Nolan, meet Texas.

I'm so thankful that Mikel, Nolan and I were able to visit my family in Texas last week.  Mikel had to return to Rochester on Sunday because of work, but Nolan and I stayed a full week (Wed to Wed).  Dad had extra time off, and the grandmothers even came down to see us.  

We are so very blessed to be part of a family who genuinely loves and enjoys one another.  No bickering, no broken relationships -- everyone loves the Lord, cares for each other and looks forward to being together.  The only thing missing from our trip was the company of my sister Rachel and her family, who live in beautiful Sicily.  We can't wait to catch you guys next time!


Nolan did pretty well on the plane - as well as anyone can expect from a 2.5 month old.

 

My parents' home and neighborhood are so lovely -- and the 70 degree weather didn't hurt. 

 

Meeting Aunt Lauren and Uncle JT

Love the huge fireplace.

Great-grandma Mokie is so fun

Happy to see PaPa

Getting fragile...

Mayday!

And it's over.

Turns out, Uncle JT has the touch

Nana and PaPa getting all the snuggles.

Aunt Nikye is a real pro.

Nolan looooves his Cousin Eliza's blue octopus!

He also loves his Cousin Eliza!  Such a little beauty - and a busy one at 15mo old!

It's not so bad to be a baby at Nana and PaPa house.

Some kind soul lent us a swing, so all was right in the world. 

I used to prop my nephew Jonathan up on this exact spot on the counter and sing to him while he giggled. Now I get to do the same thing with Nolan - and he loved it too!

  

Nikye and DJ were so kind to share all of Eliza's old baby toys (and all kinds of other supplies!) with Nolan.  The activity mat was decked out!  Nikye even found a stuffed weenie dog and propped it by him to make sure he felt at home. Must have worked -- he played till he passed out!

 

We stayed in Lauren's old bedroom and set Nolan up in a Pack & Play in her humungous closet. This resulted in the best nights we have had so far -- 8+ hour stretches every single night!  Brilliant.  Room darkening shade, here we come.

Mokie and me.  Love those lazy mornings with bottomless cups of coffee.

 

Nolan (2.5mo) and his great-grandmothers.  Mokie (85) and Granny (78)

Nolan really started "finding" his hands this week - batting at toys and sucking away.

  

This picture cracked me up.  4 days into our trip -- Mikel's side of the suitcase is perfectly orderly while mine is a wreck. Pretty much says it all.

One afternoon while everyone else had committments, Mikel, Nolan and I got to enjoy a little family outing.  TexMex, frozen custard and the park on a beautiful day is a winning combo.

Mikel's custard was leaking all over the place, so we wrapped it in a diaper.  That's one expensive napkin!

Love that sunshine.

That night, Lauren and JT hosted us for dinner in their adorable home. Such a sweet couple! We love you guys.

On Saturday, we were invited by Nikye, DJ and Eliza to join them in going to the Austin Zoo and Animal Conservatory. It was great!  All of the animals housed at this tiny zoo are rescued - and the variety was impressive for being such a small place.  Bears, lions, panthas, exotic birds, tigers, monkeys, a kangaroo....  I thought I took plenty of pictures, but turns out I didn't come away with images of any of the impressive animals.  Oh well - probably wouldn't have done them justice anyway. Here are just a few fun shots from the day.

Started by having lunch at Thundercloud Subs - yum

All of the animals at the zoo are rescued, and it's clear that the staff really care well for them.

This beautiful guy just roams around freely and tries to steal unsuspecting people's lunches.

 Mikel made me take one of these pics. I'll give you one guess which.

Beautiful scenery

We bought food to give to the animals in the petting zoo.  We didn't enter it since we had the babes in tow - turned out to be a good decision because the goats were especially pushy!

Definitely not the first time they've heard those paper bags rustling.  They knew exactly what was coming!

Little Bambi got in on the action too.

Whoops!  Mikel got a little too close to this one!

Such a fun day

On the way home, DJ surprised us each with a treat.  Blue Bell,  I love you!!

 The time came for us to make our way back to Roch.  After 3 days away from Mikel, we really missed him, so that helped make it bearable to leave the gorgeous sunshine and return to the frozen tundra.

Doing his best to reassure his nervous mama as we waited in the airport security line

 

As it turns out - flying solo with an infant isn't for the faint of heart.  There was a decent amount of fussing, lap-top diaper changes, and elbowing our poor seat mate (to whom I gave a $5 Starbuck gc...).  I may or may not have bawled to the nice rebooking lady in Minneapolis when our delayed departure caused us to miss our connection...  And had it not been for the kindness of our friend Mairtin de Cogain who so valiantly drove to Minneapolis to save us from the black hole that is that airport, we might have been stuck there another 5 hours waiting for the next flight - rationing diapers and pacing the floor.... or else perhaps braved the 1.5hr shuttle ride to Rochester, fussy baby and weepy mama seated among a slew of unhappy passengers.... Thanks to Mairtin, we didn't have to pick our poison.

All that to say: 

We love you, Texas Family.  

We love you, Warm Sunshine.  

We love you, Mikel.

We love you, zoo animals.

We love you, community of dear friends.

We do not, however, love you, Delta.

Welcome home to me.