Texas trip Sept. 9-19

We had been wanting to go visit Randa and the family for a while, but not interested in flying again so Mom, the kids and I loaded up Mom's van and began the tour.  It took about 18 hrs., but broken into 2 days was not that bad at all especially due to Mom's very creative method for helping Emily (and us) pass the time.  She made a chain out of old Christmas cards and at each 30 min. increment Emily was allowed to cut off one link of her chain.  It was good for her to see how the chain got smaller and smaller as we reached our destination.

We had a great visit with lots of fun things including playgrounds, baby pools, balloons, a visit to a big cat rescue center close to where Mark and Randa live, piano playing, "driving" Jeeps, reading and snacking on pretzel rods (or pretzel yod as David would say).