In July, after the week my niece Rachel spent reclaiming my office with me (yay!), we loaded up the car and headed South to take her home. (Poor Rachel. Our car is just not made for someone as tall as she is to be comfortable in the back seat - well, technically the middle, but still.)
Our first stop along 281 was Hico. This was the first time through (and there have been many) that we figured out that it's pronounced with a long "I" sound! Huh! Anyway, there's this cute little chocolate house that I've always wanted to stop at. (Verdict: tasty but pricey.)
Also, there's a little Billy the Kid museum there that we went to. Here's Greg showing his true outlaw colors.
And the kids all nice and locked up in jail.
Rachel actually took the time to read all the information instead of just playing. Go Rachel!
We were all getting really hungry and weren't seeing a lot of great food options. There was a McDonald's in Lampasas (which in retrospect we ALL wished we had gone to), but instead we found a Mexican restaurant on a side street to eat at. That was one of the worst dining experiences of my life. The servers ignored us, so we had to seat ourselves and get our own menus. We had to flag someone down to take our order, who was new and didn't get it all right. The order took about an hour to come out, and when it did, it was awful - what kind of "authentic" Mexican restaurant uses PROCESSED CHEESE? Unfortunately for Rachel, she's allergic, so she was carsick and miserable the rest of the way.
While waiting, Rachel wrote the next Great American Novel on some straw wrappers.
And Greg tried to teach Spencer to whistle.
We met up in Johnson City with Brenda, who took Rachel home, and we went on to Fredericksburg. Alas, the shops all closed within 45 minutes or so of us getting there - but that's okay, we had fun anyway.
Here's our favorite shop there: Spunky Monkey!
Nothing more fun than hanging out in a toy store.
Ooh, extendable fork. You never know what you're going to find there!
Monkey!!!! (Greg and I think monkeys are funny. We almost always give them to each other for those special occasions.) (:
Finally, we headed back to my sister Brenda's house, where we ate some yummy hot dogs and enjoyed visiting.
Spencer loves their tree out front.
And their kitties.
Rachel missed her kitties while she was gone.
Our car! We still love it.
When it was dark enough, William got out - the fireworks!!!
Poor Rachel still didn't feel great.
I think Colin was excited, though.
What is it about the fascination of boys with fire?
Sparklers!!! It's fun to try to write your name with them.
Look . . . it's so . . . shiny . . .
Look - a ghost! Eek!
Some sweet mother-daughter time. (I kind of look forward to the day when my kids are taller than me!)
Our first stop along 281 was Hico. This was the first time through (and there have been many) that we figured out that it's pronounced with a long "I" sound! Huh! Anyway, there's this cute little chocolate house that I've always wanted to stop at. (Verdict: tasty but pricey.)
Also, there's a little Billy the Kid museum there that we went to. Here's Greg showing his true outlaw colors.
And the kids all nice and locked up in jail.
Rachel actually took the time to read all the information instead of just playing. Go Rachel!
We were all getting really hungry and weren't seeing a lot of great food options. There was a McDonald's in Lampasas (which in retrospect we ALL wished we had gone to), but instead we found a Mexican restaurant on a side street to eat at. That was one of the worst dining experiences of my life. The servers ignored us, so we had to seat ourselves and get our own menus. We had to flag someone down to take our order, who was new and didn't get it all right. The order took about an hour to come out, and when it did, it was awful - what kind of "authentic" Mexican restaurant uses PROCESSED CHEESE? Unfortunately for Rachel, she's allergic, so she was carsick and miserable the rest of the way.
While waiting, Rachel wrote the next Great American Novel on some straw wrappers.
And Greg tried to teach Spencer to whistle.
We met up in Johnson City with Brenda, who took Rachel home, and we went on to Fredericksburg. Alas, the shops all closed within 45 minutes or so of us getting there - but that's okay, we had fun anyway.
Here's our favorite shop there: Spunky Monkey!
Nothing more fun than hanging out in a toy store.
Ooh, extendable fork. You never know what you're going to find there!
Monkey!!!! (Greg and I think monkeys are funny. We almost always give them to each other for those special occasions.) (:
Finally, we headed back to my sister Brenda's house, where we ate some yummy hot dogs and enjoyed visiting.
Spencer loves their tree out front.
And their kitties.
Rachel missed her kitties while she was gone.
Our car! We still love it.
When it was dark enough, William got out - the fireworks!!!
Poor Rachel still didn't feel great.
I think Colin was excited, though.
What is it about the fascination of boys with fire?
Sparklers!!! It's fun to try to write your name with them.
Look . . . it's so . . . shiny . . .
Look - a ghost! Eek!
Some sweet mother-daughter time. (I kind of look forward to the day when my kids are taller than me!)
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