Amarillo (where's the hot sun?)

Sarah and Elle having lunch.

It's early Sunday morning in Texas but I think I am still on Alaska time and haven't been able to sleep very well. It's the first chance I've really had to catch up on the blog so here we go! Thursday I was up at the crack of dawn and back to the airport in Seattle, had a smooth flight to Dallas, spent several hours just hanging out in the DFW airport because there was no sense in Sarah picking me up only to have to turn around and come back. Soon enough, Sarah and Elle arrived and we found our way to our gate to await our flight to Amarillo. I was thrilled that Elle seemed to remember me, came right to me and let me hold her. She has really grown since I last saw her at Christmas time and is just as cute and funny as can be. The flight to Amarillo is not long, right at an hour, but she was not happy with having to be confined, bless her little heart. Sarah is now a little worried about a three hour flight to New Jersey in June. Bonnie and David picked us up and we had a nice dinner at home and time to visit before heading off to bed.

Elle playing with her toys.

Elle has been missing her daddy and asking for "dada" regularly throughout the day. Here she and Mommy have a little chat with Daddy back in Dallas.

The weather has been cool and overcast, not at all what I was expecting. We didn't venture out at all on Friday. Bonnie and David are both high school teachers and the yearly TAKS standardized tests were being given this week. David worked all day on Friday but Bonnie only had to go in for part of the day and they were both able to come home and have lunch with us. We thought about taking Elle to the park but it just didn't seem like a good enough day for it. She started out the trip with a runny nose and congestion and her pediatrician back home had sent some meds with her. Friday she seemed to be getting worse and worse so we made a trip to the nearby Urgent Care Center. It ended up being a fiasco that I won't go into here but we are hoping we didn't come home with more germs than we started out with. She is much better today, thank goodness!

We went to the mall today just to get out and do something. Bonnie is pregnant so we stopped in a maternity shop to buy her a few things. She is not even showing yet but we were laughing so hard at this fake belly that was available to make the trying on clothes experience more "lifelike." We hope she doesn't really have such a mishapen look when she fills out some more!

We found a play area at the mall so Elle could have a little bit of fun after being cooped up in the house. She loved running and playing and was very interested in the other kids.

Such a cutie!


After a trip to the grocery store and a visit with David's parents, we came home to find David working away in the yard. He's having to rebuild a rock wall next to the house. They have done a lot of great work on their house and are still in the middle of their giant remodeling project.

Tonight some of Bonnie and Dave's friends came over for burgers, as well as Dave's sister, Tricia, and her two precious kids, Isaac and Hannah. Isaac has really grown up since I saw him last.

Hannah is 2 1/2 and was so sweet with Elle. She came in the house asking for Elle, who had already gone to bed but was not asleep. Sarah let Elle get back up and she had so much fun playing with Hannah.

Sharing
Hannah is very smart and verbal, asking us if we remembered the last time she fell off the coffee table and hurt her forehead. Her shirt says "A is for Adorable" and it was certainly true.

She also loved the camera and took a bunch of photos for us. She got a pretty good one of Sarah, Bonnie and me with a little help from her mom.

David and Bonnie relaxing at the end of the night. We will be here till Monday night, then back to Dallas for a few days and on to Abilene after that. It's a whirlwind but I'm so glad I'm having the opportunity to see everyone! Bring on the sunshine!