tejas

I'm a terrible blogger. I have been procrastinating my Texas update all day. I'm just so tired after our trip and in a little bit of a funk being back to work after spending four glorious days with my family. This happens every time. I told my students this morning that homesickness will never go away... even when you're grown and married. You're still going to want to be with your mommy and daddy.

We had such a great weekend! I already mentioned meeting the fabulous Mojito Maven on Wednesday night right after we arrived in Dallas.

On Thursday, my Dad and I went out on the Katy Trail with Beaux, the most wonderful dog in the world. Then we walked to the Village Burger Bar and I had a fantastic turkey burger. Todd and I dropped my dad off at work for a meeting, then we went to my mom's store to pick out some fabric for our living room furniture that we're having recovered. (more on that later)

That night, we packed a picnic and went to the Arboretum for a picnic and big band music. It was so much fun! The pumpkins were everywhere and it was such a perfect night.

photos of Todd and me and my mom and me at the Arboretum

On Friday morning, my mom fixed her amazing banana nut stuffed French toast. If that was all we did for the whole trip it would have been enough. Amazing! We went on to the Texas State Fair and prepared to stuff ourselves. Did you know they have valet parking at the Texas State Fair? We went to the dog show where the dogs had to basically do the long jump into a big pool of water, then we watched them run through those poles and go as fast as they can around the barrel. After that show, we watched Dancin' with the Dogs. I must have really high expectations because I wasn't all that impressed. My dogs could have done that. All but two of those dogs were on leashes and had to be lured with treats. Anyway, I digress. We stayed to watch the pig races, which was down right hilarious. We watched the Marine drum and bugle corp play some amazing tunes and went on to eat more food.

We all had corny dogs and French fries. Then we stopped off to split a fried cheesecake-- delicious! After that, my Dad wanted a turkey leg. I'd never had a turkey leg before, but it was definitely my favorite thing of the day.

before

after

Then we decided to try the fried grilled cheese sandwich. This was pretty good, too, but it definitely didn't need the dipping sauce. We washed this down with a funnel cake that we all shared. I wanted to try so much more, but I couldn't handle it. We were done.

My brother met us at the Fair after he drove in from Louisiana and I was so happy to see him! I hadn't seen him since we rode to south Mississippi together to pick up Fiona. His hair has grown so much and he has a little bit of a beard. I really didn't recognize him... what a strange feeling!

On Saturday, we spent the entire day watching football. One game after the other. We pulled ourselves together to get ready and head to Tillman's Roadhouse. Upon my friend, Cyndi's recommendation, we had the Trio of Fries and I had the chipotle ribs and white mac 'n cheese for my entree. So yummy!!! We skipped dessert because we were basically still full from Friday's State Fair adventures.

We managed to huddle together for one big family photo after eating at Tillman's. My punk brother was tickling me to get me to "smile for real" and I ended up all squinty.

It was a fantastic weekend and I can't wait to do it again!