::THURSDAY::
Do you have any idea how easy it is to fly without kids?
I finished an entire book (The Long Walk) and played lots of Jelly Splash.
50% embarrassing, 50% awesome, we planned to wear matching shirts.
Nettie's kids were so confused. Suddenly there were four duplicates of their mom.
We did a 5$ "favorite things" exchange.
Jamie - the little colander,
mine - the carabiners
Nettie - parchment paper
Emily - resistant bands
Mom - the easy off hose attachment.
It was so fun to talk/hear about how we use each of the favorite things.
We pretty much laughed non stop.
I love laughing at dumb things with my sisters. It's my favorite.
The dumber, the better.
Nettie is doing a plank/push up challenge, so this is us joining her for a day.
Good thing because we ate a lot of chocolate covered cinnamon bears and red vines.
We stayed up late every night of course.
In the morning, Calvin came bursting into our room, "Wake up you lazy bones!"
::Friday::
We went to Brenham, a small town that has the Blue Bell factory and fields of blue bonnets.
We wandered around the small antique shops.
Ok, here is an example of something strange and dumb that happened that we couldn't stop laughing at. If you are reading the story and aren't exactly sure what the punch line is...I don't know either.
For some reason as soon as Nettie threw the car into park, I made a bee line for this store.
Maybe it's because it's called Jim's Wims...maybe because it looked like a treasure hunt...I don't know.
But I go in, and everything is in random bins, covered in dust. A total treasure hunt.
I am in the market for some pulls/knobs for a desk I just repainted, so when I came upon some old coffee cans full of them, I got really excited.
I stopped everything and asked Old Man Jim if he had a bathroom.
He explained that he did, but it's out of commission, "the commode is right here (he points to a toilet next to him behind a table) waiting for my son to install. I think there is a port a potty down the street".
So I left in search of a bathroom.
That's right, I have to go to the bathroom when I'm in a treasure hunt situation: libraries, thrift stores, TJ Maxx.
So sue me. I know I'm not the only one.
Meanwhile, Emily comes into the store looking for me, and asks the man if a girl came in the store.
He says, "the girl in red pants? She went looking for a bathroom. I have a commode, but it's right here waiting for my son to install".
Emily leaves.
I return and continue my search for the perfect dust covered knob/pull.
I realize these knobs aren't very cute, but I buy three anyway. Mostly because the guy is standing there, welcoming my return from the bathroom.
I leave with my treasure and go find everyone.
Emily tells me she went looking for me, and we piece our stories together and then we laugh and we laugh.
Waiting in streets of Brenham while Emily searches for a Christmas ornament.
Next we went to the Blue Bell Factory.
Scoops of ice cream for 1$.
We didn't get listeria, so that's good.
I did get Cookies and Milk. It was the best.
Then we went out to find some blue bonnets.
Unfortunately they were on the tail end of their bloom, so there weren't carpets of them,
but it was still fun.
We stopped at the Birthplace of Texas,
Washington on the Brazoz State Park
(I think that is fun to say)
and took self timed pictures of us among the flowers.
While Nettie was setting up the camera, she was taking test shots, and captured all these of us laughing about something.
I wish I could remember what it was that was cracking us up.
I like this one.
We found an old house and took some more pictures.
I don't even remember making this pose. It just showed up on the camera like this.
Since my Aunt Marsha died, we have realized the value of getting pictures with your mom and sisters.
So we took a lot.
This day was so fun because we just kept going and going.
This is the first girls weekend that none of us had a baby in tow, so we never needed to go home and properly nap anyone or any of that that comes with having a baby.
So we went to the mall and shopped around, then made an appointment to get pedicures.
My feet are the worst, and my lady spent forever on them. See that cheese grater? It took a layer or two off my feet.
She just kept going and going. At one point she was massaging my calves with hot rocks.
It was so awesome.
Everyone else was finished, waiting for me. I was still in the chair hearing about how her mom likes her sons better than her daughters.
It was about 7pm and we were hungry. Especially Nettie.
Right about now it was raining pretty good.
We splashed through puddles in our pedicures to get to this amazing burger place.
My burger had fig and goat cheese. Mmmm.
But then the storm really picked up. It was scary out there.
We huddled inside and waited out the storm with our food.
This is probably my favorite thing we did because it was so un-mom of us to be out late in the middle of a storm eating food in a restaurant. The freedom of it was exciting.
It turns out this storm made the national news. Some husbands called and asked about the severe weather in Houston, and did we see any of it?
Oh, yes. We were out on the town in the middle of it.
We licked our plates, and eventually the storm was calm enough for us to go back to our car and get home.
At home, we stopped talking long enough to watch Maleficent.
I liked it.
::Saturday::
I loved visiting with Nettie's kids. It's fun to see them in their own home for once.
We decided we needed some exercise, so we went for a run.
We were all flexing at one time, but then only Jamie was when I snapped the pic.
Haha. Joke's on her.
We ran by this pond that has alligators in it.
See two heads?
I love this.
Nettie unloaded some unwanted scraps into my suitcase.
Please and thank you.
This was the only other time we were stopped talking...when we were listening to the teacher.
It was so fun to see how similar yet different each of our paintings were.
I love them.
For some reason we were by the teacher's desk and we noticed she has the exact same handwriting as my mom! Seriously. It was crazy.
Right?
We went to the medical district and had some delicious tacos, and then shopped some more.
Nettie as Earl Hickey
Mom as Earl Hickey.
(There is an instagram of me closing my eyes and my cousin said I was pulling an Earl Hickey. There were about 10 more pictures of me as Earl Hickey)
We drove by Rice University and the trees stretched across the road making a tree cave. It was so cool.
Later that evening we went for a walk. I love Nettie's neighborhood.
It looks like a fake movie set - so pretty and friendly.
We ended the night playing Guillotine,
and of course staying up way late pillow talking.
::Sunday::
Last day. Sad.
I did start to miss my family at this point though.
Oh yeah.
See these pants we are all wearing? Jamie owned the original pair, but we all loved them.
So after tacos yesterday we went to Athleta and would you believe, they had a few more pairs on the sales rack. The saleslady said they accidentally got put on a high shelf, and then they found them and put them out to sell. Just in time for four sisters to come in and buy them up. What luck huh?! It was meant to be.
So our trip ended with us on an airplane, trying to beat a huge storm blowing in over the airport.
We didn't beat it, so we sat in the plane on the runway for two hours before we took off.
I was just happy that I didn't have my kids with me during the delay.
Instead I just worked on finishing my book.
Ok, ok, here's me as Earl Hickey:
We had so much fun.
Thank goodness for texting because I miss them.
I stayed the night in Vegas, so Monday afternoon when I got home the kids were at school and Andrew was napping.
Jimi had the house as clean as it's ever been.
Avery got off the bus and came running over to me for a big hug.
Evan did the same when he got off his bus.
It was a fun reunion.
When I opened Andrew's door, he jumped up and down in his crib. I went and picked him up. He said clearly and calmly,
"Hi Mama."
