15 hours, 12 stops, 6 tanks of gas, 3 states, and 1 flat tire

Hey ya'll!

Once again, we have returned from a 1000+ mile road trip. The past week we spent visiting my family in Seguin, Tx. We left Nashville and headed West on Tuesday afternoon, stopping in Texarkana for the night at Ben's parents to rest, and to drop off their granddog. We just thought she would have a better time visiting her cousin Max instead of roughing it on the farm, being the city girl she is and everything. We were right. She got loved on and spoiled rotten, was allowed to sleep in the bed, and even had a private pool. Gotta love Grandparents. =)

Wednesday afternoon we drove the rest of the way to Seguin and arrived at Legacy Farms, my aunt and uncle's 24 acre land-of-their-dreams (Please interpret as a 24-acre wildlife preservation).

My Mom was able to come over from Japan for a visit while my Gramps had double knee replacement surgery and help cart him around (he doesn't particularly like to be carted, so she didn't have to do too much of that, but putting up with him is enough work any way you look at it. Love you Gramps!). Granny and Gramps have their home base on the farm, (they live in a gi-normous motorhome and travel anywhere from Alaska to Mexico throughout the year) so that's where everyone congregated. We got to do a lot of visiting and relaxing, and had a such a great time! Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Ben discovering his inner Tarzan:

Feeding and playing with the Dolphins at Sea World San Antonio (this was AMAZING!):

If you look closely, you will see the 13 day old dolphin that was there swimming right beside his mama~ precious.

Mom, Ben, and I had a wonderful, hot (104 in case you are curious), fun day at Seaworld on Thursday, and we were able to see all of the shows again. I need a bumper sticker that says I Love SeaWorld. Really.

We didn't have a powerful enough camera to catch all of the beautiful hummingbirds we got to see every morning while we all sat outside having our coffee. (Okay, so I woke Ben up one morning telling him he was missing the war of the birds outside because they were fighting over the feeders. I may have exaggerated a little, because he said he came out expecting a flock of hummingbirds doing suicide dives over his head, and there were only 4 or 5, but still. I thought it was exciting. I told him it was his fault his imagination expected too much). Or the frisky little squirrels that chased eachother up and down the trees. Or the turkey and deer we saw while we were walking around the property with my aunt. But you get the idea of us being in the country... we were out there. WAY out there. But it was beautiful. It was one of the most peaceful places I have been. I love Texas with everything I've got, so it felt so good to just be back there.

We sat around outside a lot of the afternoons and just enjoyed eachothers company, listening to everyone tell stories of 'back then'. Those can get pretty hilarious in my family. Ben and I deemed it being in The Circle.

I have a picture somewhere that would explain this, but I can't find it. Shoot.

Of course you can't go to Texas without eating a real breakfast taco. My mom and I introduced Ben to the local taco hut, where they made their tortillas and everything else on site. SIGH.......... I miss Texas food. After having Rudy's BBQ, steak, and brisket and my aunt's baked beans, I must confess we were in food heaven the whole time we were there.

The bittersweet part of the trip was getting to see Mom but having to leave her. We get to see eachother once a year if we are lucky, and no matter how much time we have it is never enough.

We love you, Mom!!!

Here's my Granny and Gramps

Saturday morning before we left we found a lovely nail in my tire (luckily we found it before we got on the interstate instead of after on the side of the road). Example of God looking out for us #1. On the way back home we stopped in Little Rock to drop some things off for my sister and brother in law. Somehow I managed to shut the car off but leave the lights and radio running for 45 minutes, so we get back in and ofcourse go nowhere, have to call Heather and Bo back, and my semi-pro mechanic brother in law who carries everything in his vehicle, including jumper cables (we don't. we should get some of those) was our saving grace. Example #2. So we made it home safely, and accident free. Always a good thing.

Now we are back home and back to work, dreaming of breakfast burritos, hummingbird wars, and relaxing in The Circle. We did stop by a local farmers market in Texas on the way back, and picked up some of the best mangos, sweet corn, watermelon, canteloupe, and plums we've had. And yes, it is true.

Even the fruit is bigger and better in Texas.