the cozy in with the hotpads.
Thanks for all your hospitality. Paige and Graham are still talking about "beenie beenie" (Sabrina, the cat)
Glad to gear everyone is OK.
I'm glad to hear that you sister and her family got out of Houston ok Em. My cousin and her family took the opposite route and stayed in Houston! They saw the traffic and did not want to get caught on the open road, so they hunkered down with three other families in their neighborhood (Rice University area) and rode it out. Lucky for them and for us, the worst of the storm missed them.
Sometimes its nice to have unexpected visitors, huh?
Hope all is well with you.
GSB
PS. Great blog site!
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