Christmas in Texas

- December 27, 2021

We were so lucky to have the opportunity to get together with Danielle, her family, and Maw Maw and Paw Paw over the holiday break. We quick jumped on a plane Saturday afternoon from Cleveland toward Dallas. Danielle and Edd moved to a new house in August in Texas so this was going to be our first time seeing their new place and town.

Masked up for safety and health for all of us

Our plane in Cleveland was late to arrive so then that made us late to take off. Due to the delay, we missed our connecting flight in Atlanta so we were stranded in the Atlanta airport for 5 hours. We ended up rolling into their place after midnight. It was a long day of travel for sure. The kids were troopers.

The next day we all loaded up and drove 45 minutes into Fort Worth to the stockyards. Each day twice a day they have a cattle drive where they walk huge longhorn cattle down the streets of the town.

It was a very cute location. We spent time shopping and also eating dinner together.

We stumbled upon the General Store where we all tried on cowboy hats and authentic cowboy gear.

Early the next morning we began our long drive (4 hours) to a dude ranch (Tres Molinos). We were going to be staying there three days and two nights all together in the main ranch house. On our drive, we lucked out at a gas station where we all purchased cowboy hats to wear.

The ranch was absolutely beautiful. So very peaceful with cows, goats, donkeys, and horses roaming all around the property. The kids had such a great time exploring around when we arrived.

Once we checked in we surprised the men with a skeet shooting experience on the property. There is an old stone quarry at the edge of the property. They spent time together bonding and shooting together.

One of the best experiences we all had was going horseback riding over three different properties where each person/kid rode their very own horse. Elizabeth, our horse guide, was such a bubbly easy going lady who taught us a quick lesson on how to control the horses. Everyone had the time of their lives.

We were able to meet and interact with all of the animals they had anytime we wanted.

We rented two ATV's to use while we were there. The kids had a blast riding all over the place. We went for a night ride on the night of the Winter Solstice which is the darkest night of the year and the moon was so bright.

They had baby goats that were so sweet. Landon loved carrying them around.

Carter, Addie, and Bob interacted with Jimmy the donkey.

These cowboys had such a great time on the ranch.

Nala, Danielle's dog joined us for the time at the ranch. She enjoyed being outside as much as she could.

They had an arena at the top of the hill and we spent time up there as the boys and Maw Maw took turns lasso-ing.

There were two ponds on the property that we were able to try our luck at fishing. Nolan was the only one to catch a fish. To be honest we didn't have the best bait so it was kind of tricky. While we were fishing, Lincoln cast his line and lost his balance and fell into the pond. After we were sure he was okay, the adults had a little laugh about it because it was quite funny.

Maylee was very much about spending time with her Aunt Heidi and boy did I take advantage of that! Anytime she wanted or needed help I swooped in to help with anything!

We were sad to leave and even more sad because it was a long drive home. Many of us were not feeling the greatest with a headache, coughing, and chest colds.

We stopped by the LBJ (president Lindon B Johnson) national park and ranch house to check it out. Carter was very interested in learning about his presidential term.

There was a super cool tree on the private house property and the kids loved climbing it.

The last few days of our time together we just hung out at Aunt D and Uncle Edd's new house. They had a trampoline, a pool, and hot tub. The weather was warm and we spent as much time as we could outside.