The Lone Star state

Texas is yet another state that has avoided my visit for too long. Our good friends The Flemings moved there in 2008, just days shy of Hayden's birth, and we haven't seen them since. We had some time to fill in January and no New Year's plans, plus Tommy would soon be deploying so in October we decided to book tickets to go visit them!

I booked our flight super early Thursday morning to maximize our time with our friends, which proved to be a serious error in judgment. I forgot what leaving the house at 4am with an exhausted toddler was like! Between that and stopping for gas, the cold cold weather, the park and ride, the buses that didn't STOP to pick us UP at the park and ride, and EVERY other person arriving early and American Airlines closing the flight early, we missed our 6:20am flight to Dallas/Ft. Worth. I was so bummed! I have been flying 18 years and have never missed a flight! (Though nearly, one time when Gene took a shower in PA, but that's another story) We were put on standby for the 7:45 am flight and waited at the gate. Luckily we had a fully charged portable DVD player for Hayden, who was really more interested in running amok through the terminal. Wild man.

7:45 came and went without us on a plane. The next available flight wasn't until 10:20, which means we had a good three hours to sit and wait. And hope. Hayden and Jay ran around, I texted Dandy to keep her updated with our current situation, and I hoped and prayed to be on the next flight. I don't know how much longer I could have hung out in the airport! Luckily, there were seats available for us and a young man even switched seats with Jay so we could all sit together. However, this was only getting us to Dallas and from there we would be on standby again for our flight to Austin. Dandy decided instead to make the 2+ hour drive to Dallas to pick us up instead of us waiting around all day for her to possibly have to do it anyway. We didn't have bags to check, thanks to my light packing (for once) and Texas' mild winter weather.

Dandy and Cali were there to pick us up, and Hayden was excited to meet Cali and to ride in Dandy's truck. We rode down from Dallas to Ft. Hood and noticed that Texas is very brown and flat compared to North Carolina. We stopped at Whataburger, something we don't have here and have heard a lot about. We were at Dandy's house in about 3 hours and Hayden was really excited to be out of his carseat! The Flemings have a swingset outside that Hayden was really fond of, so we spent much of our trip pushing him outside on the swings.

We didn't have much planned for the trip, other than ringing in the New Year and seeing old friends. We spent time hanging out and catching up and letting the kids play and of course, eating Texas food! We had a ton of mexican food and if it were up to me, we would have had more! The kids had a great time getting to know each other and playing games and being outside. I can't believe how much they've grown! We got to see some old friends from Germany who are still in the Army and are in the continuing cycle of deployments. That was definitely a contributing factor to Jay's exit from the Army, so we know what they are going through!

We went after dinner one night to see the lights at Belton Lake, which are very similar to the ones at Tanglewood but with a Texas twist! We visited Ft. Hood and saw the memorial to those that lost their lives in the November 2009 shooting. We saw where Cali goes to school, and Dandy & I took the girls to see "Tangled", which we all enjoyed.

On our last day, we packed up and headed to the airport extra early to avoid our earlier fate. We were checked in and sitting at our gate 90 minutes before our plane was scheduled to leave. Hayden had a great time looking at all the airplanes taking off and landing, and of course, running around the terminal. We arrived safely in Dallas and quickly boarded to go to Raleigh. We arrived at our car in the park and ride just after 7pm as scheduled, and headed back home. We were definitely worn out from all the traveling, but so glad we were able to see our old friends!