so good to be home!

We have just returned from spending two wonderful weeks in Texas, visiting Derrick's family. The highlight of the trip was celebrating his father's 80th birthday. Six of the seven kids attended the birthday celebration/reunion and most of the grandchildren. I have so many impressions and memories of the trip that it would be hard to describe everything. Here are some snippets of random thoughts that went through my head while we were gone.

• We spent the reunion weekend in a cabin at Lake LBJ, about an hour NW of Austin. Unlike lakes in Georgia, which are really wide, the lakes in Texas seem to be glorified rivers. You can easily see to the other side.
  
• On the way there, we drove through Bee Cave, Texas. I'd like to live there, if only to say, "I live in Bee Cave, Texas."
  
• Of the 19 people sleeping under one roof, only three of us were not direct descendants of Jim (Derrick's Dad) - Derrick's mom, Wilma; his SIL, Karen; and me. That means everyone else there had Jim to thank for their life. And, missing from our group was one son and five grandchildren. WOW!
• Derrick's family is lots of fun. I especially love to see the generations interact. One favorite moment of mine was discovering Scott upstairs with his much older cousin Stinson (age 17). Stinson was letting Scott strum the guitar while he played the chords. Scott was in heaven!
  
• Another favorite moment was watching cousin Ashley push Andrew on the rope tire swing. There were always extra sets of eyes on the boys and extra entertainment from others, which really gave Derrick and me time to relax.
  
• The biggest laugh of the weekend was watching Scott swing off of the rope into the lake. While most people aim to let go at the highest point and make a big splash, Scott hung on with the "death grip 2000" until the rope came to a complete stop and slid down into the water. He just loved it, though. I guess I should be so thankful to have such a careful son. Somehow, I don't think that Andrew will be quite so cautious when his time comes.
  
• 105 degrees is REALLY hot, especially while pregnant. That was the temperature while we were in Austin. It was slightly cooler at the lake and much cooler in the lake.
  
• Have you ever heard 20+ people play "Happy Birthday" on Kazoos? Neither had I until this weekend.
  
• We really missed that Geoffrey wasn't there, but we enjoyed seeing all of Derrick's other siblings - 3 brothers and 2 sisters.
  
• While we were reunioning with our family, the dogs were having a mini-reunion at Stephanie's house in Austin. Farley spent the weekend with five of his "cousin" dogs. He seemed to have a good time being with the other dogs, but it sure did wear him out.
  

We spent time on either side of the weekend visiting with Derrick's parents at their house. Overall it was a great trip. I'll post some pictures on a separate post. I just returned from Sam's with 119 pictures taken in June and July, which I plan to put in my photo album. Don't worry...they won't all make the blog. You'll have to visit us to see the full selection. I'll just pick out some of the best.

With the exception of a weekend trip to Atlanta in Sept., we are staying at home until baby "Ceiling Tile" is born. (Maybe that will give us some time to come up with a name for her.) It is so good to be home!