Worlds of Wonderment

 Our grandkids arrived from Brooklyn on December 26 and flew home again on December 31. After a fun-filled, busy, and — for us old people — fairly exhausting round of activities all over Houston, I came home from the airport yesterday, took a nap, and vegged out for the rest of 2025. Thus, my last blog post of 2025 has become my first blog post of 2026.

 An 8-year-old boy (Gabe) and a 12-year-old girl (Felix) seemed like a pretty safe bet for an unaccompanied holiday trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. They are not toddlers who get into everything, they can manage their own personal needs, and they are excellent communicators most of the time. Piece of cake.

 Because of the kids, Michael and I explored worlds of wonderment that old folks rarely visit. One day, we went to Artechouse, an immersive art and technology environment that was tremendously fascinating and fun, especially the interactive exhibits.

 One night, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston’s holiday program at Bayou Bend, a gorgeous estate that was decked out with what looked like a million lights and lots of activities for families. I particularly liked the building that came to life through the magic of video technology. The animated antics were very realistic, even though you knew they were impossible.

 We took several shopping trips to various locales where the kids spent their Christmas money. I have permission to walk in my boot, but the outlet mall sorely overtaxed me and I may have gotten a little crabby about all the walking. The kids did find good stores, though, like Earth’s Ology, where they bought rocks and uncut gemstones for their collections.

 During their five days here, we also managed pizza night and a game night with Aunt Alix and Uncle Adam. And we saw the new Spongebob Squarepants movie, my first opportunity to actually experience the Spongebob phenomenon. Wow. I had NO idea what I was missing — but I’m totally okay with continuing to miss it.

 At home, we had several distractions that fascinated the kids. Number one: Frankie, the elderly cat I wrote about earlier this year. Although Frankie has blossomed from totally timid to almost outgoing in the year since his housemate Baby died, he is still quite reluctant to meet new people, especially children. (Our toddler grandson AJ terrorized him on a regular basis the six months he lived here.)

 Felix and Gabe are nice kids and did not terrorize Frankie except for the fact that they were breathing in his vicinity. The administration of excessive treats persuaded him to accept the calm petting Felix bestowed on him. Gabe got in a little petting, too, but he’s allergic to cats, so not very much.

 What Gabe got that THRILLED him was guns — toy guns, to be clear — a shotgun and a kind of Gatling gun/pistol combo. Why do we have two such toys, you might ask? A gift from Alix and Adam years ago, they were intended as an encouragement to playfulness.

 We never really warmed up to the idea of gunfights, though. We did shoot them for the cats, who loved chasing the nerf bullets, but, as cats do not fetch, hunting bullets all over the house quickly lost its appeal. We put them in a game cupboard and forgot about them. Gabe found them seemingly within minutes of arriving at our house.

 In between all these activities, the kids played various loud and raucous games that may have been tag. They spent some time outdoors, a relief for old ears, and Gabe was delightfully willing to fetch mail and the newspaper for his hobbled old Grandma.

Electronics filled in empty spots, with Gabe playing on our antiquated Wii system and Felix on her tablet. Those were the only quiet moments and I’m glad there weren’t too many of them.

We had fun with the kids and are very glad they visited us. Last year they came with their parents and that was nice, too. We’ll have to see what next year brings. In the meantime, happy New Year to you all!

Ciao