Vacation from Vacation

Am I the only one that needs a vacation from my "vacation"? We had a great time in Texas, it is always great to be able to spend a lot of time with family, to see the cousins play and interact, to stay up late talking to adults or playing games. But it is hard on me. My kids don't sleep well, I don't sleep well, we have a hard time getting back on schedule. We are getting there, but slowly.

The second day we were they, there was some serious yard debris to be burned. Dave went out to prep the area, with some help from Eli, Caroline and our handsome nephew G. The kids did a good job of keeping away from hot spots, they threw dirt of the grass that Dave was pre-burning so as to keep the fire from spreading.

Finally, the flames caught and who comes wandering out? Archie/Andromeda the Armadillo. I can't tell if he was charred in the fire or if this was his normal variegated shades - grey, dark grey and pink. I am quite fascinated with him/her - I really wanted to touch it and see how it moved, rub it to feel texture and to see how much was char and how much was natural coloring. It was not to happy about losing his home. Dave hopes there weren't any babies in there - way to put a damper on a good farm fire. The fire was kept going for about 3-4 days, a second smaller one burned for about one day. All 11 older cousins helped clean up the debris from around the land to be burned.

I am afraid my years of Eli wearing cowboy galoshes are scarce (notice them in the pictures with him near the fire)- and I love them on him so much. He has had a pair since he was a wee little cowpoke. Joey just got his first pair of boots and as you can see, Caroline sports her pinks.

On Thanksgiving, Dave piled in the car with his dad Mike and little sis Lauren to head 5 hours to the UT v. Texas A&M game. Not that Texas A&M could have come close to winning, but rivalry games are always fun to attend. Dave, Mike and Lauren sat with about 98,000 of their closest friends. Maybe 95,000 were friends, the others were Aggies. I love Longhorn pride.

It was hard to come home without stowing away the cousins. Eli is lucky to have 4 within 6 months of his birthday (he is the youngest of the "quads"), Caroline is the oldest of the "triplets" and I guess Joey is a triplet too - he has a couple cousins 6 or so months younger than him. The quads were out of sight the whole time, playing together, it was fun to watch.

****Yesterday I posted this as the Longhorns playing Texas Tech, duh - that is the name that must not be mentioned, or the game that must not be referenced! I have changed it to the correct team - thanks for the note, anonymous, whoever you are.