30 Days of Gratitude: Days 20 and 21

This post will go up a bit late because of our holiday travel schedule. We left for Houston on Tuesday, November 20th. We took our time and left after lunch. Anthony drove for the first hour. He still needs to practice driving on the freeway, and the route out of town is the same initial route as going to his school, so I'm thankful that he had a chance to practice. The traffic wasn't as bad as it is when he has to go to school, but the freeway entrances and exits can get a bit tricky, so he needs all the practice he can get before we turn him loose on his own.

The trip was uneventful. We changed drivers at the Bucc-ee's, a popular tourist stop. It's basically a humongous rest stop. They sell a lot of merchandise, including food, souvenirs like T-shirts and knick knacks, and of course, gas. The kids couldn't resist and begged me to buy beef jerky and fudge for them. We got the Hot and Spicy Beef Jerky and six squares of fudge, because as Anthony insisted, "We can get six types of fudge for the price of four!" They ended up deciding on chocolate, peanut butter chocolate, dulce de leche, cookies and cream, vanilla, and pumpkin pie. Eric had wanted the orange creme, but when he tasted it, he said he only liked the orange part. Patrick was patiently waiting for us in the car.

When we got to my sister Cynthia's house, they were getting their new 65-inch 3D TV installed over their fireplace along with surround sound. Their older big TV relocated from the living room to their bedroom, and they also got a smaller flat screen TV for their game room. The guys had been there since 10am and they didn't leave until probably 8pm or so because they were having technical difficulties. This first picture is of the girls and Eric watching TV from the second floor, and the second picture is the second-floor view of everyone sprawled out on the sofa watching Spiderman on TV. That sofa was super-comfortable.

The next day, the kids spent much of the morning watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. One of the channels was having a marathon, and the kids all love that show and wanted to watch them all again, despite having watched them before. They all were certainly grateful that they had that cool new TV and comfy sofa to watch on!

Cynthia and I got to sneak away for a bit to go shopping at the nearby outlet mall. We were waiting for my sister Melissa to get to Cynthia's house with my parents. My mom is much more familiar with driving to Melissa's house than to Cynthia's house, so they basically take the long way and go to Melissa's house and then Melissa drives them to Cynthia's house. I'm always thankful when we can spend time with my parents, and they spent the rest of the day with us and then went home with Melissa to spend the night at her house.

Most of us, except for Mom and Dad, Anthony and Eric, went to see Skyfall, the new James Bond movie that afternoon. It was just nice to relax and hang out with the family. That's the one regret I have with my kids being in so many activities--that we don't have as much time to visit relatives. My sisters and their kids are busy with their own activities too, so it's nice to slow down for a few days and enjoy each other's company.