Texas – my birthplace, my heart home, where I’ll live again one day, probably where I’ll be buried.
Hodge Podge - agglomeration, alphabet soup, assortment, collage, jumble, medley, menagerie, miscellanea, mishmash, mixed bag, montage, muddle, patchwork, potpourri, ragbag, smorgasbord…..
That’s what this post will be. A hodge podge of thoughts and pictures from our recent trip home to Texas. I probably should take more time to organize my thoughts and photos from this trip but it was even more of a whirlwind than our last trip. Since this blog acts as our family journal of sorts. I need to get this one done so it will be documented. And I need to move on to a few other posts that are floating around in my head.
We did have a great trip. Our daughter graduated from University and we were so glad we could be there for that! Of course, we wouldn’t have missed it.
We shopped. As soon as we landed in Houston, we went to check in at our hotel. Anna and I didn’t even get out of the car. Within a few short hours of landing in Texas we had our bellies full of Tex Mex and our Target bags in the back of our car.
We enjoyed family and friend time. I didn’t take enough photos because I guess I was too busy soaking in the moment or jet lagged. (I’m not sure in a 2 week trip that we even have time to get over jet lag.) I regret not taking more photos but I will always remember those who made this trip special for us. I did manage to get a few good ones, though.
We cooked. We made a Thai meal at the Hintze’s and we made Onde Onde (the photo of the green balls) to share at our family Christmas in Dallas. Both were yummy!
We spent Christmas in a cozy cabin with a fireplace that we actually got to use in Gruene, Texas. What a treat! We got to eat at the Gristmill and do some shopping in the Country Store. We also spent Christmas Eve in nearby San Antonio eating our favorite Mexican food, seeing the lights on the River Walk and even caught a movie together.
Anna got her Soda Stream. It’s THE ONLY thing she wanted for Christmas. Tori, Jakeb and Tori’s boyfriend, Austin, gave it to her. She was super happy! However, when we were packing to head back, we realized it had a little ‘gas rocket’ full of carbonation which is not allowed on airlines. We sadly gave Anna the choice to leave it in Texas and use it when we move home (who knows when that will be) or return it and get something else we can take back on the plane. Talk about the opposite of super happy… We did what any responsible parent and traveler would do. We decided to take our chances and see what happened. We prepared Anna for the worst (it not making it to Singapore and her mom and dad being put in jail) and put the whole machine in a small piece of luggage with a few other things that we didn’t mind being confiscated if it should come to that. The bag only weighed 35 lbs. We sacrificed 15 pounds of goodies for that soda stream! And to our surprise, it made it without issue. We even found the little piece of paper that says our bag got inspected so it obviously was looked through. Anyway, her precious soda stream made it. YAY! I’m not sure she’s ever prayed so hard for something. And I’m pretty sure we will not press our luck on anything like that again. Gum is one thing but gas cylinders… quite another.
So here are the images. Hodge podge for sure… it’s just the way life is most days.
