My Parents Visit Texas

My mother and father flew down from Virginia for a visit at the beginning of February. Anna was in heaven with her grandparents being here. We made sure to get out a little bit, let them taste the local cuisine and such. The men worked on the backyard and my mom helped me get started on another quilt. Those two sure know how to stay busy.

Dinner in Gruene

Isaac kept us busy too. He decided to learn how to walk while they were here. He’d been working on standing for a while but was eager to learn how to use his feet. Meme held his hand or hands and would walk him around the room. Pop Pop did a great job encouraging/teasing him with toys as incentive to take one more step. It is so great to see Isaac take such control of his body.

Anna kept Meme busy with playdoh and puzzles. They were always imagining something new, having a tea party or a rodeo. Anna loves to play with her grandmother.

My dad needed to try some Texas brisket barbecue. We took them out Friday night for an adventure at Two Bros. We really enjoyed scrumptious food, my dad couldn’t get enough of their sauce. I liked that it was so laid back and kid-friendly. Afterwards we couldn’t pass up an excuse to try out our local liquid nitrogen-chilled ice cream shop. It was an experience for sure. Neither Anna nor Isaac could get enough of watching the chilling process, and touching the vapor coming out of the bowls.

Jacob brought home a tree for a hole we had in our landscaping. My dad helped him plant it. The weather was so great to be in the backyard. Then they took a look at the beam holding up our back porch roof. We had noticed some rotting a while back but haven’t known how to handle it. With my dad’s, um, confidence, the two of them investigated the issue (beat up my poor rotted post) then proceeded to fix it over the course of two days. Jacob was ecstatic to get out all his toys: saw, sander, router, etc. For part of the project my roof was being held up by our Toyota Yaris’s tire jack. But my awesome men got the job done beautifully. And it is literally better than brand new.

Isaac was dying to get out there and help out with all the power tools. He watched them all afternoon.

We liked showing them around town. We made the best of a beautiful day and toured an outdoor mall we have here, La Cantera. Anna was very well behaved in all the fancy shops. And Jacob bought her a cool superhero book that she won’t put down. She keeps telling us she is Diana Prince working in Washington D.C. and then wooshing around the house whipping around her lasso of truth.

The lasso obsession might have a second source. The coincidence of my parents and the rodeo being in town at the same time was not to be squandered and we got tickets to see the huge big deal professional San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. Our adventure there was easily the highlight of the entire trip. We first chased a very excited Anna around the fairgrounds exposing her to the carnival. She rode a pony and yee-hawed her way around the ride whipping her pretend lasso. She was a pinch disappointed she didn’t get the horse named Dash (their names were on their saddle blankets) but that didn’t keep her from loving the cowgirl life for a bit. Then my big girl wanted to ride the big ferris wheel, oh boy was I un-excited about that. But my 3 year old girl was plenty big enough for all the rides and she chose that as a daddy-daughter date. It was so sweet seeing them go around but I would of course worry when I saw her little hand come over the side or, you know, whenever I breathed. Then she picked the caterpillar roller coaster. Let me tell you I thought for sure her father was going on it with her but when he left her up there on the ride alone and came down from the platform I didn’t know what to do. First I hollered nervously at the ride operator when he passed by Anna and didn’t put her bar down, then all I could do was let her be. She was great, excited, happy, and loved the whole thing. And we both grew up a little during that 1-minute ride.

I really enjoyed the rodeo. My mom and I fell in love with Texas when we traveled to Amarillo for a basketball tournament when I was 13. We rode horses through a canyon and visited the quarter horse museum. I mean, even their plays had horses in them. So being back in a horse-centered entertainment venue was a little nostalgic but also just really really fun to watch. The athletes were so impressive. And the kids mutton-busting and calf-scrambling were hilarious. Anna loved the ladies sparkly outfits or alternatively that the barrel racers horses’ socks matched the girls outfits. Isaac clapped for everyone just like we were doing. We all had so so much fun at the rodeo!

And before we knew it, the time had come for them to head back home. We are so grateful that they came down for a visit. It was such a special week having them here. My parents flew out early in the morning, before the kids were even up. Later in the day Anna observed, “today is like the saddest day because Meme and Pop Pop had to leave.”