For the last month or so we have been keeping on eye on Southwest flights, hoping that we could use Dad's Buddy Passes to fly home for Christmas... As Christmas started getting closer we realized that that wasn't going to happen, so we made the decision on Monday December 22 to go ahead and drive to Enterprise. We left on Tuesday, around 2pm, and decided to split the 15 hour drive up. We stopped in Sulphur, LA Tuesday night and then got up on Christmas Eve to finish up the trip. We spent Christmas Eve at Mom's house where we had spaghetti dinner, which is becoming a "going-home" tradition. I had only called Mom the day we left to let her know we were coming so, although she was expecting us, it was still a bit of a surprise. After doing Christmas Eve supper and exchanging gifts, Justin, the pups, and I headed to Enterprise to surprise Mrs. Phyllis and Mr. Reggie. When Justin told Mrs. Phyllis that we couldn't get a flight, she just assumed that meant we weren't going to be coming, but Justin likes to say "I never said we weren't coming." Thankfully Brandon was already home so he was able to sneak us in the house so we could surprise them! We pulled it off and they were both shocked to see us. On Christmas morning we woke up, opened presents, and then around lunch time we went over to spend time with Justin's dad's side of the family. We got to see Justin's grandmother who has Alzheimer's so that was really special to us since we don't know the next time we'll get to make it back home. After lunch with Mr. Reggie's family we went over to spend time with Mrs. Phyllis's side. Justin's grandma and grandpa thought that we weren't coming either because of the flights, so we were able to surprise them too. This was the second time Brandon had helped us surprise their parents and grandparents, last time was at Thanksgiving a few years ago, so if we ever try to surprise them all again we'll have to find another helper so they don't suspect us ;) We ate finger foods and opened presents and that pretty much took up the whole night. We headed home around 10-11 and then woke up Friday morning so we could head to Dothan to do some after-Christmas shopping. Saturday was spent seeing other family members, including Justin's Mamaw one more time, and then we went to Mom's for one last supper. We left on Sunday morning and took a longer route home so that we could go to Bubby and Ally's and stay a few nights with them. We hung out, ate out, went to the movies, and played card games and then before we knew it it was time to head back home. We left Barksdale on New Year's Eve and made it home with plenty of time to get some pizza and settle in for the night. We barely made it to 12, but we managed it this year.
On New Years day we were busy cleaning the house and packing for our next trip. On Friday we woke up and headed for Llano, TX to see my dad's parents. We have lived only 3.5 hours away for them for 6 months and this was the first time we'd gotten to see them, so it was long overdue! We arrived at Grandma and Papa's around 12pm and spent all day chatting and catching up. Grandma wasn't feeling too well, so she stayed home while Papa, Justin, and I went to Stonewall's for supper (a Llano-trip tradition). After we got back we stayed up and talked some more while we ate ice cream and pumpkin pie and then watched some football. Around 10pm Justin and I were exhausted so we went to bed. We woke up yesterday around 8am, had breakfast, and talked even more until it was time for us to leave at 2pm. We only stayed one night because 1) since Grandma hasn't been feeling so well we didn't want to overwhelm her with too much excitement at once, 2) we knew we would be back in a few weeks because Justin is going to build a table for them, and 3) we got free tickets to go to last night's Spurs game. We headed to San Antonio from Llano, got ready at the hotel, went to grab some food, and made it to the game with just enough time for us to sit down and settle ourselves. The game was at the AT&T Center and we were basically sitting all the way at the top (remember, these were free seats). When we first got there I got kind of dizzy because the seating was so steep it felt like they were vertical instead of slanted, but I got used to it eventually. We had a good time and are glad we opted-in for the tickets. The Spurs beat the Wizards 101-92, plus it was "80s Night" so it was a good game with good music to boot. We got home around 11pm and woke up this morning at 830am. We got all packed up and headed home one last time. We made it home around 12pm and have already gone back to life as normal. Justin is outside making a picture frame for our neighbor-friends that are about to move, the animals are inside-and-out since the weather is relatively nice, and I am updating all of you before I get busy unpacking and cleaning the house.
That's all of our recap for now. I know it's short and doesn't include very much detail, but if I included everything we did over the last 13 days I would have a novel. Here are pictures from our many trips:
ENTERPRISE
Brandon, Mamaw, Justin, and me at the Griswold family's Christmas.
Bear, me, Justin, and Sophie at the Hughes family's Christmas.
Justin thinks it's funny that we're almost the same height when he's only on his knees.
Me, Brandon, Mrs. Phyllis, Justin.
(Mr. Reggie had already left)
Brandon, Grandpa, me, Justin, and Grandma.
BARKSDALE AFB
Shortly after we arrived at Barksdale, Mara Jane started showing Unca JJ her treasure map. Ally had drawn a real treasure map on some wax/parchment paper (??) and it was SO CUTE! I wish I would have taken a picture of it to share.
We all went out for lunch and Mara wanted to take our picture. She instructed each of us where to stand and then snapped away.
Bear and Sophie are such good travelers. I posted this on Facebook and said that I wished I could sleep this well in a car!
LAUGHLIN AFB
Watching the ball drop on New Year's Eve.
Bear was so exhausted when we were home in-between our Barksdale and Llano trips. I accidentally laid my socks right on his face and he didn't move a muscle the whole time they were there.
LLANO
Grandma and Papa's resident Roadrunner.
Bear and Sophie HAD to be in a chair or in someone's lap the whole time we were there.
She was worn out from all the car-riding she did.
Can you believe this?! Justin had to take a picture for history's sake.
SAN ANTONIO
At the Spurs game.
A panoramic shot of the AT&T Center.
LAUGHLIN AFB
Only been home 2 hours and Justin is already outside woodworking.
Lexi enjoying the sunshine after being locked up for 13 days straight.
Tom really missed us. He was begging for attention after we got home; he was crying at me when I was taking Lexi's picture so I turned around and took one of him.
While the cats are outside, the dogs are inside. They were all outside at one point, but the dogs decided to go inside and watch everyone from behind the screen door.
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