Kiona

She has been my constant companion since May 10. Her visit is drawing to a close and I am beginning to miss her and she hasn't gone yet.
We went to the beach today  and it was great. We took a break from the fun in the sun, and had lunch at Yaga's in Galveston. We went there as we were fleeing the rainstorm .the story goes, we just laid out all our stuff on the beach and within about 10 minutes it was only too apparent that the sudden storm was going to be a big one. We packed up and went to visit Tim and then enjoy a relaxing lunch at Yaga's. I love the architecture of the old homes there. It is odd to see Galveston after Ike raged through. There are so many fantastic old houses there but it seems like so many did survive. I love those houses.Tim lives in one and the ceilings are so delightfully high- like in Iquique, Chile. It makes the house so cool. I did notice that  Moody mansion survived the great Galveston Hurricane in theearly 1900's that really wiped out the city and got them all busy making the Sea wall. If it hadn't of been there, maybe Ike would have been just as bad.
Anyway, there are so many really wonderful and amazing things about Kiona. She is an artist with talent, a singer, a great poodle groomer, She loves to cook for others. I don't think that I have ever seen an 11 year old that loved to make salads like she does. She also reads all the labels on stuff. She especially picks out anything with corn syrup in it and cleaned my cabinets of anything containing  that offending substance.
She got a haircut while here and made a pineapple upside down cake for Lolli. She loves Pizza and Sprite. She respects her moms caution about soft drinks however.
She is helping to train the dogs and my two poodles seem to have formed an attachment to her so that they seem to think she's cool.
She likes videos and to her Grandpa's delight, one of her favorites is The Ultimate Gift. She also loves Story Keepers, The life of Paul and the Story of John. She can watch Veggie Tales all day. She was sick for a few days and they kept her quiet in bed! She does think deeply about spiritual principles and has good training from her mom in dad.
She loves to swim as enjoyed Peach Creek as much as the Goldens do..
I am just so thankful they will be moving closer to us. With the way my Grandkids grow,  if the visits are too far apart, I run the risk of not recognizing them. They grow so fast.
Maya and Tim, thanks for letting us have her for such a long visit! It has been a blessing. I am so sorry that she will arrive home tired and off schedule. I let her stay up way too late and I am sure you will hear about all my other grandmotherly lenient ways. Oh well, how can I help myself. You know the saying about old gray mares.... Oh right, she does want me to get busy and dye my hair. How about a new saying about the artificially brown mares?