Back at home...

Well we made it to Texas and back. Did y'all miss us? ;-) I took all of your "flying with happy toddler" suggestions to heart and practically emptied the shelves at our local Target. We had so many incredibly fun toys and delicious snacks that before we left for the airport I cockily said "We are soooooo prepared. The girls aren't going to want to get OFF that plane." You know how when you're reading a novel and the heroine says something so stupid, so rich with foreshadowing, you just KNOW something bad is going to happen? Yeah... That. The flight out there was a disaster. Why didn't anyone whap me upside the head with a two-by-four and tell me to not, under any circumstances, separate the family and fly in two different rows? Our magic goody-filled carryon bags were useless in the face of that lame seat configuration. It was like trying to hold onto the tails of two tornadoes heading in opposite directions. We were exhausted and bruised (and at least one of us, um possibly me, was unforgivably cranky) by the end of that flight. Oh well, if you're not learning you're not living, right? The return flight didn't have any 4-seat rows either, but we abandoned one seat and swapped around with a fellow passenger so we had 3 seats together. Ahhhhhhh. Worlds better. The girls amused each other, sat together in their one seat (instead of jumping on us), deigned to look at the toys we brought this time, and we could even get up and go to the bathroom (a wild luxury not even attempted on the flight out there). The wedding festivities were fun, fun, fun -- the reception was an awesome Texas BBQ in a huge open barn. (Congratulations T & R!) We loved seeing all eight of the little cousins together (probably almost as much as they loved being together). And it was so great to spend time with the whole family. The girls tried to do everything their "big" cousins did, loved running down the hotel halls and getting on the elevators, scarfed down extra-moist brisket at a real Texas BBQ, boisterously rode a toy horse, and got as many hugs as they could from Granddaddy and Grandmama. They had a ball. Two of my favorite kid quotes from the trip were cousin Matthew sitting next to Ro in the breakfast room saying "Can you say 'salsa'? Can you say 'barbeque'?" And tiny Peyton waving me away at the reception and saying in her adorable Texas drawl "I'll catch Rosie coming down the slide, every mother needs a break." Too cute! The trip was much too short, that's one thing I'd change next time around. We wanted to spend so much more time with everyone. Oh and we forgot nightlights. Whoooooeeeeeee, don't ever do that, that's all I'm going to say on that subject. Thanks to the whole Texas clan for a wonderful time. Ro and Ree loved seeing you all and we can't wait for the next time. Click the image below to see a page with a few captioned pictures from the trip: or click here to see an auto slideshow (without captions). Sorry I didn't take very many pictures, I wanted to spend as much time as I could with the family and figured I'd just beg everyone for copies of their pictures later.