Christmas Vacation - Fun in Many Different Directions - Entry #8

Thursday morning came all too soon.  We knew that Sarah and family would be on their way to Utah.  We had had so much fun.  We hated to see them leave.  Knowing that they were going and knowing that I would need a day to re-group, to finish some shopping, and to replenish the pantry and refrigerator, I had written this on the "official plan":  "This is your day to finish shopping, visit Texas friends/relatives, go sightseeing, go to the temple, or hang out wherever.  Mom (me) will use this time to clean-up, catch-up, and gear-up for Friday and Saturday including grocery shopping, etc." 

The day started out with Donnerstag Donuts (Donnerstag is Thursday in German).  Before the kids got up, I bought dozens of donuts.  The grandchildren really enjoyed them---not sure what their parents thought two or three hours later! :) 

Once breakfast was over, everyone started going their various ways.  The seven Daileys headed for San Antonio so the kids could go to the Alamo.  They had just studied about it in their home school curriculum:



Anna in front of the Alamo



Russ and the kids sittin' on the big guns!



Rachel and the kids at the Alamo



Later that afternoon, they drove up to Austin to have dinner and a visit with Russ' paternal grandmother, Mary Dailey aka Granny, putting them back in Spring really late:



A visit with Granny

While they were doing all that, the rest of us did this:

•  Sarah, Iz and Katelyn caught their flight to Salt Lake City and spent the evening having dinner at Cafe Rio with Israel's mom.
• Matt and "Fish" spent a chunk of the day finishing their Christmas shopping.  The kids came over to our house and stayed there until late afternoon.
• David and Marinda hung around the house until late afternoon when David, Matt, and DJ went golfing.
• Liz and Mark and boys spent the day shopping, having lunch at Chick-fil-A, meeting Stephanie Armstrong and Savannah at Bouncin' Bears, having dinner at Valley Ranch, and squeezing another visit in with the Becks and Hulses playing games.                                                        
• Steven and Abby took it easy as Abby was getting over a bout with the flu.
• I cleaned, shopped, and played with the kids and still didn't have everything on "my list" done by bedtime; luckily, I had some "wiggle" room on Friday! 
• Those at home enjoyed eating dinner together, caught some movies, and played games.

We were just glad that by bedtime, everyone had made it safely to their destinations and/or back home, a blessing that I have come to appreciate every day as our children live in six different states and are on the move constantly with school, work, and family.  It was a good day with a change of pace.