At Grandma's

Currently I am sitting on the back patio of my parents' house, listening to old Adventures in Odyssey on CASSETTE TAPE with my husband and grown-up siblings. Yep, we are. :)

It's been a great week enjoying some time off with my family. Now that all four of us "kids" are no longer kids, it's only a couple times a year that we get to all be together. What has been specially fun for me is coming back to my parents' place as a mom and watching my own kids have as much fun as I remember having at my grandma's house as a kid. Unlike my grandma, my parents live in the city, but my mom has still managed to create (probably without even realizing it) the same kind of experiences for my kids that I remember having at my grandma's house. These are some of them:

Great food: Nothing like homemade Mexican rice and beans! And tonight my mom is making one of my favorites - banana pudding! When I was little, my grandma would always make homemade tortillas, fill them with a soft creamy cheese called "requezon" and roll them up for us kids. My mouth still waters every time I think of those!

The animals: My grandma used to have chickens, peacocks, turkeys, cows, dogs, cats, birds and deer...yes, deer. My parents only have dogs, which I'm thankful for...they don't need more animals! But the way my son begs to go see the dogs outside every time he hears them bark reminds me of us begging our aunts to take us to see the chickens. My brother also has several fish in a large tank...a favorite with my son as well.

The pool: Nothing like it in the hot Mexican summers. Last night we had so many inflatable mats and rafts in the pool (which isn't very big), you could hardly see the water!

Plants and flowers: everywhere! I remember following my grandma around her yard checking on the progress of her oranges, limes, avocados and coconuts. This year, my mom has grown a papaya plant, a grape vine, a lime tree, chili plants and many beautiful flowers.

The hammocks: endless entertainment for us as kids, and my grandma used to lullaby us to sleep in them. As I write, my kids are experiencing their first swings in my mom's hammock.

And some extras that my grandma didn't have:
The trampoline...not every kid has a grandma who likes to jump on a trampoline!
And the wall-to-wall bookshelf, full of all kinds of books for kids (young and old) to enjoy.

These and many more are the delights that we are enjoying together as a family this week. And more than any of this is the fact that we are so blessed to not just be family, but friends. It's not always easy to find like-minded friends and people who love and support everything you are...we are extremely blessed to have that in each other.