We've just gotten home from a whirlwind trip to one of our dream destinations, Texas. We surprised the Girls, told them the day before, and headed off for 2 weeks. It was a great trip filled with many new experiences, lotsa giggling, smiles and fun family time.
A week was spent in the small town of Gruene, and another week in Galveston. So many stories to tell, but I don't want to bore you with the details. Instead, I'll let my pictures do the talking...
At our new favorite restaurant...Rudy's. The best BBQ around!
I had to take a picture of the bathrooms, 'cuz they were so cool!
One of the things that we loved about Texas is the pride that Texans have of their state. So proud, in fact, that we found many food items that they customized to show their pride.
We spent a day at Sea World where petting the dolphins was a huge highlight...
....as well as the shows they put on. The show, "Azul" was especially impressive! With divers and dolphins and parrots....it was amazing!
Another day was spent touring San Antonio, which included seeing The Alamo...
...as well as taking in the River Walk in downtown. Here's a great picture of my folks, who joined us on our trip.
We spent a (too short) day at Round Top during Antiques week. I had many, many meltdowns while looking at all the cool things that I couldn't bring home.
Our mode of transportation was "The Hutterite Van", which was very roomy, and so (not) fun to drive. However, it worked well for us - and all our luggage
Round Top really was amazing, with miles and miles of tents and dealers and antiques and crafts, the majority of which couldn't come home with me due to lack of space. I told Art that the next time we go, I'm bringing home a semi-load!
The first week was spent in Gruene, which is a great little small Texas town. Here was the general store, which of course, we had to have ice cream at (a few times!) Gruene was also about 10 miles from the biggest outlet mall this girl has ever seen (much to my Dad's chagrin!).
We ate dinner one night at The Gristmill, which had the *best* ribs ever! It was a really neat restaurant, in the old cotton mill on the edge of the river. Beautiful!
The second week we spent in Galveston, where we enjoyed the warm, warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico....
The last 2 days of our trip, we visited with some friends in Houston, did a wee bit more shopping which The Girls were very, very excited about - because it was at the American Girl store!
...we ate lots of bbq....
...saw the Fort Worth Stock Yards, which are the historic site where the stockyards and packing houses used to be...
....and where every day, twice a day, they run their small herd of Texas Longhorns down main street.
We flew home, after enjoying a little more than 2 weeks away.
It was a super amazing holiday, where we sure enjoyed seeing some of the many sights of Texas. Now the only question is, "When do we get to go back?!"
