Category: Outings

We’re driving back on the bus from RGV Day in Austin. It’s freezing in here and I have a terrible cold/allergies so it’s a little hard to sleep, what with my back to the frigid vents even with my puffy jacket on and my nose dripping every 10 seconds. Boo.

It’s my first long-distance, overnight trip with work. Before this, the furthest I’d travelled with work was to Laredo with my boss, heh.

I only slept 3 hours Monday night and had to be up and at the office by 4am to have coffee ready for our guests and fellow bus-riders. By 5am we were all on board and ready to go. 

I could feel this cold creeping up on me on our drive up to Austin. My sore throat, sinus pressure and headache slowly became really strong but I didn’t let it deter me from participating.

We were already arriving about 15 minutes late, so they directed us to our 2nd stop since there were tons of lines to get anywhere. This, of course, was the perfect opportunity to snap a few photos.

When we finally made it to the House Floor we found some seats and listened. It was pretty incredible to experinece that.

We headed to our hotel for the luncheon/Team orientation. We’d be on teams and visiting our Legislators to speak to them about our most pressing issues in the Valley and dropping off a swag bag with lots of goodies.
Those bags were heavy!  We had to lug them around as we explored the halls looking for the right floors and rooms for our Senators. We got to four of them and then headed out for a photo-op with Governor Greg Abbott and George P. Bush. I ran into Jr. there!

We finished up with the photos and gathering everyone and Jr. led us to the right hall and building. After that, we headed to the reception hall. It was a huge turnout. The girls and I munched on veggies and flourless chocolate cake. I need to look up what was in there because NOTHING that decadent and spectacular could be good for you!

I was feeling really, really bad by then. My head was pounding and I felt like my face would explode from the pressure, so I didn’t much feel like mingling. It went by fast though, so we got some of Gerry’s supplies together to store on the bus and we checked in to the hotel, around 7:30pm.

Steve was taking us to Quattro Gatti, a cute little Italian restaurant on Congress Ave. We discussed the day and had some laughs. I took a terrible photo of my tortellini with cream, mushrooms, prosciutto and peas, but let me tell you: it was incredibly delicious! The best word to describe it would be cozy and it hit the spot. My d-asti was great, too 🙂 .

We finished up and headed back to the hotel. As we’re going up we run into Jr. again, so Jorge (my co-worker) and I join him, Matt, Rick and Chris from Harlingen for a drink.

I was becoming really groggy from my cold/allergies, but Jr. got me a grapefruit drink called the Lady Bird. I was hoping the Vitamin C would help my situation, heh.

I drank it slowly throughout the hour we chilled out with them and then I excused myself to buy DayQuil, call Jorge, shower and crawl into bed. I slept pretty well until 3am, when my nose got the best of me. The rest of the night was spent tossing and turning and making walrus tusks: tissues stuffed into my nose 🙁 .

We woke up, checked out, had a great breakfast and in the time it’s taken me to write this, I’ve attempted to nap but got a crook in my neck, stopped for a bathroom break and had lunch at a taqueria in George West. Glad for this experience and ready for the next!

Alaethia’s birthday was on the 24th. She was excited to be turning “double digits”. It was during a school night and their dad gets to take them for dinner the evening of their birthdays so we would officially celebrate on the weekend. But I did get out of work early to pick up her cupcakes and drinks to have her little birthday party with her classmates.

Her dad met us there and he surprised her with a giant sloth, balloon and candies. We passed the cupcakes and drinks out and then Aly’s teacher let them go out to the playground. I was on sloth-carrying duty and it was quickly becoming hot out 😆 .

School was out for the day but we waited for Emily to let her know we’d be waiting for her at the library. I gave them book fair money and Alaethia wanted to spend hers (Emily already had earlier). She looked around with Audrey and Maddie and found a Pusheen book. It’s so cute!

We read it while we waited for Emily and then we went home. She couldn’t wait to open her birthday presents.

That totes adorbs Pusheen came from the Wish App! I was thrilled that it arrived much sooner than anticipated. We hung around and the girls played with the new toys until their dad picked them up for dinner. Joked around with the boys a bit before they left, and then I tried finding something to do for 2 hours till the girls returned. Alaethia requested a cheesecake for her birthday, but since she was stuffed from dinner, we opted to wait till Saturday, when we’d celebrate her actual birthday.

Saturday came around and she and Emmos tagged along with me to go grocery shopping (but I’m on to them: I know they went with me to hoodwink me into taking them to Claire’s!).

Alaethia spent some birthday money and we made our way to 5 Below to get Emmos some ear phones since her school ones broke, and I ended up getting Jorge and I some work-out gloves and 5 lb. weights…because having to start working out from square one again has made me realize I’m wimpy and 8 lb. weights kill me 🙁 .
Anyway, so after an exhausting trip to HEB for groceries (and spending wayyyy more than I anticipated *sigh*), I got home, made dinner and then all the kids piled into the truck to go to Sky Park, Alaethia’s request. They all had a blast!

It was a great time and now the other 2 little ones want to do the same thing for their birthdays in February. These months are passing by in a blur!

We truly have a lot to be thankful for this year. I know it’s been a disastrous year for many of our beloved famous figures–but personally, it felt like an easier year than last year, for some reason, and I’m thankful for our health and being together.

I’m also thankful that on November 17th, I got to finally meet Tia Tere and her daughter, my cousin, Anna. Tia Tere is the aunt everyone would say I resembled in her younger years 🙂 .

We all met at Velma’s house. We shared anecdotes and family history (Lipan Apache was confirmed in Velma’s Ancestry.com genealogy! I want to do mine!) and when I told everyone about trying to reach out to my Grandfather back-in-the-day I learned that he was actually a family friend (Velma’s mom and dad’s compadre)! So that was interesting to say the least. We had a wonderful time, laughing and eating. Velma’s always such a wonderful host 🙂 .

They opened the Performing Arts Center on the 18th and we got to take a tour and hear the acoustics. It’s pretty state-of-the-art and just impressive!

November 18th is also Jorge and my “All-Together” anniversary, and to keep tradition with previous years, we had lunch together at Kumori!

Neither Jorge nor I were thrilled with that photo, so it didn’t make it onto social media 😆 !
I had to work at the Food Park the next evening at Unplugged (and had to pick kids up in between), so I didn’t get to go to the all-day mini-reunion the family was having 🙁 . Tia Tere visited Gramma. I’m so sad I wasn’t there to see it for myself. The sisters hadn’t seen each other in years!

I made myself feel a little better about not being able to meet more family by totally pigging out on these pork belly Kimchi fries from one of my favorite food trucks, Nuri Food Truck!

I learned the next day that at the mini-reunion at Gramma’s, mom decided to tell my life story (even the embarrassing and depressing parts) to my “new” relatives. Without my consent or knowledge. I couldn’t believe her. Let’s just say Linda said everyone was shifting uncomfortably and looking off into space. I asked Linda why she nor anyone stopped her and she said, “It was her time to shine!” 😆 Oh geez!!

Anyway. I showed my face at the next evening’s reunion with Aunt Nora and Linda. And apologized to my tia and cousins for having to endure my mother’s rambling on. I got to meet another cousin and her little girl, which was pretty damn cool :).

The next morning, Sunday, I hung out with my Littles. They don’t require as much attention as they used to, but they still do love to follow Mom around, even if it’s just to sit in my company. Seeing as how I also have teenagers who spend most of their time playing video games, football or asleep, I’m going to let Emily, Alaethia and Jules follow me around as long as they want. There will come a day when I’ll miss them doing so!

Jorge and I bought some pork belly from Gabriel, our friend that owns Nuri, so that I could make Jorge some kimchi fries while Nuri was on Thanksgiving break. Even though it wasn’t exactly like Nuri’s, I’ve gotta admit: it was tasty:

So, feeling as guilty as I did after consuming what’s seemingly an entire PIG the month of November (we LOVE Nuri!), Jorge and I decided to have lunch at Gumbo’s for something light. I ordered my usual: Island Salad. It’s like the most scrumptuous dessert!

Buuuuut…I also had broccoli soup in a bread bowl. Aye.

It was…as warm, delicious and comforting as it looks! My stomach wasn’t too happy with the cream (as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized I’m INCREDIBLY lactose intolerant!! Why meee?! Why cheeese??), but man, was it worth it!!

The kiddos had been with Mario that week up until Wednesday, and this year all 7 kids would be with us till 4pm, since Maggie wanted them at that time. So I picked up my babes and we had a small PokeHunting sesh since they’d just started with the new tracking system.

This was also the day John moved out (and we haven’t really seen him since) so he was missing from the Thanksgiving festivities. Dina, Briana and the kids came down, including Nick’s friend Tony. He was such a polite young man!

As soon as they arrived, we started with the preparations for the feast.

While the turkey baked, we visited Gramma.

I didn’t get a proper photo of the spread since we were cutting it close before the kids had to go 🙁 . But Alaethia said grace, and the food was delicious!

(Jorge didn’t get into any photos!!)

The Holidays don’t usually pass without some kind of hiccup, and there was a small bit of drama but it didn’t last long, thank God.

The kiddos left with their other families around 4-5ish so the adults kind of just relaxed watching a marathon of “Forensic Files”. Jorge and I did our Christmas shopping for the kids from the couch (OMG, got SUCH good deals!) and literally just about finished shopping for the big boys that same day!

I snuck out early the next morning, by myself, to do some minimal Black Friday shopping at HEB Plus. There were a few things I absolutely couldn’t pass up for the kids, so I *had* to go. Happy to report that everyone survived! HEB Plus was pretty straightforward with their rules (they gave you a map, a circular and the rules as you arrived) and let you know they weren’t taking shit from anyone and would escort you from the store if you caused trouble.

Jorge had to work that day, and Dina went to visit her mom so Briana and I hung out with the kids and then went to the park to meet Lisa and Joyce since the kids were becoming stir-crazy. Later on we all met at Fantasy Land Skate Center. Totally made me miss the kids, but I distracted myself by helping Mia and Maddie stay on their feet.

We got home and of course I had to make the obligatory Turkey Leftovers Salad.

That salad is truly the tastiest! (Darnit. Now I want some…)

I did some grocery shopping the next morning (with my $20 coupons I got from shopping the day before!) and then we kinda lazied around till we went to the Food Park that evening. Had to take Briana to SnoBro Raspas!

We had actually dressed for going to the park and doing a run, but we stayed nearby and went for a walk at Archer instead. Nick and Tony played football and Mia chased fireflies. It was the sweetest!
And then we picked up Whataburger for dinner. So much for our walk!!

But that’s what it’s all about right? Having fun with your loved ones, eating, drinking and being merry?!