Family is the Best

I love my parents and I was so lucky to have them out here all last week for Thanksgiving.  They were kind enough to drive the truck my grandmother gave us (can I say again how awesome my family is?) all the way from California.  They arrived Monday afternoon, picked up Kylie from my sister-in-law's, and came and ate lunch at the restaurant where I work.  It was so good seeing them after almost two months away.  After they ate they took Kylie to the park and after I got off we all went and picked Rex up from work.  We then went to, like, THE BEST comfort food restaurant ever.  Fried catfish and chicken fried steak and the most wonderful garlic mashed potatoes ever.  I also found out how to get Kylie to eat green beans, just cook 'em in bacon.  She gobbled down all of my mom's beans in no time flat. 

The next day Rex had to go to work :(  so we hung out with him in the morning and grabbed a quick bite to eat before he had to go in.  Then we spent some time wandering around the outlets by his work, where of course we had to go get some Blue Bell ice cream and pick up some Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for later.  My dad took Kylie to the Disney store where she picked up a little stuffed lightning McQueen, since she is oh so obsessed with cars right now.  We taught her how to make car sounds and it is her new favorite thing. 

Kylie was loving that my parents were staying in a hotel since that meant she could take a bath in a real bathtub every night they were out here.  She absolutely hates the kitchen sink and the house only has a stand up shower, so she and my mom got to spend about a half an hour every night splashing around.

On Wednesday Rex headed off to work again, boo.  The rest of us headed into San Antonio to see the Alamo and the River Walk.  The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny and in the low seventies all day.  We walked around enjoying the sights with Kylie avoiding every picture I tried to take.  We ate at a great bbq place right on the river and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Thursday morning my mom and I (well, mainly my mom since I was battling a bad cold all week) baked scalloped potatoes and a pecan pie.  Then we all headed over to my sister-in-laws where we were stuffed to capacity with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, fruit salad, and four different kinds of pies.  I told my sis in law that she needs to do Thanksgiving every year, ha! After dinner Rex had to head into work again so my parents, Kylie, and I took a plate of food over to Rex's grandma at her nursing home.  She was quite pleased to have some company and devoured her food.

I skipped all the crazy Black Friday sales to spend the last evening with my parents and Kylie at the hotel.  Then they left early on Friday morning, and there were many tears involved.  Ky and I then headed back home and back in bed where all of us slept into 11:30.
I miss my parents something fierce, but I am so glad that we got to spend that short week with them.  And for y'all with family living away, here's a great idea for kids to remember them with. My parents took two of there school pictures (they both are teachers) and then laminated them for Kylie.  This way she can see their faces all the time and also carry them around with her, which she loves since she isn't allowed to touch picture frames and all.  Ky loves it and says ga-pa every time she sees them.