After a brief tease of warm, spring-y like temperatures here in the northeast the past few days, winter has reared its mischievous head again and this morning blanketed our area with a coating of snow. There wasn’t too much of an accumulation only 2 inches or so, not enough for a snow day, but just enough to wreak havoc with each of my kidlet’s school openings as well as my commute into NYC to work. 
Footsteps in the snowy/slushy mix that met me at the train station this morning
This is a familiar sight in my neighborhood since Hurricane Sandy blew in last week.
I love vacations! They’re my number one way to de-stress, re-charge and spend some quality time with people I care about and do things that my family really enjoys doing.
I also hate vacations! Leading up to the actual vacation is always stressful for me and a flurry of activity. First there’s all the research of what to do and where to go, factoring all the opinions (sometimes unwanted) of family members and/or friends on trip choices and booking the trip. Then there is the packing – clothes packing for me, the kidlets & The Hubs, books & toys, the various house supplies we’ll need and don’t forget the “in case of” stuff, which as parents you are required to have with you.
Oh the joys of summer! As we get ready for our annual beach vacation, I’m making sure that The Hubs is loading up the iPod with lots of great music to help set the mood. Chances are most people have a song or songs that remind them of summer. I certainly have my favorites; mostly they’re tunes from when I was growing up. Hearing those songs instantly take me back to a carefree time in my life where my biggest decisions during the summer months either revolved around what toy to play with or bathing suit to wear.
Recently, after months of planning, my family took a trip to Texas to visit the Hubs’ younger brother and his wife. The kidlets had not seen their Uncle T and Aunt B since August 2010 when we were in Colorado to celebrate the 100th birthday of the Hub’s grandmother. At that time our son was not yet three and our daughter just 10 months old, so traveling was a major ordeal, and required packing lots of stuff and putting up with lots of drama. Now that the kidlets are a bit older, both fully potty trained, eating solid food and sleeping in actual beds, a real vacation sounded more like fun and less like joining the army with all the equipment we’d have to bring along. When the Hub’s brother suggested we come down in early March to attend the 2012 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, we immediately booked our tickets.
The best part of having family spread out across the country is that we have lots of excuses to take the kidlets to places we otherwise might not go to. Since the Hubs has a married brother in Texas and the weather was getting warmer, it was the perfect excuse to pack up and head down to the Lone Star State. The highlight of our trip, besides all of the quality time spent with Uncle T and Aunt B of course, was our day at the Houston Rodeo & Livestock Show. I’ll be sharing the details of that later this week, but today is all about our tour of the Blue Bell Creameries located in Brenham, TX and the yummy ice cream we saw made, and best of all, got to eat! YUM!
Blue Bell Creamery in Brenham, TX
