While I was off from work, we decided it was our best chance to get a quick trip to Tyler in. We got to introduce Hailey to Grampa and Mema. We tried to see Granny as well, but we didn't make it. We will plan to spend some time with Granny Jean and Derwood on our next trip, probably over the 4th of July. We tried to surprise Mema by basically sneaking into town. Usually, I would call her several days in advance so that we can make plans to meet for lunch. Sadly, I think that will be the last time we try to surprise her. I think we have discovered that Mema enjoys looking forward to our visit as much as she enjoys the visit itself. We think that she also tries to rest up and really put her best self forward when we are together. Also, we would normally take her out for lunch but now with 2 car seats filling the backseat, it would take a caravan just to get us to a restaurant. Instead, Mom called her and told her to invite her out to her house for lunch. Mema was suffering from a case of sniffles brought on from her c-pap machine. She actually started off telling Mom that she wasn't really up for it until she found out that we were there with Hailey.
One thing we did different this trip was to bring a travel trailer that we have borrowed in the past for camping and tailgate parties. I was concerned that having Brenda and I and both girls in the same bedroom was a recipe for no sleep. This fear turned out to be only partially substantiated. Somehow, beyond our wildest dreams, Hailey has slept through the night since we got home. I think there have only been 1 or 2 nights where she has woken in the middle of the night for a feeding. I think all of us did sleep better though with our own space. On our last couple of Tyler visits, Grace woke up very early (like 5am early) and would be hard if not impossible to get back down. In the trailer, she was much easier get down, and she slept later.
This was also the first time that Grace has been really excited about going to see Gramma and Grampa. Since Gramma left the week prior, Grace has been asking when we were going to Gramma's house. We decided that we would head to Tyler on Sunday, after church. So on Saturday, we decided that we would go pick up the trailer from storage so that we could pack up and make sure everything was clean and road ready. Brenda and I loaded up the girls and went to the storage lot and Grace immediately lit up. She LOVES being in the trailer. I guess she thinks of it as her own playhouse. The only downside was that she was ticked off that we weren't leaving straight from the storage lot to go to Gramma's house. To think, we wanted to go home, check out the trailer, pack up, eat dinner, go to sleep, go to church, go to lunch and THEN go.
The visit was great except that it rained everyday we were there. Grace was feeling bit couped up on Tuesday so we decided that after our naps, we would go do some shopping and find someplace with an indoor play scape for dinner. We were a bit surprised at how hard it was to find such a place in Tyler. Then we found a chick-fil-a on Broadway and headed in. It was good news and bad news... first, it was Tuesday, so all kids eat free (Yeah!), bad news... we weren't the only ones who was looking for an indoor playground. The place was packed. Grace is still pretty shy, especially around older kiddos. Its kind of intimidating when you aren't used to so many kids, especially bigger kids who are yelling and swinging from the rafters. Luckily, we avoided catastrophe with a quick visit to the local Braum's for some ice cream. Grace was so pleased to have her own ice cream cone, even though she only at half the ice cream and didn't touch the cone. Don't worry, Daddy sacrificed and ate the rest! There is an album of more pictures loaded on our Picasa public album. You can access it from the link in the right navigation bar.
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