Mommy In Charge: Easter Road Trip

I decided that it was about time to go to Dallas for Josh's next four day weekend.
I was so appreciative of how understanding he was about going to Midland the other weekend (still need to blog about that). Also, since I was able to spend time with my sister I wanted him to be able to spend time with his family. So I asked him what his next four day was and then asked if it was a holiday. He said he didn't think it was and it didn't even register with me. I suggested we go ahead and go to Dallas that weekend. He was so happy, and I was happy that he was happy. What I didn't realize until later was that I had agreed to go during Easter weekend. I was crushed, but I couldn't tell my poor husband that I changed my mind. I had Easter all planned out for months. I had visions of her Easter basket...the best Easter basket ever! It would contain the biggest chocolate bunny I could find and cute little yellow Peeps. I was so excited about this basket and could just see the look on her face first thing in the morning when she saw it. Not to mention dying Easter eggs and of course the hunt for eggs that would happen before getting ready to go to church. Last year we has so much fun and I know she'd just have a blast this time around. I knew my plans wouldn't happen. Of course they didn't. We were so rushed the entire weekend and never had time to shop for her Easter basket before we left. By the time we did get to shop for her basket it was 10pm on Saturday...Walmart was cleaned out. It was as if there was an impending natural disaster and we got to Walmart after the stampede of people coming to hoard food and supplies, only in the Easter basket variety. I looked for plastic eggs since we didn't have time to dye any--no dice. All-in-all it was a good weekend though. We had a great time. I found myself making mental notes of the thoughts I wanted to blog about during that weekend. Here are the ones I managed to remember.

On the drive...
We finally left at 7pm on Thursday and Josh was so tired he kept falling asleep so I ended up driving 10 of the 12 hours it took us to get there. Two sleeping babies and a sleeping husband = a lot of flatulence. I was gagging for about 2 hour straight at one point. At least it kept me up. Thankfully, Josh was able to take most of the drive home so I could relax and pay him back. Oh, and I got a ticket. I couldn't even last one full year in the States without getting a ticket! It tainted my whole trip. Especially since I had saved us $180 this month by finding mistakes in different bills and now it's just a waste.

On the in-laws...
We had a great time with Josh's family. Jaycie is still asking for Granny, Granna, and David. Her little cousin, David, and her had a good time...although they had different ideas of what made a fun game. I had an especially good time visiting with Granny while Josh was fixing her computer. Seeing that Jaycie and Jacobe have such an extended family and so many grandparents and great grandparents and great great grandparents who love her so much touches my heart. I'm so glad they have something that I didn't while growing up.

On my friends & family...
We stayed one night at Josh's parents' house and the other 2 at my "brother" and "sister's" house. When I lived in Dallas I helped start a church plant with my brother's best friend, and of course my brother. There were a few of us who were there from the beginning and they became like family to me. The pastor of the church, Pastor Nelson Johnson (my brother's best friend) became like a brother to me and his wife a dear friend and sister. I like to stay with them while we visit because our schedules are so hectic that we can usually only visit during the late hours. Our kids call each other "cousin" and love each other to death. They're all older than Jaycie and she prefers to play with older children. Their daughter is a year older than Jaycie and they were BFF's right away. Jaycie has never played so well with someone so close to her age. It was so nice to be able to spend even just a little time with all the people who were such a huge part of my life for those 3 years. I miss them all.

On our next visit...
The next time we visit will be on our way up to KY when we leave the Army. I plan on making it a longer stay so that we can visit with everyone. I promised several people we'd dedicate time just for them while we were there and I do truly want to spend time with them. So I think I'll be making a schedule that isn't so easy to defer from--and I hate schedules! I'm thinking of a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo with Josh's immediate family, a special luncheon with Josh's Grandma and Granny, dinner with Donniel and Burnadette and their handsome boys (and David and his lovely wife, Joy, if they're free), a play date with LaTrease and Mary and their kids, Six Flags fun with Josh's Aunt Mel and David, a trip to Sulphur Springs to visit Josh's paternal side of the family (especially Kevin and Grandmother Tanton), and of course time for Jaycie to play with her "cousins" the Johnson's. I'm sure I'm leaving people out who I'll think of later. But that's a pretty busy visit so I'll have to make sure to have plenty of time to get it all done.

And now to the pictures... They're a little out of order