Goodbye, Texas

We always have to load up on Tex-Mex before we leave.  This year was no exception but I was so excited I ate half of my enchilada before I remembered to document my meal.

We sure do love all these grandparents and always hate to say goodbye! We had a really wonderful time with everyone.

Because our flight left at 1:30am, we still had plenty of time to play before we had to load up and go.  The boys enjoyed a last ripstick ride through the park.

Then, sigh, it was time to really say goodbye and make our way back across the globe.

As hard as it always is to leave, it's exciting to get back to Matt after so many weeks apart.

Premium economy was definitely worth the wait! At 1am, the boys were suddenly revived and excited to be on the plane.

We had some time on the ground in Taipei this time and stopped for food.  Delicious beef noodles for me, the old standby of McDonalds nuggets for them.

Jakarta welcomed us home with hazy skies and traffic.  Not much has changed here!

But it was wonderful to be HOME and unpack the suitcases for good.  It also helps the jetlag when it takes half a day of running around the house to put everything away.

It feels like Christmas morning!  All of the wonderful treats we were able to bring will taste delicious over the coming months.

Ben had a happy reunion with Joey.

First order of business once we unpacked - buy more air purifiers.  July was a particularly bad month in Jakarta and we at least wanted clean air inside the house! But it was still good to be home.

July in Texas

We had plenty of other fun times in July...

I had a quick reunion with some of my old Lexicon coworkers.

We had a great time celebrating Grandpa's birthday over some Mexican food.

One more quick afternoon with our old neighbor friends!

Plenty of water balloon fights with Grandma...

More time with the Oswicks! So happy they live near Tomball!

And lots more cousin time! They have an amazing new lagoon in their neighborhood and we spent a fantastic afternoon there.

Another chance to get stronger on the obstacle warrior course.

Love this cutie!

One last trip to Chick-fila for chicken minis...

...and one last cookie cake!

A little more fun outside, then it was sadly time to say goodbye to Texas. Ben is maybe getting a little too big for this one.

College Station

The kids were signed up to go to baseball camp at Texas A&M but Alex came down with a fever for a few days so I didn't send him.  Instead, he got to hang out on my reminiscing trip with Stephanie around College Station.  We rented a little house on the south side of campus and visited most of our favorite old haunts. 

Alex actually really enjoyed hearing our college stories as drove around and shared our memories. He really loved playing dominoes at the Dixie Chicken, although that's not exactly the way that most people play.

Beautiful Kyle Field, a little quieter than on game weekends.

Alex played a little concert in the flag room for everyone!

We loved the George Bush presidential library.

The peaceful gravesites of George, Barbara, and their young daughter.

A stop at the original Freebirds is always a must!

After two days, I picked up my hot and tired baseball player at Blue Bell park.  He'd had a great camp but was ready for some AC and some sleep. 

New Braunfels 4th of July

We made a road trip for the 4th to the beautiful hill country of Texas.  First stop, naturally, at Buc-ees! And we even ran into Grammy and Grumpy! 

Our condo in New Braunfels had some pretty great views.  This was exactly what we wanted on the Guadalupe.

Two peas in a pod in their new shirts.

How do these boys grow so quickly?

Carter and I were getting ready for some fun on the 4th!

We spent most of the day playing in the river and having fun in the rapids right at the base of the hill.

These boys were exhausted after playing in the water all day.

A big German dinner was exactly what we needed.  Good thing we decided to just split one pretzel!

Grumpy was a little surprised at just how large the large beer really was!

The kids were actually in bed before the fireworks this year, but we celebrated the big birthday first thing on the 5th!

Happy birthday, Alex! It's hard to believe he's already 11! He was thrilled to spend his birthday with cousins for the first time and even more excited to get Schlitterbahn tickets from Mr. Scott and Miss Lou Anne to use that day.

It was a lot of fun spending 4 days together.  We found a 4-bedroom condo, which gave us plenty of space, even if the living room was pretty loud most of the time.

I took the birthday boy, Ben, and Reid for a fun day at Schlitterbahn and they anxiously awaited the first big ride.

I didn't realize this was Reid's first waterslide and he was a little scared but a total trooper.  He loved it!

The water coaster was a favorite for the day and we came back to ride it again that evening.

The long tube chutes are so much fun!

Lots of sunshine, memories, and laughs.  What a great way to turn 11!

Family picture of the whole group! The next day we checked out Natural Bridge Caverns all together.

The bridge which gave it its name.

We couldn't go to the hill country and not stop for lunch in Gruene.

Alex lost his hat at Schiltterbahn, then we found it, then it got lost again in the wave pool! We were so happy to get a call that they found it, so we made one more quick stop on our way out of town to retrieve his New Zealand hat. The perfect way to round out a wonderful weekend.