Week with Jonny

It seems to me that the polar bear is loving Ben, almost looks like he is giving him a smooch!


For dinner on the last night here, Jonny picked the place. Out of any restaurant, he said
that he would love "Hy-vee Chinese" - so here they are!


Kate and Jon had a great time playing a new game called "horse race", they were playing down in the fort that they had built earlier that day.


walking thru the caves in the "night"section of the desert dome at the Omaha Zoo

these 3 monkeys are seeing how they match up some monkey posters in the gorilla house

On Sunday when we left Grand Island, I had asked both of my nephews, William and Jon if they would like to come spend a few days with us in West Des Moines. William declined the offer (but we are hoping that he wants to next time) and Jon was very eager to say "YES!" We were all so excited to have him along, he is such an amazing kid. A nephew is defined as simply, "the son of his/her brother, sister, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law", but he is so much more than that to me. I feel so blessed to have eight nephews, but this was the first time that I have gotten to spend such quality time with one of them, and it was so wonderful. Jon is not only an adorable, 8 1/2 year old blue-eyed boy, but truly an amazing little soul! Often times you will find him just bursting with enthusiasm, wishing that you had some of the energy that he has. Then the next moment, you will be cracking up at something that he has said, observing him offering to help Ben or Kate with something, asking me to make him more math problems to work on (-:, thanking me for the meal that was prepared, or soaking in each and every last word of our meal and bedtime prayers ( this by far was my favorite part), the entire time just watching the little wheels in his head memorizing more and more each day. I love how God just works his way into people's lives, especially all of his children......

Our first night we had a slumber party at Aunt Wendi's in Omaha, then we all headed to the zoo on Monday. It was horribly HOT....but Doug and the kids did great the enitre time (-:, and of course, I was in heaven. I absolutely love the ZOO!!! When we got in the van to head back to Des Moines, we were amazed at the thermostat as it had reached 100+ - YIKES!! Grabbed a bite to eat and then arrived home a few hours later. After that, we spent most of our days at the pool, the bowling alley, playing games, baseball, and just enjoying every minute of having Jon here with us for the week.

I have such wonderful memories of fun times with all of my cousins growing up, and I hope and pray that we created some of those for him that week as well.

Thank-you Jonny for spending time with us, we all loved having you here and wish that you could have stayed longer! XOXOXOXO -- Aunt Keri