Labor Day - Tour of South Texas

One of the "perks" of working for my firm is during the summer we get an extra day for each holiday weekend  (Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day). If you've ever worked in public accounting (or lived with someone who has) you'll understand why I used quotes there. Anyway, because I had Friday and Monday off we decided to head down to South Texas to spend some time with family that we don't get to see very often anymore. Plus Aunt Ashley was back from Hawaii and it was Grandpa's (Popo's) birthday weekend, so Nathan insisted that we go down.

We arrived Friday afternoon after a very hectic morning (I had not packed one single stitch of clothing yet, had to do 2 loads of laundry in order to have clothes to pack and had a conference call for work...Jimmy assisted by going for a run) but a very peaceful, uneventful drive down. Before I get in trouble for misrepresenting the events of the morning, I told Jimmy it was okay for him to go on his run and he did put the whites in the wash before he left.   He also made it back in time to get showered and dressed before my 9:00 call so he could keep Nathan occupied. And he helped load the car... First stop, Lolo's house (home base for the first two nights of our trip).   Nathan was very excited to see Momo and Aunt Ashley, then even more excited to see Popo and Lolo when they got home from work. When you add in the two dogs and one cat (who he couldn't go near because she bites) he was in a bit of overload for a while. We all went to dinner together at Backstreet Cafe in Sinton then it was home and playtime before bed.  I somehow managed to take zero pictures up to this point.

Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast then got on the road to Bishop to visit with my grandmother Sheila for the day. Mom, Kelley, Chris and the kids also came so we had a full house and a really great visit. We drove to the water for lunch at King's Inn in Kingsville and had some scrumptious fried shrimp and baked fish. Nathan fell asleep on the way home and got put down for a nap when we made it back to grandma's house. While he napped mom and I went outside and played bubbles with my adorable niece Tyley. She and Nathan played pretty well together that day with no meltdowns by either party. When said parties are 3 years and 17 months, this is success!

Cousins...too cute for words!

The toy Nathan is chewing was played with by his mommy when she was little.

Daddy is so silly!

Nathan & Uncle Chris

By the water at Kings Inn

Bubbles!!!

Three generations

Four generations

Nathan and Tyley playing in the rain drops dripping off the roof line.

Grammy took Nathan out in the sprinkles!

We left Bishop around 4:00 pm and headed back north to Refugio to attend a BBQ at Pete and Linda's house to celebrate Ashley's return from Hawaii and Popo's birthday. Ruth Ann, Patrick and the kids came from Kingwood and Little Pete and his fiancé Meredith came from Dallas, so there was a nice crowd. Ruth Ann and Patrick also brought their sweet great dane Tristan who of course wanted to investigate the new little human who came up to pet him. Nathan did okay until that big face turned back and gave him a whisker kiss, then all of a sudden he didn't want to be by the puppy dog unless mommy was right there. Sadly, Tristan passed away a few days after our visit after a long life full of love from his family.

"Who's petting me??"

Whisker kisses!

Nathan was a little grumpy when we got to Pete and Linda's house and it took me a while to realize he was probably hungry. His disposition improved greatly following some ravioli and fruit (he gets this from his daddy) and he was good for Linda and Lolo who watched him while Jimmy and I ate some amazing bar-b-que. There was also some banana split cake and apple themed (back to school) cupcakes that were too cute for words. I didn't take a picture, so I've borrowed this one from Ruth Ann's Facebook page. She's so crafty! My private theory is that she doesn't need sleep.

 We didn't stay too long since we had to get Nathan to bed at a halfway decent hour. We gave him a bath at their house and got him into his pajamas so we were able to just put him to bed when we got home to Lolo's house. After it was all done we had spent 4 hours in the car...it was a long day for everyone.

Swings are fun!

Sunday we packed up everything and prepared to make the move to Mathis to visit with grandma Bryan (aka memaw or Gigi) and mom. But not before trying out the slide that Popo cleaned up from storage. It was Aunt Ashley's slide when she was little and has held up well over the years. Nathan even climbed up himself some of the times. Needless to say he absolutely loved it (and I think Popo did too).

What a fun slide!

"Don't worry Popo, I can do it myself!"

We eventually made it to Mathis mid morning.  Kelley and the kids also came over so we got to spend more time playing and catching up. Mom and grandma made a yummy lunch that included brisket and scratch made rolls. After naptime (that included Tyley, Nathan and Mommy) we went outside to splash in the blow up pool mom had set up. The thermometer on the side of the house said it was 105 degrees outside, which explains why the pool water felt like bath water. I didn't have any sunscreen on so I didn't stay in the sunshine for very long. My freckles managed to connect, giving me the temporary semblance of color, but it quickly faded. We had a very fun day of playing tea party, fishing game, hopping like frogs, and organizing blocks. Nathan slept pretty hard that night.

Monday morning we woke up bright and early as usual (6:15am) and did a quick wardrobe change to resolve a nighttime diaper malfunction. Then daddy and Nathan went to have breakfast and play with Grammy and Gigi while mommy tried (and failed) to catch another hour of sleep. Memaw made breakfast for the grown ups after I got up and we just loafed around the house for a while before packing up for the drive back to Katy.  Whew!

Kelley, Allen and Tyley

Curtains can be crafty animals!

Fun splashing with Daddy

Nathan also enjoyed riding this rocking horse (that has been around since I was a little girl and possibly before).  It bucked him off three times in 2 days, but he did learn to say Yeee Haw!!

Fishing sans lake, bait, and pole.

Tea party with Nilla Wafers...mmmmm!

Helping Bear clap his hands during the "happy song." (If You're Happy and You Know It)

This was probably one of our better trips to south Texas. I didn't feel rushed even though we went a bunch of places. Having the extra day and a half made a huge difference! Plus Nathan is a super traveller and that didn't hurt either. We even had the obligatory Labor Day weekend bar-b-que. I'd call that a success!