More Notes from a Large State

Our plane out of Atlanta actually left before the time noted on my ticket. Maybe they knew we were all there? So, we arrived in San Antonio about half an hour before we thought we would. It worked out well because we had plenty of time to amble along the concourse to baggage claim. Isn’t that what you are supposed to do in Texas? Amble along? Oh, that reminds me of a good Dubya quote: “Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called ‘walking.’”

The girls could not believe how close baggage claim was. Or that we did not need to take a train to reach it. And they could not believe how long we had to wait for our bags. And wait some more. And then the bags started showing up on the conveyor belt. But not our bags. And then the belt broke. And we had to go to another part of baggage claim to find our bags. And wait some more. But I am pure genius when it comes to bags. As all our bags are pink. The pretty pink ones in that sea of black suitcases. They were easy to find…when they showed up. And we went outside to wait for Cindy to pick us up.

When we got to her house, first thing we had to do was re-introduce the kids. The last time my two girls saw Cindy’s two girls was about 4 years ago. They all hit it off famously. They spent the week making movies on the Play station 3; indoctrinating sharing the Nintendo DS; swimming; eating (I swear, I am raising a pair of teenage boys rather than tween girls); playing with kitties; and just some general mayhem (as opposed to specific mayhem).

We set the tone for the week quickly by making brownies on Saturday afternoon. The girls immediately got silly and pretended to put goldfish in the mix.

(Cindy's daughter Caroline and Katie)

I think everyone had a turn to stir.

(Cindy Sue)

And demand to lick the bowl. You say brownie, I say salmonella.

We made éclair cake one day. We made Schwan’s Monster cookies another day. (Do ya’ll order from Schwan’s? I’m feelin’ kinda strange in wanting to put together an order of cookies and ice cream!) And we even talked about driving three hours to go on the Blue Bell ice cream tour. Notice, we just talked about it. Thought about it. I think we were intoxicated by all the sugar we had been consuming. Someone said “ice cream” and we were ready to sign up. But, the sugar rush soon passed, and reason returned. So, instead, we went to Cindy’s parent’s house and ate their ice cream.

(Ashley and her mint chocolate chip)

(Ooops. Madalyn got a brain freeze)

We spent quite a few mornings at the pool. With Cindy and I trying to keep cool and the girlies playing games. Mine introduced Caroline and Ashley into all sorts of pool games. And games they play in the car that they somehow adapted for the pool. And then there is the requisite game of carry your sister on your back. One of the highlights of the week for the girls was playing with the cats. Cindy – who is allergic – and who was never a fan of cats – has found herself the proud “owner” of three kitties.And…during our visit we were house sitting for one of Cindy’s neighbors – so the girls had another set of three cats to play with. Oh…and a dog at each house. Now, we do have a cat at our house. But it’s my mom’s cat. And he is afraid of everyone. Except my mom. You’d think after living with my girls for 8 years, he’d be used to them. The novelty is that these Texas cats are friendly. And like to be petted. And played with. (See one of our cute pink bags?)

And then…to cap it all off…when we got home, my mom said that her cat is lonely. Which my selective hearing children heard from two stories away…and came bounding into the room to know when we were going to get two new kittens…and launched themselves into huge discussion on possible names depending on the coloring of said kitten. Ummm. Hello. Tap, tap. Is this thing on? Did I say we were getting a new kitten? Much less two?! I think I need some peanut m&ms.

Tune in next time for our field trip and a short adventure with Johnny Depp…