Going Home

One of my favorite things about going away to college was coming home! That sounds funny but, seriously, my parents always went out of their way to make a weekend at home a great experience. Among other things, they always had the best food and plenty of Diet Coke. Even though I currently live 46 (approximately) steps from my parent's front door, going to their house still gives me that "I'm home" feeling. I gladly gave up my bedroom for out-of-town family who came to visit last week so that I could have a week-long "vacation" at my parent's house. It was so fun!

My Grandma, Aunt Lois, Uncle Jim, cousin Russell and his wife Tisha, along with their kids Ella and Tommy, all flew in from Oregon to spend the week. My Dad (the biggest fan of Texas I've ever met) was the ultimate tour guide and showed us all sorts of things. We went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing here in Fort Worth where they print money. I had no idea that there were only two places in the United States that printed money! We went to the Stockyards and the Grassy Knoll in Dallas, the kids did some horseback riding and we all swam, a lot. The highlight of the trip was probably our evening visit to Benbrook Lake. Tisha's Mom had lived in Fort Worth for a while when she was younger and had mentioned several places that she remembered about her time here. One of the things she remembered was learning to drive on the roads around Benbrook Lake so my Dad felt compelled to show her the lake. As we were driving we came up to the dam and then eventually the spillway. Tommy, who is 7, happily pointed out the "dam spillway" and let us all know that when school starts in the fall he can't wait to write about the "dam spillway" in his "What I did over Summer Break" story. He was definitely channeling Chevy Chase in Vegas Vacation and we probably heard the term "dam spillway" about a hundred more times that night. Each time it created much laughter, which was made even funnier because Tommy didn't realize what was so funny.

The only problemo was when Will spent the night one night and he slept on the floor of the room I was sleeping in. There was a twin bed in there that he is used to sleeping on but since I got it first, he got the floor. All was well until he got up at some point in the night and got in the bed with me. I'm not really sure why I didn't get up and move to the couch, but you haven't really lived until you've shared a twin-sized bed with a three-year-old!

Family is good and I'm really thankful that we got to spend the week with all of them. In fact, it has been 10 years since we've all been together in one place. And it was the first time we've all been together since Tommy, Will, and Allie were born so of course we had to do some picture-taking...

This is my Grandma who is 94 with her great-grandkids. They all call her Mommell, a name Ella gave her.


This is my Grandma with her grandkids (somebody said Dam Spillway right before this was taken):


This is everybody: