US Holiday, Part One

For a wannabe writer who is a frequent traveler, you may have noticed I have been quite remiss about actually writing about traveling. My main excuse is that since we take close to a thousand pictures each trip, it takes some time to get it organized. But the real truth is, I am mainly just lazy. I have had the pics from our January trip ready to put into a post since the end of February, I just have not written the commentary. Anyhow, I will try to remedy that over the next few weeks. Realistically I should do the earlier trip first, but since I know family would really like to see the pictures from the April trip, I think I will prioritize it. It will take at least three posts to cover it, so bear with me.

Our April trip was our annual trek back to the States. Last year, after determining how wonderful it was to just go for an actual vacation and have family join us, we decided that is how we would always like to travel. The catch in that decision is that my mother is not physically able to travel, so we knew that at least part of the holiday needed to be spent in Texas with her. So we left here on Thursday to spend Easter weekend with family in Texas before traveling up to Branson, Missouri where family and friends were invited to come and join us for the remaining 12 days.

In Texas, we stay at my Dad’s house. We spend mornings with my Mom since that is her best time of day before she becomes to weary to talk and then spend afternoon and evenings with Dad. We had lovely visits all around. Being there Easter weekend meant that we were able to celebrate Easter with my mother at her church, as well as celebrate my Dad’s birthday.

Here are a few of the pictures from the weekend:



My *nephew* (step-brother’s son) celebrated his birthday that weekend with a Thomas the Train ride and party. Such fun!


The highlight for my girls is always the trip out to the farm to drive the tractor with Grandad!



Just a tad windy...


My Dad and his birthday cake


Some of my favorite people!


Auntie Namesake


Cousins


Reading to the Nieces and Nephews


Easter Dresses


Family on Easter


Grandma with the girls at church


I seem to not have taken a picture of *my* highlight of the trip (besides being with family of course). Dix’s dear friend cooked a Mexican feast for us one of the nights there. I would have happily brought her back to England with me just to cook that amazing food. (Unfortunately, she would not be able to get the ingredients here.) Anyhow, I learned that she is one of my faithful readers and I just wanted to say again how.much.I.totally.loved.every.bite. *sigh* *drool*

Monday morning came around very quickly, and it was time for us to fly to Tulsa and collect our rental car and drive to Branson. We left with fewer tears this trip, since we knew Dad, Dix and Amy were joining us in a few days. More on the Branson part of the trip soon.