Troy’s mom and stepdad live in South Texas, which was really not at all on our route, but we detoured to visit them anyway. It had been almost a year and a half since we’d seen them, and who knows when we’ll get the chance to get down there again. It added a few hundred miles to our trip, but it was worth it. Visiting Tom and Carol is always a lot of fun, and our two-day visit made for a nice little break in the middle of a long week of driving.

One of Annalie’s two favorite things about visiting Grandma Carol and Grandpa Tom, aside from her grandparents themselves, is getting to drive around the RV park in a golf cart. This time she helped Troy by working the accelerator. She was very proud of herself for that, and Troy managed to avoid running into anything despite the fact that she didn’t always react very quickly when he told her to slow down.

Annalie’s other favorite thing is that we can go swimming every day in the park’s excellent heated pool. This time she was super excited to show Troy that she’d learned to swim without floaties while he was deployed. She doggy-paddled for approximately two seconds, hollered, “See how good I can swim, Daddy!?” then spent the rest of her time in the pool playing with a foam noodle.

Annalie also thought it was pretty cool that she had both her grandmas there at the same time. My mom was born in San Antonio and had family in Texas growing up, but other than a visit to Houston in the 1980s, she hadn’t been to Texas since she was a kid, and she’d never been that far south. She enjoyed getting to see the Rio Grande Valley for herself.

Annalie was on quite a drawing kick while we were there. She crayoned a really excellent snowman and a tall, tall giraffe (both of which I sadly neglected to photograph), as well as this lovely desert scene. On the one hand, I think this is brilliant for a 5-year-old. On the other hand, I find this hilariously similar to those drawings you see on TV that are supposed to have been done by a kid but clearly were done by an adult trying to make it look like a kid did it.

Walking in the RV park to go visit Aunt MaryAnn, I aimed the camera back over my shoulder without looking and somehow managed to get this great shot of Troy and Annalie.

At MaryAnn’s, Annalie was uncharacteristically grouchy and uninterested in the dogs. She curled up on this bench and pouted because we weren’t going swimming yet.

Then on the short walk back to Carol & Tom’s, Annalie actually fell asleep on Troy’s shoulder. A couple of late nights and an antihistamine (she had a sneezing-and-coughing cold) were too much for her tired self to resist. We laid her down in one of the bedrooms and let her take a 45-minute nap. She was much more cheerful when she woke up.

After a nap and devouring two pieces of pizza, Annalie got to do her two favorite things again, a golf-cart ride and swimming.

After we got back from swimming, Carol had Annalie pose for the traditional shed-step photo. She’s taken a picture of Annalie there each time we’ve visited them. The funny story behind this shot is that I told Annalie to show me a peace sign, and she looked confused for a second, then grabbed herself like she needed to find a toilet pronto. I cracked up and explained that I hadn’t said, pee sign but peace sign. She said, “Ohhh! That makes more sense.”

Carol and Annalie took my mom on a tour around the park in the golf cart, and at one point when they were by the pond Annalie got bitten by a fire ant. Here is is wearing her I-just-got-bitten-by-a-fire-ant-but-I’m-being-brave face. Luckily she was fine by the time they came home.

While my kid was being bitten by fire ants I was taking pictures of bluebirds with my 50mm lens and of myself with PhotoBooth.

I had twittered about this shirt (which I purchased here) and a couple of people asked to see it. The Orange Orange is the fake yogurt shop where Sarah Walker works at her cover job (and which hides the CIA secret base beneath it) on Chuck. I like this shirt because it’s a sort of sneaky Chuck reference. You probably wouldn’t get it unless you were a fan, so it’s like a secret handshake. Those are my favorite kinds of geeky references.

Annalie, explaining it all to me.

Oops, I forgot Annalie’s third favorite thing about visiting Carol & Tom: the dog park. MaryAnn takes her dogs there, and we sometimes go hang out with her and all the dogs and their owners. It was rather crazy the day we were there, with several very young dogs running and chasing and jumping and nipping at each other. I was very proud of Annalie, because even though she was a bit nervous of the jumping and nipping, she stuck it out and petted and played with the dogs who weren’t so nuts.

Annalie loved this cute little poodle. She was relatively calm and seemed to like kids. Also, her owner helped Annalie hold her, which put Annalie over the moon. And to top it off, the dog’s name was Sarah, which is Annalie’s favorite name these days.

This little puppy was running around with a loooong leash trailing from his collar, for some reason. He kept running around my legs, getting tangled up, and sitting down in defeat till I untangled him. I kind of wanted to find his owner and point out that the leash was going to cause someone to trip and break a leg sooner or later.

Our last evening there, we went to dinner at a steakhouse where you could grab a bag of peanuts from a big barrel, then eat them at your table and just brush the shells onto the floor. Annalie figured out that the ketchup bottle made a good peanut-shell smasher.

photo taken by Carol

Our time in South Texas was brief but well-spent. We were sad to go so soon, but it was time to head for D.C. so we could find a place to live. After we made a stop in Decatur, Alabama…

Speaking of finding a place to live, in case you’re wondering, the search is going well. I don’t want to talk about specifics until we actually have a place, but we saw a couple of good houses today and have filled out a few forms. Just waiting to hear back from owners, etc. We appreciate all the good wishes, prayers, and crossed fingers on our behalf!

A few days ago, I downloaded photos from my mom’s camera, and I found these pictures she took of Annalie and Bug. My mom was trying to take some nice pictures of their last day together before we moved, but they were both being so goofy that the photos are quite hilarious. We’re missing our California friends but I’m so grateful we have all the photos we do of our fun times together.

P.S. Dolly the dolphin made the road trip with us. Annalie begged to be allowed to bring her, and she agreed to not bring a pillow if Dolly came along. I’d say a good half of the time we were in the van, Dolly was on Annalie’s lap. Kids choose to attach to strange things for their lovies sometimes; I guess a four-foot plush dolphin isn’t the oddest thing I’ve heard of a kid dragging around with her.

1. Wicked sense of humor.
2. Incredible patience.
3. Lets me sleep in whenever he can.
4. Gives great back rubs and doesn’t point out that I don’t return the favor nearly often enough.
5. Cheerfully runs to the store to pick up forgotten ingredients when I’m in the middle of cooking something.
6. Helps me cook—chops vegetables, stirs simmering soups, assembles wedding cakes, etc.
7. Doesn’t laugh at me for reading cheesy romance novels.
8. Spends months researching the smallest purchase to make sure we get the best deal and quality.
9. Doesn’t make too much fun of me for being a huge klutz.
10. Is an extremely hard worker, yet doesn’t complain when I’m not working as hard as he is.
11. Tends to gravitate towards the people in a group who are feeling left-out or uncomfortable, then puts them at ease by chatting and asking questions.
12. Really, really listens to people when they’re talking.
13. Thinks about what he’s going to say before he says it.
14. Makes phone calls for me because he knows I don’t like talking on the phone.
15. Is even geekier than I am, which means we mostly like the same TV shows and movies.
16. Gets really excited about every space-shuttle launch.
17. Has shared his space-shuttle excitement with Annalie, and makes a point of watching every launch with her.
18. Still owns the 1967 MGB that his dad bought in 1980.
19. Knows how to fix cars, which is handy considering #18.
20. Randomly recites lines from The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
21. Calls his mom, stepmom, and both his sisters weekly without anyone nagging him to do so.
22. Makes up his own lyrics or songs to fit whatever he’s doing at the moment, like the cutting board song.
23. Is a cat person AND a dog person.
24. Even though he tends to make big piles of things—papers, magazines, clothes—he will clean them up if I ask him to.
25. When he notices that the bathroom needs to be cleaned or the dishwasher needs to be emptied or the trash needs to be taken out, he does it with no complaint.
26. Takes a book or magazine to bed every night and tries to read, even though he consistently falls asleep within two pages.
27. Barely notices fashion, men’s or women’s.
28. Looks good in his Navy uniforms. Especially his bridge coat.
29. Goes out on dates with Annalie occasionally.
30. Keeps me up-to-date on the latest world news so I don’t sound like an idiot when people are talking about something I’ve never heard of.
31. Brings me coffee or cereal in bed when I really need to get up on time because he knows that’ll wake me up.
32. Enjoys having my mom visit our house for weeks at a time just as much as I do. Really!
33. Likes musical theater and will argue its merits to anyone who thinks it’s “girly.”
34. Doesn’t mind that I like listening to the same CDs over and over and over again.
35. Explains things in exhaustive detail.
36. Is pretty much fine with whatever decorating choices I make.
37. Tells me I’m beautiful even when I’m in my pajamas and have not washed my hair in two days.
38. Thanks me for laughing at his jokes.
39. Helps write Christmas cards and thank-you notes when I ask him to.
40. World’s best hugger.

Happy birthday, babe! xxoo