Jasper, TX

Belated lazy bullet points will have to suffice.

Thursday, Nov. 22

• San Diego airport early in the morning; McDonald's breakfast in the car
• Flight went well! No delays or complaints to think of, really
• Ran into Justin & Christy at the airport restrooms
• Grammy & Pop-Pop picked us up; we all convened at a gas station to reconfigure car seats, get refreshments etc
• Dad drove me and the kids in the truck; everyone else in Mom's car for the two-hour drive to Jasper, TX to the La Paz Inn & Breakfast. Ryan slept! I forget if Ada did.
• Unpacked. We stayed in the "Pullman" room, which was made to look like an old sleeper car. We each had our own bed with curtains that closed.
• Explored the grounds. Beautiful sunset over the river; the river is an extension of a man-made lake/dam. Awesome Founders beer that mom got us from good ol' HEB.
• Dinnertime. Mom had prepped a ton of stuff we reheated in the tiny butler's pantry kitchen at the B&B. Pulled pork, mac n cheese.
• Karaoke and games in the game room upstairs.

Friday, Nov. 23

• The breakfasts that Miss Anne made were huge and always started with yogurt and homemade granola. First day was a sausage pastry thing that was delicious. I think there was bacon too?! And tons of fruit each day.
• Mom and I stayed back with the kids while everyone else went on a beer run to WalMart in town.
• Explored the forest and it started raining so took shelter on the porch of the log cabin. Lots of fun mushrooms and acorns and fall leaves to collect.
• Read by the fire? I don't think the kids' naps were successful that day.
• Dad tried to fish.
• Had our Thanksgiving dinner; mostly HEB ready-made stuff.
• Took some funny instagram vids while we all read by the fire/kids played
• We pretty much kept the kids on CA time.
• Read by the fire after kids in bed.

Thanksgiving dinner 

Saturday, Nov. 24

• We woke up pretty much every day at 7 (5am our time). I barely slept the whole trip, because Ryan coughed really badly all throughout each night.
• Another huge breakfast. Pumpkin french toast?
• Kids had to bathe in G&P's room cuz they had a bathtub and we didn't.
• More outside time/forest exploration
• Headed into town for the Christmas fair. The town is kinda sad, but there was lots of food/vendors at the fair. Would've been cool at night with all the lights + they were going to have fireworks. It was surprisingly HOT, and the yellow jackets would not leave us alone. Cliff and I did the train ride around the park with the kids. Christy tried gator sausage. I had Frito pie and deep-fried Oreos (yikes). Kids sat on Santa's lap. Mom ran into her Houston friend Angela!
• Headed "home" and stopped at the slowest McDonald's drive-thru in the world for coffee. Did the kids nap in the car? I forget.
• Cliff took the kids for rides in the canoe on the river, once my dad found the kid-size life jackets in the boat. Bummed we never got to go out in the boat, but the co-owner was dealing with his dad being in the hospital. Ada kept asking "Where's Mr. Paul?" after we finally met him once he'd come home from hospital duty.
• Dad tried to fish again. Cliff showed him some fly-fishing techniques.
• More foresty outside time. The owners have placed decor randomly throughout the forest on their property. There's a cool netted elevated viewing room, but candles weren't working and it was all cobwebby. All weekend we kept running into spiderwebs, and there were TONS of spiders roaming the forest floor.
• Leftovers for dinner.
• Read by the fire after the kids went to bed. 

Peek-a-boo! From our sleeper car train room.

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Deep fried Oreos; powdered sugar everywhere 

Sunday, Nov. 25

• Breakfast enchiladas. Anne talked a little about the horrible lynching that took place in '98, for which the town is infamous. She says racism is still rampant there (probably as in many rural towns), and the people just don't "get" why the murder is still such a big deal.
• Forest play.
• Packed up as the yellow jackets once again harassed us; drove back to Houston. 
• Walked the duck pond.
• Watched Hallmark movies and did ping pong upstairs. Mom found another GIANT box of mementos/schoolwork for me to go through. I ended up stuffing it in my suitcase the next morning to bring home and am STILL TO THIS DAY going through it.

The kids building a house in the forest

Of course we'd take a family pic the day I decided to wear sweatpants all day :/

Hallmark. Ice cream. Sorting through old crap. Ping pong.

Monday, Nov. 26

• Mom made breakfast. More Hallmark and trying to go through the stack of papers.
• Packed up and headed to airport.
• Again, flight was fine! Just could tell that it is indeed longer going back.
• Kids slept in the car on the way home. Perf!