Family Visit to South Texas

On December 26th, 2008, we loaded up the family truckster (2009 Ford Flex) and headed for South Texas (Brownsville, FL to be exact - southmost tip of Texas). Belinda and I have lots of family there (her side). Her Grandmother Julia, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Her mom Elvira and husband Joe just moved there about a year ago too. Her family is very loving, full of laughter and joy. They seem to be in the best of spirits at all times - which always makes this trip worthwhile. I will say, I was dreading the trip at first. Not because of the visit, but because of the 22 hour car ride. However, we took 2 days to get there, stopping in Scott LA for an overnite at a Hampton. The ride was bearable. The 2 worst parts of the drive are the Florida Panhandle between I-75 and Pensacola, FL. 4 hours of pine trees on both sides of the very straight road. Then, the "King Ranch" area - a 3 hour stretch of nothing but ranch land south of Chorpus Christi Texas. We made the best of it - the kids watched movies and played play station and Belinda and I had plenty of time to ponder life's events up to this point. While in Texas, we ate way too much authentic Mexican food, enjoyed good company, and had a fun day at the beach with her brother David Garcia and his family who were visiting from Ohio. We tried to burn down her Aunt Minnie's house launching fireworks on New Years Eve, lost some coins playing cards, had a few cold beers, and got to catch some fish behind her mom's house - the boy's caught 2 nice catfish - they were excited. The only bad thing of the whole trip was the head cold's that both Belinda and I have been fighting for almost a month now. They are still persisting. Oh well, Claritan D and Nyquil got us through! You can see more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/rjohnst3/SouthTexasTripHolidayS2008?feat=directlink