Texas Tour

Our week long tour of the Hill Country came to an end this morning. We stopped for lunch at Rudy's in Waco, and Keagan wanted to know why we had kept this restaurant a secret from him for so long.

From here, we made our way to the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame Museum.

 

The collection of guns was stimulating. One corner of the museum was a dress up station. Evan wanted to know if he would have worn chaps, hats, and badges in a museum as a kid. I told him hell yeah. That would have been the highlight of the trip.

As a reward for spending an hour looking at guns, I got to go to the Silos.

 

 

Wes refused to stop when he saw the lines, though. He didn't think a home decorating store was worth the wait. Clearly, he doesn't appreciate the finer things in life.

Next stop was the Czech Stop Bakery in West. My kolache was perfect! It's a good thing I don't live anywhere near I-35! 

Now that everyone has had caffeine and sugar the truck is alive with basketball trade talks and debates about next year's season. Three hours of this talk might  trigger me. I need earphones. 

Two. More.Hours.

Texas Waterin' Holes

"Exploration is really the essence of the human spirit." 

 

Thursday's Texas Trip took us to the outskirts of Wimberly, a one hour drive that took us through nothing but rolling hills and mesquite trees. Our first stop was Jacob's Well, a 60 feet deep swimming area surrounded by limestone cliffs. We had a reservation and it's a good thing! We were the third family to arrive but a constant crowd streamed in behind us.

 

Evan was the first to jump into the ice cold water.

 

Keagan had to jump multiple times.

 

I couldn't get in deeper than my waist. My thighs were numb after ten minutes,  and I couldn't even feel the sun when I stepped out. It was that cold.

Our next stop was the Blue Hole. I have no pics because there was a line to get in to swim. There was no way anyone in my family was going to stand in line to see a creek. 

The third attempt at swimming in nature was as Barton Springs, but it was closed due to high levels of bacteria. Comforting. 

So we returned to the resort to swim in a concrete pool loaded with chlorine. It has a basketball goal and can entertain my boys for hours - more than a rope swing hanging from a cypress tree anyway.

Tomorrow is our last day in the Hill Country.

 

Alamo City

Keagan has asked to see The Alamo for the better part of a year, maybe two. He studied it in history in fifth grade and decided he had to see it for himself. 

 

He has slept more than half of this vacation; he is in a constant state of exhaustion and catnaps between every stop. (He's trying to sleep now and it's my job to keep him awake, so he isn't ready to party at 8:00 like he did last night.)  It was ten this morning, and he was already yawning when I began to explain the history of the Alamo. He wasn't taken by my engaging retelling nearly enough for us to have arranged an entire summer vacation around his request. But I was. I was a great listener. 

 

A few blocks away we found San Fernando Cathedral and the final resting spot of Davey Crockett and James Bowie. 

 

 

No trip to San Antonio is complete without a trip down the river. I think the same jokes were told the last time I took the tour in 2005. We had plans to shop at the mall, but yesterday's fire closed it to shoppers.

 

 

We had a traditional Mexican meal in El Mercado and did a bit of window shopping in the outdoor market. Evan decided he would learn to play the ukelele until I told him he had to buy his own instrument. Keagan decided a fidget spinner was the perfect trip souvenir, and when I told him I disagreed, we had to listen to his persuasive arguments for the next half hour. He didn't get one. 

From downtown we made a stop at the Spurs' arena. Priorities, people.

 

 

And now that it is sunny and hot we are headed to the hotel pool.

 

Hill Country

Today's road trip dropped us off in the heart of God's country (most people refer to as Hill Country). We hiked Enchanted Rock in Llano county. If it wasn't 82 degrees and overcast, noon would have been the worst time to arrive. As it stands, it turned out to be a perfect day to hike. 

 

I'm not sure how we actually reached the top. It was much steeper than I had envisioned and there was no circling the rock to the top like I had assumed. It was straight up. 

 

The view at the top was amazing and a bit unnerving. I could see rain rolling in and did NOT want to be on top of the rock when it hit.

 

From here, we drove a half hour to Fredricksburg to have a traditional German meal. It did not disappoint.

Then we drove another half hour looking for Waylon, Willie, and the boys.

 

 

The boys couldn't believe we actually wanted to see this whistle stop of a town. Even though the music was great, it was short lived because we had one more place to see before closing time.

I've always wanted to see the French lavender fields. I hear the aromas are spectacular, so when I learned the Hill Country grows the same species of plant and it blooms in late June, I HAD to see it. Imagine my thoughts when my vision met my reality. 

 

This past winter was too warm and the lavender never bloomed! I guess this means I have to go to France. 

Our Texas adventure continues tomorrow.

Cow Town

My boys were born in Germany, lived for more than five years in Virginia, currently live in Tennessee, and have not spent more than ten days at a time in Texas. Yet, they claim Texas as home. #militarykidproblem

So if the boys are Texans, they need to know their home state. This week we are taking a Texas road trip that will highlight the best spots every Texan should see and know. We begin in Cow Town, where the West begins. This morning we watched a cattle drive in the Stockyards. 

 

Evan wanted to know if the teens working the tourist site wore their jeans and boots to school. He was genuinely shocked to hear yes. He was even more shocked that Fort Worth lawyers are rumored to go to court in boots. 

I've decided to one day own a farm and have pet longhorns. They are just so cute!

 

 

After watching the steers frolic, we headed to the biggest honky-tonk in the world. Keagan asked if we would buy him a pair of boots so he could return tonight to dance with the ladies.

 

Evan was more impressed to see the statue that is shown in just about every televised Cowboy game.

Next on our list was Sundance Square. The boys now know all about the Chisholm Trail. I had to share that one piece of seventh grade Texas history that I still remember.

 

We found the Cowboys Fan store, aka Heaven to Evan, and had to purchase a few items. Evan literally walked through and around every corner of the store three times trying to soak it all in. 

After dinner we found a group of cowboys and cowgirls practicing their roping skills. Evan wanted to know why people still perform in rodeos in the 21st century. We had to explain that some people LIKE it. His mind was blown.

 

We ended our evening walking along Trinity Trails spotting snakes, cranes, turtles, and cats. 

 

Tomorrow we hit the road for our next stop.

Family Time

Our second day at "home" was designated a family day. We began on the flight pad at the hospital visiting Uncle Kevin. We left the hospital and fifteen minutes later he got his first call of the day. 

 

Then we headed to Mineola to sit on the back porch drinking Big Red, play a backyard baseball game, and shoot hoops with the cousins. And no trip is complete without a round of Hunger Games. 

 

 

We finished our day with dinner in Fort Worth at the stockyards. We are falling asleep listening to the sound of drag races with pick up trucks and loud mufflers. 

 

I think I prefer falling asleep to the East Texas coyotes. 

Texas Time

It's June. It can only mean one thing. It's time to make the treck to Texas. No trip home is complete without cousins, baseball, and swimming. The first 24 hours were spent teaching Evan the game of softball, watching World Series baseball, and endless games of sharks and minnows in the pool. 

 

 

 

Love/Hate Relationship

Keagan ran his last 5K of the summer this week, and through this race series, he had developed a love and a hate for running. He dreads race day but feels so accomplished when he finishes a race. He hates standing on the starting line knowing what lies ahead but loves getting to run the last lap on the track. I've told him running just might not be his "thing" because there is so much prayer and wishes for extreme weather on race day and so much disappointment when the races are never cancelled. However, he's told me over and over he wants to run track next spring and wants to run the 4x100 or the 200. When I explain that includes conditioning and, believe it, or not, running long distances, he acts like that's no big deal. 

I.Dont.Get.Him.

Last night, he had the worst race time. On the starting line, he told me he already felt stomach cramps. After the race, he told me he thought he would throw up at the first mile. He was heaving at the end of the race even though he trotted most of the circuit. He kicked hard the last 200 meters, but the last 25 meters he just couldn't do it any more. To add insult to injury, he got beaten by his middle-aged, middle school principal. 

 

Today he wants to make sure I don't miss the track team parent meeting next spring. 

Oh.Lord.Help.Me.

Family Fun Day

Because we don't have enough soccer in our lives already, we spent our one free Saturday night watching soccer. We watched the Nashville Soccer U23 team play Memphis City at Vandy. 

 

It was the perfect night to be outside and even better to see people we have met in various circles play professionally.

 

 The couple sitting in front of us was there to watch their son play. He looked to be 17 and an absolute nervous wreck. His team lost, but the parents took hundreds of pics and cheered like they were winning the whole game. Nashville won by a huge margin and must have played their entire roster that game. The last games in the season all take place when we are busy, so we were all a bit disappointed that we must wait until next year to see them play again. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this fall MLS chooses Nashville as their next expansion city!

Dad's Day

 

When General Mattis made this famous quote a few months ago, Wes made the comment it would be the best quote to put on a t-shirt. A few weeks ago I actually found it on Amazon and knew it would make the perfect Father's Day gift. When it arrived in the mail, though, Keagan refused to have anything to do with it. He thought the phrase "keep others awake at night" was in reference to Wes's snoring. It took a lot of convincement on my part to have him believe otherwise. 

Family Fun Day

Thursday was my first official day of summer; Wes had the day off. We decided late last night we would hit the road and find something to do in the great outdoors. This morning the boys were outraged that we woke them up at 0900. They were even madder to read the GPS and find our destination was 90 minutes away. Then they saw this.

 

The boys outlook quickly changed and they even had smiles. They were off running the wooded trail in no time looking for the first waterfall. 

 

They found it but not before they heard it.

 

At this point, I thought we had seen the best part. I was content with what we had seen and we took the obligatory selfie.

 

But little did we know. The best waterfall was just ahead of us. 

 

Beautiful cannot even begin to describe the view.

We hiked down to the base of the fall and splashed in the shallow creek beds. 

What a great day trip and great way to kick off summer! One more local state park remains on my bucket list. 

Time to Say Good-bye

I've never been happier to say good-bye to any sport season or team. I think we won only one game all season and that was to a team of fifth graders. I also think we accumulated more techs from the coaches than should be allowed. I'm still not quite sure who was rostered on our team because so many quit, returned, and then didn't show at games. I'm certain we went the entire season without one viable play. For many reasons it was rough.

 

 

My boy is still number one in my book, but he is closing his chapter in travel basketball with this organization.