The end of the school year was a flurry of activity. Reese finished up baseball season with a perfect losing record. The team really improved despite the losses. They had fun and more importantly, learned a little more about life, having to work together and be dedicated and loyal to a team. We were really proud of Reese for sticking through it. Now he's looking forward to fall ball and going in to middle school.
Trae finished up his first year of Kindergarten and T-ball and loved it. Trae man loves everything. He is the best kid that way. Anything and everything is the "best day ever" for him. It doesn't matter what it is. He was one of 3 kids to be selected to all stars. So much fun. He already went to 2 Vacation Bible schools this summer. Again, it was the "best summer EV-ER!" so far.
Blair Noel played soccer and was great! She really enjoyed it and just looked the part of a soccer player. She also finished up her 2nd (3rd? Oh my gosh, I can't remember) year of Girl Scouts. I hope she sticks with it. I only made it to 9th grade but loved it all those years. She's heading into 3rd grade next school year and was a favorite among her teachers for being that one that always helps others in class. She is now giving Trae summer school lessons at the kitchen table. We are getting her room together this summer. I bought her new curtains and we went to Sherwin-Williams and gathered sample colors for her walls. She really wanted blue, just blue, so we came up with a nice color scheme that I think will be really pretty, one that's not
all blue.
Charley went to church Young Women's camp for a week and then on to Girl's state for a week after that. The weekend she came home I didn't even see her. She was so exhausted. A good, had-a-blast exhaustion. She was president of her Seminary class this past school year. Her teacher said she was the only one that comes in happy that early in the morning. It's always been that way. As a baby I would go to pick her up out of her crib and she'd be lying there, smiling, waiting for me. Friends are really important to her so she is spending a lot of time with them this summer before her last year of high school when she won't have as much time to hang out.
Unfortunately last week, we made an unexpected trip to Texas for Jon's father's funeral. It was quite a shock but Jon's at peace with it now. The good thing is that you reconnect with family and make plans for future visits and not just at funerals, which seems to be the way it's been the last 10 years.
The service itself was nice, not very long. Jon recalled some funny stories and moments with his dad. One was when they were living in Laredo and Jon, at age 4, challenged him to eat a dog biscuit. They both sat on the back porch and ate some. He recalled his dad's quirky sense of humor, how he was so proper and had a great work ethic. And he highlighted his father's protectiveness of Jon's mother and the tender and loving way her treated her. That's where Jon learned it.
We all went to a restaurant afterward and sat for hours; laughing and mingling. Just the way dad would have wanted. Charley and Belén could not attend which was disappointing but that's the way things go sometimes.
While we were in Texas, we made sure it was fun for the kids. I took them down to the Riverwalk while Jon and his siblings worked on boxing up their father's belongings. I spent many summers in San Antonio visiting my grandma and cousins and the Paseo del Rio is a must stop. I swung by Comfort, Texas which is one of my favorite antiquing towns in the Hill Country. We usually take a trailer if we drive the Durango but we took my little car to save on gas. The trailer comes in handy when I find just the antique and can haul it home. Of course this time we didn't do that and I found just the antique. Oh well. We made stops along the way at hotels to rest and swim. We found a water park in Arkadelphia, Arkansas that was such a good deal we plan on making that a traditional stop on our way to and from Texas now.
The kids enjoyed seeing their cousins and filling up on Mexican food (I can't find anything half-way decent in PA, except my own of course ;) ) and Texas barbecue! We went to Rudy's in Austin on the way home to have lunch with our nephew and his wife. The food was so delicious but our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. They even have a web cam where you can watch them cut the brisket. Texans are serious about their barbecue.
Sadly, I was not able to visit my mom's side of the family, the Hernandezes. It was a tight schedule to say the least. I was only able to take a week off of work so there was no extra time to do much else. Hopefully next time.
That's life in a nutshell right now. Off to cleaning up the house, putting things back in order and prepping for a long week at work...until next time.
~ L
