Catching Up - Baby's First Trip to Texas

Without much of a break, we headed from Thanksgiving weekend to our first trip to Texas. Ripley and I flew out on Wednesday - they gave Chad a gate pass to get through security, even though he wasn't flying with us, so he was able to help us get settled. She did pretty darn good on the plane. I put her in the wrap and she slept, but she wouldn't let me sit down. Fortunately, it was smooth flying so we were able to stand in the aisle for about 1 1/2 hours of the flight while she dozed. I used my early present from Chad, an Ipod Touch to watch a couple of TV shows so it really wasn't all that bad.

We landed in San Antonio where Grandma Janet picked us up and took us to Cotulla to see Aunt Jill. We had a fun meal, stared at their Christmas tree, and visited Ben's the next day (Thursday). A short trip. but it was enough time to forget our snap and go stroller! We've been told it has found a good new home.

After San Antonio was Round Rock were we stayed with MiMi (Flossie) and met up with Aunt Jenny. Ripley also got to meet her Aunt Kelley, Uncle Dale and cousin Sara. Chad flew in on Friday an we stayed one more night before heading over to Hilltop on Saturday. We got to meet Ripley's new cousin Eric and see Emily, Freddy, Emily Marie, Jamie and Austin. Mom felt under the weather on Saturday night (we seem to bring sickness with us wherever we go), but Emily spearheading the production of some wonderful homemade flour tortillas, so we all ate well.

On Sunday, we drove down to The Woodlands where we stopped by to see Grandma Potter. I am pretty sure that neither she or Ripley will remember they met, but it meant so much to me that we have a few photos to show that they did. We'll be able to show the pictures to baby girl when she is older and tell her stories of her great grandmother.

Next stop was Uncle Jay and Aunt Marianne's where Matt and Margie joined us for some barbeque and soup. Ripley enjoyed looking at all of the trees in their backyard. She was a bit skittish around Uncle Jay at first, but finally warmed up to him. We have pictures now, so we'll try to show her the Texas family so the next time we visit, she'll know everyone.

Our last stop was Aunt Judy and Uncle Benny's in Pearland. Once again, we had a lovely meal and enjoyed visiting with everyone. Little girl really enjoyed hanging out with her second cousin Chelsea - they were even wearing the same color green! Ripley even got to open some early presents...and seemed to enjoy the paper as much as anything.

It was quite the whirlwind, but we enjoyed every minute of it and are so glad that Ripley got to meet everyone. I am not sure when we'll be back, but I think little girl would love a summer trip where she could float down the river.