My Summer Vacation Part 1

So, I am still officially on vacation but wanted to go ahead and start documenting the trip so far or else I will either a) forget or b) get so caught up in jumping back into work that I will forget to document or c) all of the above. Pictures will definitely come later.
SO going back to last Sunday - Miguel & I missed our first flight to TX due to the horrible check-in lines at the Southwest Airlines counter at the BWI airport AND the security lines - this despite arriving 1 1/2 hours ahead of take-off time. Plus, Southwest didn't have the courtesy to take those passengers who were on flights taking off but still caught in the lines OUT of the lines to get them processed quickly like other airlines I have traveled on have done. We arrived at the gate just as our plane was pulling away. Can I tell you how frustrating this was? Plus, the further insult was finding out that the next flight to San Antonio was five hours later and that we HAD to purchase seats on that flight in order to ensure we definitely got on since there were only two seats left. (we could have gone on standby for free. however, this would not have secured us seats on that flight and since there were only two seats left, we didn't want to take any chances. So each of us paid $166 in airfare difference to secure these seats - GRRR. And yes, I will be writing Southwest a letter upon my return. )
ANYway, we finally arrived in SA at 5pm that evening and then all was well. We spent the 4th of July holiday with the family. We went to Six Flags and rode all sorts of rides, saw all sorts of shows, saw fireworks, etc. Then we went to visit my only living grandparent - my Dad's mom. It was so good to see her.
The evening of the 4th, we went to see a late show of the movie, Nacho Libre. OMG, this movie is so brainless. There were some parts that were so dumb, I rolled my eyes. And there were other parts that had me laughing hysterically, so go figure. Anyway, then the next day we started heading north for our long drive to Arkansas for Mike's family. Our first stop was in Austin for lunch with my sister Lesley, who lives in San Marcos(not far from Austin). We hung out on 6th street and ate at Hut's. MMMM, now that's a good burger! Then we continued driving north and had dinner with my sister Kathy, who lives outside of Dallas. The next day we had lunch with her and her two kids, my gorgeous niece & nephew, Steven & Krista. That was a good time. Then after that, we headed to Little Rock to initially meet up with one of Mike's high school buddies. Then it turned out that he wasn't even in town! So we started driving north to Mike's hometown, Eureka Springs, and made it half way there before we had to check into a hotel before I lost my sanity with all that driving. (At that point, we put over 600 miles on our rental car since we first rented it in SA). We made it to Eureka on Friday and have had a great time so far. Mike's dad is a hoot. He's definitely a "good ole boy", but is overall a nice guy. What is interesting is that he is loud, sometimes to the point of being obnoxious, whereas Mike, as you know, is one of the quietest persons you will ever meet. Since we missed Father's Day and his birthday is next week, we decided to get Mike's dad a DVD/VCR combination player and installed it for him. He was tickled pink. We visited with Mike's grandparents (his mom's parents, which are his only living grandparents) and discovered that McKinley (his grandfather) was featured in a recent newspaper article since he was the original engineer of the Christ of the Ozarks statue in town. For those of you who don't know about this statue, it looks like the big one in Rio, but is the largest statue of Christ in the U.S. See the picture. This statue was erected in Mike's birth year of 1966, so this was its 40th anniversary and they honored McKinley.

Anyway, overall, this vacation has been great. Despite having setbacks and frustrations and drama, this trip has reinforced our decision to move back to Texas so we can be closer to both of our families as we eventually start our own soon. It's nice to know that yes, there IS a plan and to think long-term instead of living in the here & now as we usually do. It definitely reminds us of what is valuable in our life and to not take it for granted anymore. We all are not getting any younger, you know! So we all should just do it. Get off of our asses, stop procrastinating and start LIVING!

See everyone again soon!

P.S. Happy birthday to my brother, Jason. Mr "Johnny Depp". :)