Hot as it’s been here on Coronado, it’s even hotter and more miserable inland, where my nephew Mike and his family live in the Poway area: temperatures around and over 100 degrees. This afternoon they came to visit with us, Mike and his wife Kristen, and their boys Nathaniel (5), Matthew (3), and William, who is less than 2 months old.

The older boys are very busy! Their Grandpa Steve has infected them with a consuming love of trains, and they brought with them trains that they played with on the RV dashboard, little palm-sized trains that seemed almost like extensions of their hands.

Almost as soon as they got here, Patrick took the boys and Mike over to the marina and rented a Boston Whaler power boat to take them out for several hours on the bay, where it’s much cooler and there are lots of interesting things to see along the water.

Meanwhile, Kristen and I sat in the air-conditioned motorhome and visited while of course she was caring for baby William.

She and I had met several times before but only briefly, so it was nice to relax and chat and get to know one another. When the men and boys got back, the action revved up again and I got to hold William while Patrick grilled some hot dogs and various things got taken care of – so much to do with a family of young children!

I gave William the quilt that I just finished for him, an original design of mine but in the same blues and greens as the quilts I had made for Nathaniel and William when they were babies.

I know it was a lot of work for them to get the family underway and down to visit us, so we really appreciated the effort and had a wonderful time with them. We look forward to seeing them again when we’re down here next January.