Long Road Home

We had a fantastic weekend!
Friday night, we celebrated Ryan’s birthday with our friends. We rounded up a group of folks and met at Riscky’s BBQ down in the Stockyards. We had a great group and much fun was had by all. We especially enjoyed the fried corn nuggets…mmmmm. We also got to try a new beer they had called Shiner Commemorative. It was pretty good! Our friend Danny even got the wait staff to sing Ryan happy birthday and bring out a little cake. It was great! Afterward some of us went over to Billy Bob’s to hear our buddy Bobby Duncan play. It was Bobby’s first show headlining at Billy Bob’s so they put him on the small stage…never again! The crowd was great! And he sounded fantastic. Ryan and I started going to hear Bobby about five years ago. Our friend Walt produced his first record and had him sing a couple of songs as a guest at a show at Love and War in Texas in Grapevine. After that, we were hooked. We’ve watched him grow from one man with a guitar to a full band, and successful young musician. Really neat to be there to watch someone grow up like that. Anyways, we danced the night away in our new boots, and a few in our group even went and watched the live bull riding. After the concert, we took our friend who had never been to the Stockyards over to the White Elephant just so he could say he’d been there. Didn’t stay but maybe fifteen minutes then headed home. Had a fantastic night!
Saturday morning, we slept until about 9:30, then got up and got ready for our hair appointments. Both of us went and got our hair cut trying to get ready for family pictures we are taking next week. Afterward we went home and started packing for Hawaii. Got a few things done around the house then headed to Arlington to celebrate Ryan’s birthday with our families. We left about 3:30 and immediately hit traffic…what logical person would try to head to Arlington on the opening night of the new Cowboy Stadium…luckily it wasn’t all that bad after we got off of 183. We met my mom and Trisha’s boys at Larry and Rita’s then all headed off to Pappasito’s for dinner. We sat outside and it was wonderful. What a perfect night to be outside. Absolutely beautiful. The boys were very well behaved, ate well, then we all went back to L&R’s to play, open presents and have dessert. Ryan got a big mocajete to make guacamole in, a gigantic beach towel, a hand mixer and a Snuggie! He had a wonderful birthday :o)
Sunday morning we woke up late and missed church. Ugh. That means we’ll miss a couple weeks in a row. Boo. We cleaned up around the house then headed off to his work picnic at the Double D Ranch in Mesquite. It really was a neat place. They had a petting zoo (which consisted of four goats), pony rides, trail rides, paddle boats (which we took advantage of), karoke, a wet bounce house slide thing, a dry bounce house, relay races, and ladder golf. We avoided most everything except for the paddle boats and the ladder golf. It was really quite fun! You take to golf balls, drill a hole through their centers and attach them with a foot long piece of rope. Then you toss them (kinda like horse shoes or washers) and try to get them to land on one of three rungs on a pbc pipe ladder like contraption. We played teams with one of Ryan’s coworkers and her husband. Brian is really competitive and was not happy when he and Carrie lost…especially to two people who haven’t ever played (or at least I hadn’t). Anywho, everyone else started heading inside for dinner, but the four of us all just left…we’d made our appearance, got our picture taken, talked to several people…now we could go! Ryan and I stopped and grabbed a bite at Denny’s then went to the Kohl’s across the street. Picked up a few last minute things for Hawaii then headed back to Irving. Stopped at the grocery store and got essentials for the week, and on the way home saw the Toronto Blue Jays pulling into the Four Seasons. We really really wanted to go and watch them get off the bus, shake their hands, etc, but we were tired and had cold stuff in the car…next time.
This week is going by pretty quick. Monday night we met Jen and Erik up at Gloria’s by the Galleria for dinner. Their little one is due in about a month so we wanted to see them before they become a family of three. We had a Ranger game in the lineup this week, but I just don’t think it is going to happen…just too much to do before Saturday. This probably will be my last post until the 22nd or so unless I can track down a laptop while on the Big Island. So have a great week-two weeks everyone. Stay safe! If you are on facebook, I’ll mobile upload a few pictures from my phone while we are there.