We got back Sunday night, but I’ve been busy unpacking and resettling.
Texas was wonderful. We went from below freezing with several feet of snow on the ground in Massachusetts to low 70s, sunny, and very dry. I walked around in my parents’ backyard with no shoes on!
It was wonderful to see my parents and brothers. Dad and my baby brother Stephen (who is 25 and over 6 foot tall, how did that happen?) picked us up at the airport. We made a beeline to my dad’s favorite little Mexican food places, Arrondas, which is right near my parents’ house. Mmmm… green enchiladas!
We didn’t do much else last week but eat and visit with friends and family. Mostly we hung out around the house and enjoyed not having to do much of anything. But here are a few highlights in pictures:
We had a nice lunch with my mom at Mandola’s Italian market.
Bella got reacquainted with her Uncle Tim, charming him with her songs and stories.
Mmm…. enchiladas and quesadillas at Elsi’s! Bella is in love with sandia, a watermelon drink. Tactical error: we should have ordered it after she ate her lunch!
We went to the Arboreteum and had Amy’s ice cream and Bella sat on the cows. A real flashback for me.
Bella went to the park with my dad every single day. Granddad=go for a walk!
Sophie and I went to the grocery store with Grandma to pick up ingredients for dinner. I forgot to put on shoes and went in my slippers! Phia wore pjs. . . . Maybe a little more relaxed than we really needed to be?
Sophie even got over her clingyness enough to let grandma hold her a few times, much to my mom’s delight.
And finally w went to a great party at The Darwins. (Darwin wrote about it on his blog, with links to everyone who was there and I’m much too lazy to hunt down and cut and paste all the links.) Great fajitas, a dozen other kids for Bella to watch playing (she really doesn’t play with others yet), and great conversation. As Darwin says, even though we’d only met everyone once before, it felt like a get-together with old friends. Everyone is pretty much exactly what you’d expect from reading their blogs. Unfortunately, we were having such a great time chatting and eating that we totally forgot to pull out the camera to snap some photos.
I was not ready to leave and I miss everyone very much. And especially that warm summery weather. But Bella is glad to be home with all her toys, even if she can’t go out for walks to the park with her Granddad.
Oh, so sweet!