Texas Trifecta

It had been three years since David and I last visited the Lone Star State together.  That’s too long!  So we were really excited to make a trip to Houston for Thanksgiving, then continue onto San Antonio for David’s grandparent’s 60th wedding anniversary, and then work from our Austin offices for the last leg of our trip.

We flew into Houston the day before Thanksgiving with Laura.  We drove straight to the Woodlands to Larry’s house to meet up with Jeff, Amy, and Ross.  Larry’s girlfriend, Connie, also spent the Thanksgiving week with us.  And we got to see Granna and her husband, Robert, for the first time since our wedding five years ago!  They drove in from Amarillo to spend the holiday with her children and grandchildren.

After our reunion, our first food stop of the trip was Chuey’s for some jalapeno ranch and ‘Big As Your Face’ burritos!  Since we arrived before seven, we got to take advantage of the free nacho bar.  Sometimes it’s easy to forget the little things like unlimited chips and salsa / queso.  That is impossible to find in London.

Later that evening, David and I drove over to Katie and Dave’s new house.  It was new for us because we’d never been there, but they’ve lived in the house for about two years now.  The house is gorgeous, and the best part is they are building a custom-made pool in the backyard with a brand new outdoor grill station.  I can’t wait to spend our summer weekends lounging on the tanning shelf with my girlfriends while the guys grill up burgers and hot dogs and pizza for us!

Thursday was Turkey day, and we had a full house.  Denise and Lindsay came over from Kingwood with their two boys, and Connie’s daughter also stopped by with her husband and son.  We had a feast of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes with gravy, cranberries, corn casserole, stuffing, green bean casserole, cheesy rice with broccoli, and rolls.  For dessert, we had six different pies to choose from – pumpkin, cherry, pecan, chocolate mousse, key lime, and butterscotch.  I split a chocolate mousse and key lime with David and Jeff, and had a slice of butterscotch to myself. 

Ladies, this is what happens when you send your husband to the store for wine on Thanksgiving.  He comes back with one bottle, and before you can yell at him for grabbing just one bottle for 17 people, he pulls out the largest bottle of wine you've ever seen in your life.  

Denise found this 'House Divided' sign for the game on Thanksgiving.

Larry with the kids.

After watching the Macy’s parade and Texas smoke Texas Tech, the kids went for a dip in the hot tub.  I still wanted to try some pecan pie and as it was hours later, I thought it was acceptable to have a slice… in the hot tub.  But hot tubs and pie do not mix.  I definitely felt a little queasy later that night.

On Friday we had breakfast tacos and then watched Trapped in Paradise, a Nicolas Cage Christmas film I had never heard of, before saying goodbye to Larry and driving about four hours to San Antonio.  I had a car full of boys – David, Jeff, and Ross – and we stayed entertained by playing the alphabet game and stopping at DQ for some soft serve.

Saturday was Mama and Dada’s 60th wedding anniversary and everyone came into San Antonio to celebrate.

We started out the day at Lulu’s, a diner in downtown SA where Adam Richman from Man v Food took on the 3lb. cinnamon roll and gigantic chicken-fried steak covered in queso.  Even though I’d conquered a Man v Food challenge in the past, I knew this would be too much for me, so we split the cinnamon roll nine ways with our group.  And even then, we had leftovers to bring back and share with the rest of the family!

While we were taking this picture, Karen was saying, "Hurry!  This thing is really heavy!!"  And notice how we didn't only order the cinnamon roll, but Karen's got fried okra on her plate and I have a breakfast taco.  We needed some saltiness to balance out all of the sweetness...

And you would think a giant anything wouldn’t taste as good as normal-sized, but actually the cinnamon roll was delicious!  Lulu’s begins making them from scratch at 5:00 every morning and they are done rising and baking by 8:00.  Right before being served, the cinnamon rolls are heated up and drenched in frosting.  There was no lack of frosting on these bad boys.  And the best part – 3lbs. of tasty cinnamon roll only set us back $9! 

Worth every penny!

Before going shopping for even more American food and Xmas presents to bring back to London, we stopped by Anna and Mauricio’s house for a visit.  Meike and Felipe were there as well with their new baby, Max.  What a cutie!  I can’t believe that my friends are moms now, and Anna is about to have a little girl!  But I’m not the only one that thinks it’s weird… they do, too!  It was so nice to see the nursery and the baby.  Valentina even kicked for David and me!

I love that V is going to be born just a few months after Max so they can be best friends just like us!

On Saturday night, the anniversary party for Mama and Dada was held at their favourite local Tex-Mex restaurant.  There were 37 of us there to celebrate – four children, fifteen grandchildren, and ten great-grandchildren (plus spouses)!

Amazingly, between three dozen people, we couldn't find a decent camera to take a pic (David and I were kicking ourselves for leaving ours back in London).

On Sunday morning, we made our way to Austin, the final city in our Texas trifecta, and had breakfast at Kerbey Lane with Terri and her boyfriend.  S’mores pancakes?  Yes, please.

Once David and I moved out of Austin, almost all of our siblings decided to move into Austin.  Elizabeth, Jeff, Amy, and Ross moved there to attend UT.  Amy has since graduated and now works for the Central TX Food Bank.  Elizabeth is in her first semester, while Jeff and Ross have just a couple years left.

On Saturday, Ross and Amy invited us to their apartment to watch the Texas / Baylor game and exchange Xmas presents.  Ross dressed up as Santa, and with the mini-tree and roaring TV fireplace, it was a cosy afternoon.  Somehow, we did feel warmer with the 'fireplace' on in the background.

It was so nice to just be able to call up my sister to hang out.  We treated her and Jeff to Player’s on Sunday night, our favourite burger spot near campus.  We also got to see Elizabeth’s dorm room in Dobie – which was also my first dorm.  I felt so old when we walked in and Elizabeth introduced us to her RA.  I told her, “I used to live here, too!”  And the RA said, “Oh yeah?  What year?”  “Umm…. it was a decade ago.”  But the place hasn’t changed much in 10 years.  There are still just two elevators for 20+ floors and thousands of students, and large closets but small bathrooms. 

Throughout the week, we ate our way through Austin and caught up with colleagues at work.  I was finally able to meet the local Services Finance team after only ever talking to them on the phone.  David gave me a tour of Volusion’s new office space, which was really modern and fun.  And we caught up with all of our old friends.

Saturday morning, we had a White Elephant Gift Exchange with our old Sunday School class.  While we were shopping on the drag with Elizabeth earlier in the week, we found this amazing pint glass at Urban Outfitters and I knew we needed it for our gift exchange, especially since it was with our Christian Sunday School class.  

David was hesitant, but I told him that even though our friends all have kids now, they haven’t lost their sense of humor.  And if they didn’t find it funny, then we just needed to find new friends.  Luckily everyone thought it was hilarious and the cup was actually stolen twice!

The Sylestine's living room was decorated so nicely for the Christmas party.

Unfortunately David's Walking Dead book was stolen and my 'smart' luggage tags were not...

Brad loved Jen's 'Hot to Trot' nightgown so much, he wore it around for the rest of the party.  Jen does not look amused...

It was so much fun to see everyone and hang out just like old times.  Only difference now is there are half a dozen children running around in the background.  The kids are adorable, and I actually got really upset leaving on Saturday afternoon saying goodbye to them.  I was a blubbering mess, thinking how they only ever hang out with us through Skype and don’t really know us (but thank goodness for technology)!  I eventually pulled myself together… which was probably due to the Hey Cupcake David treated me to.

Our last hoorah in Austin was the Volusion Holiday party at the UT stadium on Saturday night.  Vick from David’s London office had won a contest and flew into Texas to celebrate with us, so there were two employees at the party this year to represent the UK.

We had a great time hanging out with friends and family during this trip to Texas.  It was nice to be able to see almost everyone, as usually we’re only in Austin for a short amount of time.  This time around, it helped that we had ten days across three cities.  Until next time, this image of Jeremy and David in front of the Sylestine’s fireplace will help remind us of the good times we had in Texas… or it may just haunt my dreams!

What is he looking at??