Texas declares indepedence

This weekend, we all went down to Washington on the Brazos, Texas, to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico. My dad has, well, we have an ancestor named George Washington Smythe who signed and they were inviting ancestors of the signers to come to the event. Some of it was a little corny with people dressed in period garb, but a lot of it was actually really cool. The best was on Sunday when they did a roll call of all the signers and family members stood up and were recognized. We had good representation with 14 people from our side and another 10 or so that we met there, but some families seemed to have dozens. It was really very moving to see as well as hear the individual stories. The favorite part for the kids? Playing in the pool at the hotel with my sister. Figures.

All of us getting ready for the roll call (thanks to Frances for taking the group photo and providing the blanket that we stole).

Mom helping Meg play on stilts. This was part of the kids section that focused on toys and entertainment kids of that era would have had.

My favorite photo -- dad with a bouquet of meat as we got ready for lunch.

Phew

We are back. I, for one, am exhausted. I have a feeling my mother as uber hostess for many is beat as well.

It was so fantastic seeing my parents, my sisters and my adorable five and 2 1/2-year-old nieces. Andy and Margaret had the times of their lives. I loved watching that. It all made me wistful that we don't live closer. It is always hard traveling for the holidays and then trying to be a good house guest when my kids insist on smearing yogurt on the kitchen floor and then while I'm trying to triage that situation, the other one starts eating her yogurt with a knife. Oh, and let's not forget Meg forgot how to sleep while we were there. No fool, she sensed our weakness and inability to let her cry and ended up in bed with us probably every night at least for a bit before waking up before six FOR THE DAY. Of course, today -- our last morning -- Mom had to wake her up in order to leave for the airport to catch a flight that was then delayed nearly three hours. Fortunately both kids were angels on the plane, once Andy got down throwing a 30 minute fit that his new favorite cat Meowey was in our checked luggage. This after I asked the kid before I checked it if he was okay with that. Poor kid is practically luggage himself after so much excitement the past week. I, too, and worn out.

I also look forward to the years to come with the kids are easier to travel with and easier to send out of the room to play games with each other while we catch up and play bridge.

There are lots of great pictures to share, but right now I'm just too damn tired. I am planning to watch a little Tivo BY MYSELF IN MY OWN ROOM and then go to bed. I am crazy like that.

Video

I'm heading out of town (and, naturally, toward the blazing wildfires of southern California) so I'm posting this video mostly for me. He's been having a week of monster temper tantrums so it's actually quite nice to see video evidence him acting like an adorable and reasonable little boy here rather than a kid willing to throw himself down in the school parking lot screaming that he does NOT want to go home.

After this trip, I'm home for the duration. I am about to hit my third trimester (finally!) and the countdown is almost under the three-month mark. Sure, that's still many, many days left; days where I'm only going to become more and more enormous, but it's nice to see the finish line appearing ever so far off in the distance. Once I get back, I need to spend some time cleaning out the computer room in preparation for moving all the equipment down to the basement and turning this into the nursery once again. I'm rather looking forward to it. Well, right now anyway.

Meanwhile, I tried in vain last night to get Blogger to upload this successfully, but it turns out it's not good at videos over a few seconds so I had to go back to YouTube. Let me know if you have any problems.

The saga of the bed, part 3

I am loving the new bed. Sort of. I love that Andy loves it. I don't love that I haven't figured out how to not smack my head when I try to sit on the bed. I changed his sheets tonight and must have knocked myself 2-3 times before I finally figured out how not to do it. I'm obviously not very bright.

He does love it so, and that makes up for a lot. The tunnel in particular is a huge hit. The last two mornings I have come in to find him already awake and under there. This morning he'd even brought his dogs and his binky with him. I check on him at night so I don't think he's sleeping there, but I know he's thinking about it.

We're off to Dallas tomorrow for a whirlwind weekend trip mostly to see my new niece Emma. Andy is particularly excited to see my older niece Megan. It's not a vacation per se, but it will be great to catch up and it's certainly not work either.