Texas Thanksgiving 2008

We went to Texas for Thanksgiving again this year. Unlike last year, when we hardly took any pictures at all, THIS YEAR, we took A LOT OF PICTURES!!! So get ready....

We left home at 6pm Tuesday night and arrived at Justin's parents house at 7am Wednesday morning. The kids slept the entire trip! It was awesome! We had a great time visiting with family in Texas. The weather was of course perfect. We walked around wearing t-shirts in 80-degree weather the whole time we were there!

The kids LOVE going to Grandma's house. There are so many fun things for them to do there! Some of their favorite things about Grandma's house are:

Sleeping in the tent trailer:


Climbing trees:


Riding in the tractor:


Reading books with Grandma:


Tickle time with Grandma:


Getting really dirty:


And just generally running amuck!!!


It's always fun to see how the neighborhood changes each time we go back. During this particular visit, we were excited to see that Justin's parents have a new Fitness 4 Women gym in their neighborhood! Only $45 a month for a membership!! What a bargain!


On Wednesday, I took Eden to Kiddie Kandids to get her 1-year bathtub photo taken. (I've had these photos taken of all my kids at 1-year-old.) Her hair elastic broke right before the photo session, and I didn't have a spare, so we had to improvise a little with the hair, but I still think the shot turned out to be adorable!


We ate TWO Thanksgiving feasts on Thursday: one at Uncle Tom and Aunt Candida's house and another one at Justin's parents. Both were spectacularly tasty and well worth the calories!!! While at Tom & Candida's, we had fun playing with Tom's snakes and riding his fun motorcycle!



On Friday morning, we left the kids home with Grandpa while Justin, his mom and I braved the PACKED Wal-Mart at 5a.m. There were literally NO parking spots available in the lot when we got there. We had to park illegally BETWEEN two handicapped parking spots. It was definitely insane, and we didn't dare even TRY to go into the electronics department. We tried just walking past it twice and had to ditch our carts because we couldn't move!!

In spite of the craziness, we still had fun, and we got some good stuff. After Wal-Mart, we hit Target, Best Buy and Ulta Salon, where I stood in line for over an hour so I could get a "free" bathrobe with $30 purchase.


Once recovered from our shopping expedition, we took the kids to ride the train at Brackenridge Park.



While downtown, we drove by Justin's grandma's old house, where she first lived in San Antonio while raising TEN of her FIFTEEN children! I can't even imagine...


After dark, we headed to the Alamo. We weren't able to access the River Walk because of the river parade that was going on by admission only, so we just walked around the streets and mall, looking at Christmas lights and getting pictures taken with Barack Obama. It was fun!



On Saturday, the kids helped Grandma put up the Christmas tree...



and had a fun visit with Santa Clause!!!




Justin tried his hand at playing Father Christmas. What do you think? Could he fill in for his dad if needed?


We had such a fun time in Texas and we loved every minute of it! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for letting us stay! We love you and miss you lots!!!