Summer Vacations

At church, Caden climbed on NeeNee's
walker and wanted a ride!

The past three summers we visited many exotic locations around Europe.  This summer has been different.  Our summer vacations have been to west Texas to see Collin's wonderful parents.  It seems like prices have really inflated since we lived in Texas 4 years ago.  Therefore, family vacations have to be planned quite a bit in advance.  No more spur of the moment trips to France or last minute airfare to Portugal for example.  It could just be that cheap airfare is something only Europeans enjoy.  Which is a huge bummer for us Americans.  In fact, besides flying to west Texas when we first moved here to visit his parents, we have found that it is a little cheaper to drive.  So we pack Caden in the car and take off for the 8-hour long car ride and use some of Collin's vacation days to stay a little longer each time we go.  You would think it would be cheaper to fly from one Texas city to another than from Frankfurt, Germany to London, but it's not.  We even spend more in gas than we did on plane tickets.  Thankfully our room and board is free and the company cannot be beat.

Two weekends ago we headed off to Collin's parents.  Collin had a high school reunion as well so we got to see some of his high school friends, tour his old school, and hang out at the local country club.  Collin's parents seem to be doing pretty good.  His dad even joined Caden and I in a little miniature golf before needing to sit down.  His dad is 86.  Collin's mom was doing good most of the time except for a little high blood pressure problem Saturday.  But it didn't take too long before she was up and at em again.  In fact, she insisted that she watch Caden while Collin and I went to dinner with his high school classmates.  She's almost 78.  Caden is one active 3-year old boy and trust me, he enjoys getting into everything and has more energy than my VitaMix blender.  I'll have to update how my life has changed since a year ago.  Needless to say, she did fantastic and Caden had a great time with his NeeNee and Granddad.  He loves them so much and they love him too.

Rather than be sad that we are not enjoying the Italian Rivera this summer or taking a boat from one Greek Isle to another, we are feeling blessed that we have family we can see on a pretty regular basis.  Thankfully my family lives close by so we do not have to divide vacation time up with visiting them.  Many of my friends in Germany never went home to see family while overseas or have family visit them.  Almost all of them had spouses that were deployed for many months, sometimes over a year at a time.

To some, west Texas may seem exotic, especially if you have never been to the desert. To others, west Texas is home, it is where family lives.  And sometimes vacations with family are the best kind to have.  Not to mention, the kindest people in the world live in west Texas.