Christmas in Houston

As soon as school ended on the last Friday, we packed up our bags (mostly empty) and headed to the airport with a very excited crew to spend Christmas in Texas.  Even Bart came along for the ride!  He got his own suitcase because I had done plenty of shopping on Amazon and we needed lots of suitcases to bring our goodies back.  Exciting things like powdered gatorade and air filters.

 

 I love, love Singapore airlines and we were so excited to fly them home.  They had the planes decorated for Christmas and carols playing.

We couldn't pass up an opportunity to enjoy some pepper crab during our layover in Singapore! 

Some mango pudding with dry ice didn't hurt, either.

Then it was back on the plane for a long couple of flights to Houston.  Probably our longest trip ever because of the weather...13 hours to Manchester and 11 to Houston.  Somewhere in the middle of that we got bored and took some middle-of-the-night selfies to commemorate the trip.

Finally, we made it!  In our clothes from Singapore.  And with good ole Texas weather it happened to be really cold that day so we dug in our bags for some jackets.

 Think Alex has grown just a little since his first Singapore-Houston trip back in 2008?

We found some lovely faces in the crowd at the terminal and the kids happily rode home with Grammy and Grumpy while Matt and I picked up the rental car and hit up Chick-fila.

The next necessity - Blue Bell ice cream!

A huge to-do on Ben's list - check in on Casey.  Our second day we went to see Grandma and Grandpa and had a wonderful reunion with our girl.  She's living the good life with her grandparents but she was pretty happy to see us.

Casey wasted no time getting in her old spot right on my lap.  I didn't realize how much I missed my lap dog!

Ben was also happy to spend some time with Abby, his original pet love.

It was wonderful to get some time with Aunt Stacey and the cousins.  Notice everyone is back in shorts again.  Thanks, Texas!

It's always an adventure with these four together but endless entertainment.

It may not be our tree and they may not actually sleep in pajamas anymore but I have to get a picture with the kids in their Christmas jammies every year.

 We got to have an early Christmas to open presents with everyone.  I don't think they minded at all.

A little excited for this shirt?  Alex is obsessed with Battle for Dream Island (BFDI, some random youtube cartoon) and couldn't believe he got a shirt with his favorite characters.  He's worn it almost every day since.

Maybe not as expressive, but Ben was pretty excited to get new records.  He loves classic rock and country.

These were awesome.  Enough said. (and if you don't know the quotes, you need to watch more Christmas Vacation)

One last stick battle before we had to say goodbye to the cousins.  (and back in jeans and jackets...Texas, make up your mind!)

 

We moved over to Grandma and Grandpa's and celebrated Christmas #2.  Pure excitement, all over again.

The only thing Alex asked for this year was the biggest lego set known to man.  3,000 pieces.  Just a tiny little thing to stuff in a suitcase and fly back across the world.  Thankfully, there was a lot of air in that box.  I almost fainted when I saw the size of it because of course I'd ordered it online.

Ben was pretty dang excited to get his own Bose headphones.

Alex learned the finer details of his cool new lantern from Grandma.

The guys headed out to do some deer hunting but Ben wasn't feeling well so had to sit this one out.  Thank goodness it wasn't the flu and it passed after a few days of extra love from his puppy friends.

 A few more trips to Chick-fila helped speed up the recovery as well.  Casey was there to make sure no crumbs were dropped in the rental car.

 

Alex had a successful hunt and shot his first deer!  It was a real beauty and we had enough time to enjoy a venison lunch before we left.

On our last night, there was a light dusting of snow, just enough to coat the cars and get Alex's hair damp so he can finally say he's seen some snow.

Our last meal in Texas - cheeseburgers and barbecued ribs!

 

All too soon, we were back at the airport and headed back to Asia.  It was a really wonderful visit.  Such a treat to spend time with our families and relax and celebrate together, and we even squeezed in a few lunches with friends and a dentist visit.  We didn't waste a minute!

 The flight back is much harder, in my opinion.  The timing doesn't allow for good sleep until well into the second half of travel.  The jetlag was already hitting Ben pretty hard in Manchester and he slept like this for a good half an hour.  On the second flight, he missed two meals because he fell asleep in between the time he took out his tray and the time his food arrived and I couldn't wake him up.

 

Two calendar days later, we enjoyed a lovely sunrise somewhere in Asia.  It was hard to leave but good to get back!