Back From Dallas

Physically, I am back from Dallas, but my heart is still there. My niece stole it yet again. She is just so cute!!!!

My planes left late both going and coming. Going, it was only 10 minutes or so, and we made up the time in the air, arriving on time. Coming back yesterday, I'm not sure how late we left, but we got in about 10 minutes late. Still, I was able to get my bag and get to the curb in time to catch a the bus to where I had parked my car in Van Nuys after only waiting a minute. I'm not complaining. Beside, I got all but about 40 pages of a book read on the trip home yesterday. (Yes, I finished it up before unpacking).

Anyway, everyone arrived without a problem on Thursday, so that was good. Friday, we spent most of the day hanging around my brother and sister-in-law's place. And when my niece was awake, she was the entertainment. My uncle arrived that night, and we met him at a BBQ that Dallas Seminary has for the grads adn their families. The food was good, and it was nice to actually spend some time walking around the seminary, something I had never done before.

Saturday was crazy busy. I was staying with my brother, so I left with them. He had to be at the church at 8:30 for a picture with the other grads. My sister-in-law and I saved seats for everyone else. Graduation itself was nice, and it seemed to move quickly enough that I wasn't too bored. Then we went out to lunch before rushing home to get things ready for the open house they were having for local friends to help celebrate. That pretty much took up the rest of the day.

Sunday my uncle and my sister-in-law's parents left, so it was just them, my parents, and me. We started the day with church, then hung out at their house the rest of the day. Mom was really happy because it was the first time in years that she got to celebrate Mother's Day with her kids in person. She even told us we could have figured that was her present. I wish I'd known sooner. ;) (Okay, so I still would have given her the same thing, but I would have liked to tease her about it longer.)

Unfortunately, I decided to leave on Monday. Don't ask me why I didn't stay until Tuesday like Mom and Dad. But Monday I got some great time with my niece. Since I was staying there, I had a couple hours without the rest of the family that morning. When my brother was getting her up and ready for the day, I stuck my head into her room. She lit up and started waving her arms and legs. I then spent some time playing with her on the floor and watching her be fed. (Never did get her to crawl over me, although I tried.) I was leaving about the time she went down for her morning nap. When she was told to say goodbye to me, she grabbed my shirt and pulled me to her. That's the closest she comes to a hug. It was so impossibly hard to walk out the door after all that.

I'm already plotting when I can go back for another visit.