Resting in Texas (Christmas 2019)

We spent the last 10 days of 2019 in Texas staying with Chris's parents.  Our goals for the trip were: Spend time with family/get the cousins together as much as possible and I added on: read and rest. And for the most part, it was one of the most relaxing weeks of my life -- definitely of my year.

Read and Rest:
I went for a walk nearly every day (I missed two), walking a total of 28 miles! I haven't had that much time for a regular walk since this summer. During my walks I listened to a couple of new-to-me podcasts:

      * Cook Smarts - https://www.cooksmarts.com/articles/category/podcast/ (learning to meal plan a little smarter and get my kids to eat better too).

      * Annie F. Downs - https://www.anniefdowns.com/podcast/ (she's just so fun to listen to and has some great interviews about the enneagram)

Not only did I get some time alone to walk and listen to podcasts. I had quite a bit of time to read. I hadn't intended to read so much as I know it doesn't take much for a book to pull me away from the real people right in front of me, but I enjoy it so much I couldn't help it. I did try to avoid grabbing the book at inappropriate times... here's what I read:
 - Autopsy of a Boring Wife by Marie-Renee Lavoie
 - The Silence Between Us Alison Gervais
 - Dare to Lead by Brené Brown (only finished half so far)
 - The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (just started on the flight home)


Illness:
The only part of our time in Texas that wasn't relaxing/near perfect was Stephen getting sick. On Christmas Eve we took him to an urgent care where we discovered he had Strep Throat. He was pretty miserable for several days before starting to move around like his normal, active self. He and I skipped the Christmas Eve family gathering and went to bed early. Not much will slow Stephen down so when he wasn't moving from my lap for hours at a time I could see how sick he felt. I felt bad for him being sick over Christmas but glad we had the help and time to just sit together and rest. (I read a lot while he napped on me.) And with the help of medication, he was able to participate in lots of cousin time and play (just not as actively as he normally would have).

Family time: 
Mom took Chris and I with the boys to the River Walk in San Antonio to see the lights. We haven't done this with the boys yet and I was hoping they would love it. We hadn't seen many Christmas lights this year. They liked the lights, but I don't think they liked the walk along the river. They might also have been a bit weirded out because we never do anything after dark. 

I can be sure of two things when I visit Chris's family -- we will play games and we will drink wine (or beer if you prefer). And we did both several times during our visit. It was so nice outside they even played games outside while the kids played in the backyard! Somehow when we try to organize game nights with friends the kids always make it impossible, but with this family the kids hang out and watch or run off to play as they please. It's not really a hindrance. I love that my boys are growing up around this and becoming interested in playing too! (It helps too that there's usually an adult not playing so they can watch the kids.)

William is much more into sports this year than past visits. And he had us all playing football or baseball several times. We took full advantage of the backyard!

And yes, we spent a lot of time with family. Chris's sister, Shannon was home from China too -- we loved spending so much time with her. She's so great with our boys too - reading, playing games, going on walks and playing outside. Somehow she has energy for it all! And Chris's brother Brad lives 45 minutes away from his parent's place and drove his family over nearly every day to see us. Their boys are the same ages as ours and they have two younger girls. It was a full house but so much fun! I love seeing how they play together. I know it will look different when they are older and not as close; but for now, they have a lot of similar interests and play easily.

We also spent one afternoon with Chris's high school friends. We try to get together with them every time we are in town. I love watching these guys get together. They are so tightly bonded. And their wives and kids are wonderful too and I love spending time with this group of people.

We ended the week with fireworks. This tradition still scares me a little, but the men are very safe with the boys. William and Stephen LOVE fireworks and want to be as involved as we allow. 

It was a great time with family -- a family I am so grateful to be a part of.

We spent the last 10 days of 2019 in Texas staying with Chris's parents.  Our goals for the trip were: Spend time with family/get the cousins together as much as possible and I added on: read and rest. And for the most part, it was one of the most relaxing weeks of my life -- definitely of my year.

Read and Rest:
I went for a walk nearly every day (I missed two), walking a total of 28 miles! I haven't had that much time for a regular walk since this summer. During my walks I listened to a couple of new-to-me podcasts:

      * Cook Smarts - https://www.cooksmarts.com/articles/category/podcast/ (learning to meal plan a little smarter and get my kids to eat better too).

      * Annie F. Downs - https://www.anniefdowns.com/podcast/ (she's just so fun to listen to and has some great interviews about the enneagram)

Not only did I get some time alone to walk and listen to podcasts. I had quite a bit of time to read. I hadn't intended to read so much as I know it doesn't take much for a book to pull me away from the real people right in front of me, but I enjoy it so much I couldn't help it. I did try to avoid grabbing the book at inappropriate times... here's what I read:
 - Autopsy of a Boring Wife by Marie-Renee Lavoie
 - The Silence Between Us Alison Gervais
 - Dare to Lead by Brené Brown (only finished half so far)
 - The Alice Network by Kate Quinn (just started on the flight home)


Illness:
The only part of our time in Texas that wasn't relaxing/near perfect was Stephen getting sick. On Christmas Eve we took him to an urgent care where we discovered he had Strep Throat. He was pretty miserable for several days before starting to move around like his normal, active self. He and I skipped the Christmas Eve family gathering and went to bed early. Not much will slow Stephen down so when he wasn't moving from my lap for hours at a time I could see how sick he felt. I felt bad for him being sick over Christmas but glad we had the help and time to just sit together and rest. (I read a lot while he napped on me.) And with the help of medication, he was able to participate in lots of cousin time and play (just not as actively as he normally would have).

Family time: 
Mom took Chris and I with the boys to the River Walk in San Antonio to see the lights. We haven't done this with the boys yet and I was hoping they would love it. We hadn't seen many Christmas lights this year. They liked the lights, but I don't think they liked the walk along the river. They might also have been a bit weirded out because we never do anything after dark. 

I can be sure of two things when I visit Chris's family -- we will play games and we will drink wine (or beer if you prefer). And we did both several times during our visit. It was so nice outside they even played games outside while the kids played in the backyard! Somehow when we try to organize game nights with friends the kids always make it impossible, but with this family the kids hang out and watch or run off to play as they please. It's not really a hindrance. I love that my boys are growing up around this and becoming interested in playing too! (It helps too that there's usually an adult not playing so they can watch the kids.)

William is much more into sports this year than past visits. And he had us all playing football or baseball several times. We took full advantage of the backyard!

And yes, we spent a lot of time with family. Chris's sister, Shannon was home from China too -- we loved spending so much time with her. She's so great with our boys too - reading, playing games, going on walks and playing outside. Somehow she has energy for it all! And Chris's brother Brad lives 45 minutes away from his parent's place and drove his family over nearly every day to see us. Their boys are the same ages as ours and they have two younger girls. It was a full house but so much fun! I love seeing how they play together. I know it will look different when they are older and not as close; but for now, they have a lot of similar interests and play easily.

We also spent one afternoon with Chris's high school friends. We try to get together with them every time we are in town. I love watching these guys get together. They are so tightly bonded. And their wives and kids are wonderful too and I love spending time with this group of people.

We ended the week with fireworks. This tradition still scares me a little, but the men are very safe with the boys. William and Stephen LOVE fireworks and want to be as involved as we allow. 

It was a great time with family -- a family I am so grateful to be a part of.