Brenham

The first stop on our great tour of Texas was Papa and Grandma Valerie's new spread in Brenham. They recently bought some acreage about halfway between their house in Houston and our (old) house in Austin -- which will be great next summer! -- and this was our first time to see it. Granted, we saw it through a foggy, jet-lagged haze, but it was still really cool.

While we were there, we watched a crew come in to pour the slab for Papa's new garage and office building, visited the Blue Bell Creamery and some cool toy stores in downtown Brenham, flew kites in the big yard, walked around the property, played on Papa's cool new tractor, and spent lots of time with Lucy. While we've missed her a lot, we know that she is having the time of her life out at the ranch.

Tommy spent some of that week in Austin for NI Week, and we took care of the kind of errands you do when you're in the U.S. -- a trip (or two) to Target, lunch at Chick Fil A, and my triumphant return to H.E.B, where I nearly wept with joy when I asked an employee where to find the tortillas and he answered me -- in English! Even better, when I arrived at that aisle, I found many, many kinds of tortillas for just over a dollar. Heaven at H.E.B. I bought a rotisserie chicken so that I could make chilaquiles and chatted with the woman in line behind me. Oh, it was a happy day.

Here are some pictures from our great week in the country:


A huge, special thanks to Papa and Grandma Valerie for making our first week back in the U.S. so wonderful and easy. They housed us and fed us and even hooked us up with a car. Looking forward to our next trip to the ranch!