We had absolutely wonderful visits to both Swint and Spain grandparents this spring. I should record some memories while they're not too stale!

In March we did the cross-Texas tour. Owen and I flew to Austin while Reuel flew to San Antonio for a conference. Well, that was the plan anyway. About 20 minutes before his plane was supposed to board, Reuel began manifesting symptoms of the stomach bug Owen and I had enjoyed. So, he ended up in bed instead of flying, and left for SA the next day instead. Owen and I stayed several days with the Edwards and Owen had a fantastic time with the cousins. According to the amount of times he talked about his memories post-trip, he especially enjoyed getting pulled in the wagon and digging in the dirt with cousin Aidan. My favorite memory is popping outside to see how the kids were doing, and witnessing Owen flying down the steep driveway at umpteen miles an hour in the wagon (with one of the girls at the helm), holding on tight with a huge grin and saying WHEEE! while I peeked nervously through my fingers. It was terrific. I also recall lots of great chats with Erin and some fantastic fajitas the day we left. Mmm.

We spent a too-short day and night with the Matthews gang in Waco next. They took us on a boat ride! Owen loved the fast part where the wind blew in his hair...definite bit of daredevil in there. It was a lot of fun. Owen did have a hankering to pull Zayn's hair and got some ugly whoopings from Daddy. But overall it wasn't *too* bad and there was lots of fun had riding bikes in the banquet hall downstairs and checking out the up and coming parts of the loft....wow! I am constantly amazed by large families and how they manage all the chaos and Lorin and Chris seem to be pros at staying cool and calm.

Reuel's mom and dad picked us up in Waco and we had a nice evening ride to Paris (of course Owen didn't fall asleep til the last hour or so!). Where to begin. Owen is still talking about all the fine details of the visit to the ranch, now more than a month later. Fishing (worm! fishie! hold it. hook. sharp! ouchie! water. hold fishie? worms, dirt, fork), driving tractor and pickup (drive it. BIG!), feeding cows (moo. hay.) and visiting the garden (hose! daddo hose. mommo hose. dirt!) dominate many a toddler conversation. Not to mention cowboys, the playroom, painting and the birthday cowboy hat he got to shop for with mommo and daddo. We ate too much as usual, but enjoyed it thoroughly, and Owen must've put on more weight in that visit than he had in three months...liked mommo's cooking apparently, and ate like a horse. Laddie and Patty Paws get lots of memory time, too.















Just last week we returned from a week in NC with my parents and Aunt Debbie (sans Reuel, sadly). Also a great time! Cats, cats, cats!...a big highlight of visiting nunu and grandpa. Frequently we discuss the cats now...Holly? Max? Leo? Yes, Owen those are nunu's cats. Run away! Yes, they run away when you chase them. Eat turkey! Yep, they love turkey. Scwatch arm! Holly scratched your arm when you climbed up to see her, but it wasn't a bad scratch.

Other highlights in Owen's memory were collecting and throwing sticks in the backyard, eating ice cream (and lots of it), playing with kids from church, reading nunu's books (particularly the one called 'tails') and grilling out with grandpa. As for myself, I lounged around WAY too much and deslugifying myself after the trip has not been easy :} But it was a great vacation. Oh! I nearly forgot the zoo. We took a lovely trip to the zoo in Asheboro and enjoyed the animals there. Owen was CRAZY feisty about car trips there for some reason (he's back to normal here; no fussing for up to an hour of driving!) and Aunt Debbie, desperate for sources of entertainment, or perhaps just to punish the rascal, stuck her dirty, walk-around-a-zoo-all-day-in-sandals feet in his face and *I* said YUCK Debbie!! Owen picked up on that one quickly and has been parroting 'Yugh Debbie, yugh Debbie!' over and over since then. He thinks it is hilarious. Sometimes he says 'miss nunu. miss grandpa. miss debbie.' ...not necessarily in any particular order ;)

Photos courtesy Grandpa: