Annual August Road Trip Part I

Kairah being silly at IHOP in Mississippi

Heeeeeyyyyy! Nice to be back in my house. I love being on vacation, but it is so nice to come home also. I always come home with new eyes, ideas, and ready to get things done.

 Our annual August road-trip was lots of fun. We headed to Texas again to visit my husband's mom. The first stop on the way was to Alexandria, LA. When we got into Alexandria we popped by the Kent Plantation which I had planned to tour, but we were 5 minutes late for the last tour. Apparently you cannot be on the property unless you are a part of a paid tour. The lady offered to give us a partial tour for full price of which I started to agree to, but thankfully the universe stepped in and killed the phone line to their credit card machine. We ended up just going back to our less than stellar Hotel and swam. For dinner we headed to Ryan's where a lovely couple gave us a coupon in the parking lot. It saved us from paying for one kids meals. Awesome! The people that worked at Ryan's were so sweet. We went to bed early because the hubby and I were already not feeling good most of the day.

The next day I was greeted by pee colored water coming from the sink and decided "lets get the eff outta here!" I convinced the owner to provide a partial refund for the trouble of not being able to shower and we hit the road. Day 2 was more miserable than day 1. Lew was suffering from food poisoning and 2. I was paying the price for a glutenful doughnut I ate a few days prior. We worked hard to stay pleasant with each other and the kids and made lots of stops.

First stop in Texas

I was so happy when we hit Texas, my second favorite state to visit or live in. It only took a few more hours to hit Killeen, home of Fort Hood, the largest Army Base. My father in-law is retired from the Army. Unfortunately he was out of town when we visited. He is a blast!

On Day 3 my baby turned 3 years old. OMG! I cannot believe how fast they grow up. This day began a new stage for her. The clingy to mommy stage. Ugh! Oh well. I spent the first 3 years of her life trying to hug on her and now I get it back 3 fold....lol. Lew, Kairah, Charlie and I hit the PX and Commissary to pick up a few things. When I got back to the house Kailah and I made Charlie's cupcakes. We used these cool silicon baking cups from Wilton. No cupcake pan needed and they are reusable. We opened presents and Charlie decided that she wanted to have dinner out. We went to Texas Roadhouse (love this place!). When the crew came by to sing to her, she hid behind her sisters. It was too cute. We all wore bows (except Charlie) at Charlie's request. She wore her Burger King crown from earlier.

 

After getting her ears pierced

Day 4 was full of shop-shop-shopping. We shopped 'til we dropped; oh yes we did! We wasted some time being swindled in the mall in a suit shop, but ended up walking out with nothing. "You cannot fool us Mr. Suit Man!" It was extremely entertaining people watching in the mall. Texans definitely have their own sense of style. Some good and some bad in my opinion. I would love to have Clinton Kelly next to me in that mall. We all got some cute stuff and Charlie left with newly pierced ears.  She was so upset with me which absolute hurt my feelings, but it was short lived. We took her to Lion's park to get her mind off it and blow off some steam.