Taking Texas

Hey people. You know I have only one reason to set foot in the lone star state, and here she is, mah seestah-- Katie. (Isn't she cute??) ~hugs~ This is where I've been for the last couple of weeks, visiting her and her brood.

I've bagged on Texas plenty in the past, and God knows there's tons of material-- the flatness, the hotness, the boringness, the redneckiness. (It was in the nineties, both temp AND dewpoint when I was there, with 20-30 mph winds. Yes, my hair was awesome the entire time. Not.) But I have to admit this time, there was also some pretty...

Wild flowers planted along the highways by Ladybird Johnson were in full bloom on our drive up to the hill country (what they call the San Antonio / Austin region-- the only coolness I've seen so far in the entire state.) (Figuratively and literally. It's about 10 degrees cooler up there than where she lives.)

We've been planning a girl get-away for, not kidding people-- eight years! Finally, the kids are old enough to leave for a weekend, the stars aligned, we both had a little cash, and our plan, albeit scaled down from our dreams of a week at a spa, came together.

This was the view from our eff-you-money hotel room on the riverwalk in San Antonio. I usually opt for budget lodging, but this trip was different. Let the hedonism begin!

This place was fancy. Click on the pic so you can read this. It's the pet room service menu. "All pet meals are served with Fiji water on appropriate petware."

Yeah. Good thing. Serving the Contessa Salmon on regular old peopleware would be tacky central.

The Riverwalk is super cool. It's a river that runs right through downtown San Antonio, and there are sidewalks on both sides, lined with hotels, shops, and restaurants, and little bridges to cross back and forth. There are also tons of huge trees and garden areas. We strolled for hours and had an awesome four-star dinner out.

After our all girl weekend, it was time for some serious family time. The following week was a blur of errands, piano lessons, dance classes, t-ball games, & soccer, but later in the week Dan flew down to join me, and we all (me, Dan, & Kate's family) drove back up to their lake home in the hill country for the weekend.

This was at this really cool restaurant we went to that was like eating in a tree house.

Me and the boy have had our issues in the past, but now he seems to get that my intentions are good. He still doesn't like to be told what to do, but doesn't resent it as much, and seems to really like me, and know I like him too. The kid has music in his soul. He wanted me to take pics of him busting out some "moves". Ta-Daaah.

Cute little fart isn't he?

He's almost six, and scary smart. This takes almost everyone off guard because half the time he's in his own world, or acting like a little monkey boy. He'll be spazzing out about some dumb thing, like wanting to sit in the seat his sister is already occupying one minute, and you're going, "Oh boy, this kid acts more like a 3 year old than nearly six," but five minutes later he's whipping through his homework like it's nothing. Ho-hum. Too easy. Boring stuff.

I can't wait to see how he turns out. He's funny and definitely his own little dude. I would not be a bit surprised if he's some kind of musical prodigy. I want to buy him drums.

Him and Megan are usually at each other's throats, but have moments of fun goofing around, or joining forces against the evil overlords (their parents.) Here Megan is dipping him a-la dancing with the stars. He always gives it all he's got, arm flourish and all.

Meg and I have always had a big connection, and still do. Our relationship is changing as she gets older. We had our first big altercation this trip, but got through it. She knows, for a fact, I'll always, always be in her corner.

She's turning out to be a little adventurer. Feels very familiar. Loves the water.

This is a friend of hers-- she wanted to make sure that part was clear, a friend-- (she like likes another boy. What does that mean when you're eight? I think that you enjoy imagining dramas playing out involving you, the boy, and other classmates whispering about the status of your liking of each other.) Anyway, they were seeing who could do the best armpit farts right before I shot this. ~sigh~ Ahh the good old days. Mini me.

Look out world.

Me and sis, of course have our own thing. We manage to maintain a pretty close relationship even though we're miles apart and our lives could not be more different. When we get together we go right back into dork mode. We watched Charlie's Angels- Full Throttle on our girl weekend, but I really can't use that as much of an excuse for these pics. We always seem to adopt ass-kicking poses when there's a camera around.

Quake in fear people. It's the finger twist of doom! Don't mess with Kate or she will beat you senseless with those Grover arms of hers.

Sorry about the acres of forty and over skin showing in these next two. Avert your eyes, get therapy, or whatever you have to do to get through this trauma. For the poolside antics we somehow began dancing like robots when Dan got the camera out. We were excited about going to see "Date Night" later-- "Sex robots!" (go see it to get the joke.)

We amuse ourselves to no end. Someone's got to.

Having Dan along was fun for Katie (she calls him the third sister. He's not very into that nickname not surprisingly) and medicinal for me. Katie said I seemed way less stressed this trip. He tempers me. I get super pissed at her control-freaky, patriarchal hubs, but I can't say stuff like, "OMG pull the stick out!" or "For shit's sake-- they're only PLACEMATS dude, shut up and let your wife pick them out!" without making life much harder for her. If I lived down there we'd have to have a war and he'd now be calling me "your highness" or something and quivering with subservience every time I came around, but alas.

It helps to have Dan around to vent to, and remind me how good I have it. Here I'm helpfully instructing him on how to clean the pool so no icky things threaten to float near me on my giant pool toy. He's way up on my care and feeding.

Katie, meanwhile, finds little ways to preserve her Katieness, and expose her kids to ideas like recycling (which is considered extremist down there-- they don't have pick up or anything, and no one does it) and kindness to animals, and volunteering, and being creative and tolerant. She is a very cool woman. I could not thrive in her life, but she manages to.

I was ready to come home by the end, as usual. I get very wiped-out by the mini-van lifestyle, even though I love seeing those guys. This is what greeted me the morning after we got back.

and this

and this.

It's good to be home.