Deep in the Heart of Texas

I'm not quite sure, but I think I may have spent as much time in the car these past two days as I did on the airplane. My trip here was uneventful. I left Michigan at noon on Saturday when it was cold & rainy. I arrived in Texas when it was dark and 80. I definitely traded up, if you ask me. My dad, Brenda & Ryan were waiting for me so that was nice. As I predicted, I'm quite confident in saying Ryan has less hair when I saw him last summer. But lucky for me, the balding jokes never get old.

We got to Seguin late on Saturday, had dinner and called it a night. Yesterday (Sunday) we drove about 2.5 hours to see my cousin Maria and her family in Burnet, TX. We traded the flat dry land of Seguin for the hilly, dry land of Burnet. BUT, Maria lives within a 2 minute walk of Lake Buchanan which is like 30 miles long. My Uncle Roy decided to pull his boat out and took us out for a good 2 hour boat ride. Seeing as though my white skin hasn't seen an ounce of sun since August, I decided to stay under the canopy and enjoy the ride. It was great - the things that vacation is made of! The water was cool, the air was breezy and best of all Maria's adorable son Jesse (he's 4) sat in my lap the whole time. About 10 minutes into the boat ride he was dying to go on, he fell asleep in my lap. It was so cute :) Afterward we had dinner with the family and ventured back to Seguin, getting home late last night. It's surprising how much easier a 2.5 hour car ride is when you aren't driving it!

Today we dropped Ryan off at the bus station in San Antonio. He is taking a bus with his buddy Jeff down to Mexico to go climbing for the week. Of course everyone is worried sick about him, but that's just the way Ryan lives his life. As of now we haven't heard from him, so I would take it that means he crossed the border successfully!

My dad has dialysis on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for about 3 hours each day. He's such a trooper about it too...he's been doing this for over 3 years now, faithfully. Anyway, Brenda & I dropped him off and he told her to take me shopping. So we hit up JCPenney's where I got some new shirts and a pair of capris. I seriously think the last time my dad took me shopping was when I was 13 so I had to soak it up, but not overly abuse it either. I will forever have the benefit in my family of being the youngest & only girl :)

Tomorrow we are venturing into San Antonio again for a doctor's appointment my dad has. He said after that we will spend some time at the Marketplace which I am dying to return to. Two years ago I bought this beautiful, brightly painted ceramic cross for my house in one of the stores and I would like to invest in another one. And who knows, maybe I will buy my rugrat nephews some souveniors too.

I think I'm likely the only one whose time change isn't kicking her butt. I gained an hour coming to Texas, but lost it so it's like I'm still on Michigan time. That's likely why it's 934 PM here and I feel like I should be getting ready for bed!

My ov's have been a pain - especially today - but I am not dwelling on that. I come to Texas but once a year, and I have desperately needed a break from UMF. I'm going to enjoy every single painful and pain free moment here.

Word to your mother, yo.