Forever Friends

This past week Jackson's absolute favorite people of all time paid him a visit in his very own town. Mara y Luisiana aka 'las gemelas' (the twins) drove all the way from El Paso just to see our little lion cub! 

Well, kind of. They went to San Antonio for the weekend but came up all day Friday to hang out with their favorite person, Jackson and to check if James was still around (this is what they told me and it turns out James was/is still, in fact, around). 

I decided it would be best if we had a Jackson-only day so that he could feel extra special that he was not only skipping school and going to the Thinkery but that he had a surprise waiting for him there! Plus I don't think James minded, he told us he was going to relax and take it easy at home. 

Jackson asked me over and over what his surprise was and as soon as we walked in he saw the girls' mom, Claudia. Jackson stopped dead in his tracks and was completely blind sided. He looked at her, looked at me, looked back at her and said, "Hola Tia Claudia! Y las gemelas???!!?!" He looked and looked and they came running towards him to give him a hug and he was floored. It was so awesome. 

   

Ten minutes into them playing together Jackson came up to me and said, "Momma, I am SO happy". It was the sweetest thing ever. 

We spent a few hours at the Thinkery and then decided to go to lunch downtown so we could show the girls Austin. They told us they had never been before and that they really liked it so far. We drove by UT, (where Jackson explained to the girls we say TEXAS....FIGHT!) the Capitol, (where Jackson told the girls his Tia Jo lives) went over Congress bridge, (where Jackson told the girls the bats fly out) and ended up eating at Perla's (where Jackson insisted on eating waffles because he's only ever been there during brunch). Turns out this kid is one heck of a tour guide eh?     

The girls in turn were very impressed. After lunch we grabbed ice cream at Amy's and tried on lots of sunglasses while waiting in line...

 

And after ice cream I had to get home to my James so I told Claudia I'd take the girls with me so she could run errands and shop in peace. I had to get back--I don't like making either boys wait too long for me. Mom guilt I guess...

Once home the girls were thrilled to see where Jackson lives and immediately asked to see his room. They said they LOVED Jackson and James' rooms and that I 'did a good job'. It was a great compliment! As you can tell James was excited about our visitors as well...

 The remainder of the afternoon/night the three older kids spent playing non-stop with all of Jackson's toys and dinosaurs (they are HUGE dinosaur fanatics as well). Turns out these girls are the best unpaid babysitters I have ever had. They mind their manners, don't eat anything, don't drink anything, ask before doing anything and are very neat and organized. My kind of people.

Best of all I don't think Jackson even noticed I was in the room much less asked for me (NEVER happens) which made it soooooo easy to feed, play with and even bathe James without anyone wanting to 'help' all the time.

Claudia showed up around 7 to fetch the girls and head back to San Antonio. I told her they were such good help and Jackson loves them so much. I really wish they lived here because they make our cub so happy but alas, they live in El Paso. Until next time gemelas, which will be soon enough!