Grandma Cuca and Care Bear bonding
We took Grandma to the movies.
We watched In the Heights,
which was perfect because it has a lot of Spanish in it,
fun music and dancing. All of us enjoyed it.
It's rated PG-13 and Care Bear said,
"That was kinda pushing it on
whether it was appropriate for my age."
Agreed.
Then we went out for rolled ice cream.
So good!
Our portions were BIG and I told Grandma,
"I'm going to have leftovers to take home."
But then I just kept eating.
Good thing, because that ice cream would NOT
have survived the drive home.
This was our first time seeing 100+
temperatures this year.
Then it was time for Grandma's party!
It was a surprise from her.
We had to sneak around to get everything done.
Irene and Caroline put together this super cute
cupcake display. Didn't they do a good job?
The hall that they rented had a max capacity of 60
and we had a little over 50 people show up to celebrate.
I was SO happy to see Tia Elodia!
It's funny to see your 7th grader
towering over adults.
We did NOT get our height genes
from Gigi's side of the family.
Paul and Mark and their families made it
in to town for the party.
Hooray!
More cousin time!
One of Grandma's closest friends, Janet.
We were just missing Celeste!
And Andrew.
Grandma's old neighbors from San Saba.
The whole crew!
With Tia Elodia and Tia Juana,
two of her sisters-in-law
With her girls, Irene,
Susana (who is like an adopted daughter),
and Maria/Ann/Mom/Gigi
With almost all of her grandkids--
just missing Brandon and Whit
With Susana's family:
Rick, Jason, Nathan, and his wife
With her Sister Susana/Mary and her husband, Kenneth.
More family
With Irene, Bill, Courtney and her family
Grandma with two of her sisters-in-law,
Elodia and Juana
Susana and I were matchy-matchy :)
Cousins!
Marcos, Sydney, Colt, Caroline, Paul, Carson, Trinity,
Gabriel, Olivia, Ami, and Quinn
Love spending time with my sister!
Teenagers
Dairy Queen
Mark made some sort of gaming system with Raspberry Pi
that he hooked up to Mom and dad's tv.
This was a super fun street fighter/dr. Mario type game.
Care Bear and I rented a super cute AirBnB in Abilene
that we loved.
But it wasn't in the best part of town.
And one day this man was laying down in the yard.
What. the. heck.
That night I took the big kids out to an escape room.
It was so fun!
They were really good.
I was the weak link. Ha!
We had to ask for several hints and we barely finished
with three minutes to spare! Phew!
On Sunday morning, C and I took Grandma Cuca to mass.
Caroline loves mass.
I love being with Grandma.
And it's inspiring to me to be with hundreds of other
people who are taking time out of their Sabbath day
to worship.
It's fun to see hymns that we have in common,
like "Come, ye thankful people come."
Mark and Taylor brought their little dog, churro.
So cute.
And then on Monday morning, it was time for us to hit the road!
Drove through Dallas.
We were wishing we could see the Aagards in
Arkansas, but it didn't work out. Boo.
Instead we stopped in Little Rock and got pedicures.
Yes! Perfect fun stop towards the end of a road trip!
Crop duster
We stayed the night in Memphis.
Tuesday's fun stop was in Nashville at the
Gaylord Opryland Resort.
It was perfect because everything was indoors,
so we didn't have to fight the heat.
They have fun fountains and pretty gardens.
We took a little boat road on the man-made river there.
It was overpriced and short.
I wouldn't do it again.
But it was kinda fun and unique.
Fun indoor waterfall.
Then we explored some of the gardens.
Thought of Whitney with these huge music notes.
More waterfalls.
Cool koi pond.
Then we were on the final stretch!
I always think of little baby Whitney when I see
trucks full of chickens.
She used to LOVE them and we would say,
"A WHOLE chicken!"
Back in good ol' NC!
Beautiful sunset to greet us.
Home sweet home!
I'm so happy we could be with Grandma to celebrate her big day. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. And I'm grateful that so many could gather we with us. We were only missing Celeste, Andrew, B, and W.
