A Great Big Thank You

Sorry to leave you all hanging with my sarcastic tribute to San Antonio…I’ve spend the last 24 hours prepping for and then hosting my son’s 5th birthday…(How did he end up being 5 already)?  But, I’ll save that for another post… one involving sinister villains, and superheroes…be sure to come back next week for that one! 

I do want to clarify, that even though we did spend 4 hours in the urgent care facility, we did have a great time in San Antonio.  My son thoroughly loved the Alamo (he even asked for an Alamo GI Joe set for his birthday so he could be Davey Crockett only when he played the good guys would win) ( I had to tell him no such set exists to my knowledge).  We rode the river boats and visited the Children’s Museum.  I hope that my posts from our vacation have not given you the wrong impression.  I have not meant to come across as whiny, in my attempt to keep it real.  I just wanted to be truthful, and the the truth is we did have a great time, but we also had some moments that were, well less than great…

But, one thing is for certain, and that is the hospitality we received in Texas, was out of this world.  We had the wonderful opportunity to stay with family at the beginning and end of our trip.  This was a huge blessing and provided some of the highlights of our entire vacation. 

My sister in law and brother in law in El Paso truly helped to get our vacation off to a great start.  When we arrived we were greeted with a package of chap stick and a huge bottle of lotion, which we used the entire time in Texas…you don’t know dry weather till you’ve been to the  south west.  There is dry and then there is desert dry.  

My BIL played games with the kids and answered 101 army questions from my son even after getting up for PT at 5:30 am and working all day. 

 

My preggo SIL was constantly lending a hand whenever she could…be it sitting up with my daughter at 4 in the morning, taking the kids to park so we could repack and prepare for our 4 day camping adventure, taking me grocery shopping, helping us find a pharmacy, or making our favorite foods.  I owe her BIG TIME and can’t wait for the chance to spoil my little nephew and give his parents a much needed helping hand, when they come my way next fall.  You can read about our visit from her perspective here.  Thanks guys, we owe you BIG TIME and love you tons! Your oldest niece talked about her time at Uncle Jim and Aunt Karen’s for the rest of the trip (and she LOVES your trashcan that you can open with your foot). 

At the end of our trip, Scott’s cousins took us in for 3 days and nights.   We showed up tired and sick and with our children’s sleep/eating schedules completely out of whack.  Somehow in switching from ET to MT to CT, we ended up getting our children on PT.  (Seriously, they were up till 10 and sleeping in till 9).   It was great to have a few days of having them go to bed on time, take naps and eat at normal times.   It really helped our transition home to go much smoother.  When we arrived they told us to consider this time our vacation from our vacation and to make ourselves at home.  We were treated to outstanding, kid friendly cuisine (again we were making a preggo woman wait on us) which totally hit the spot.  We were able to worship with them at their church on Easter Sunday and the kids had a blast searching for eggs and devouring their chocolate bunnies.  (They even got bunnies for our kids since they knew we wouldn’t have time).

The kids truly enjoyed playing with their cousins and are already begging to go back.  Scott and I have always clicked well with his cousin and his wife and we appreciated the time we were able to spend together.  They told us next time we are in El Paso, to be sure to swing by Houston again to see them!!  

I was truly touched and blown away by the hospitality we received from both sets of family members.  They both went out of their way to make us feel at home and to meet our needs.  They didn’t even bat an eye at the circus and all it’s mess and sickness and crankiness.  They showered us with love, willingly gave us whatever we needed (including lending us their GPS for the trip and giving up their Nyquil and other cold meds so we could sleep well) and fed us very well.  I felt welcomed and cared about and comfortable to be myself.  I hope that when I have guests at my home, I can make them feel the same way.  It was a true lesson in good ol’ southern hospitality! 

Thanks guys!  We love you!!!

**This concludes my series of posts on our TX vacation…next week it is back home at the circus life…never a dull moment here with laundry and birthday parties and baseball games.  Thanks for sharing our journey with us!  Hope I didn’t overload you with pictures and anecdotes.**