Well, we made it to Texas with no trouble at all ~ even though we had to go through Newark, New Jersey.  They were STILL clearing snow from the runways and tarmacs there, and we were surrounded by a lot of disgruntled, delayed, and “bumped” travelers, but fortunately we were not included in that group.  We did have some disgruntled children though, when they learned that our seats on the plane on EACH leg of the trip were NOT together.  We were scattered all over each plane and the children were less than pleased about it.  Kayla and I did manage to sit together on the second leg, when another kind traveler offered to switch seats with one of us, which was a blessing, since that leg was 4 HOURS long.  Ugh.

Another reason we were thankful that our trip was uneventful was that we planned to meet my dad and sister and her kids for nothing less than……you guessed it…….Mexican food!  Well, Tex-Mex, that is ~ as you can see from the description on the restaurant.  It was a fun reunion, complete with queso, fajitas, salsa, migas, tortilla soup, and enchiladas.

After dinner, the kids loaded up in Grandad’s suburban and headed south of Austin to his house.  Robert and I made a stop at Starbucks for tea and Wal-Mart for zinc lozenges (trying to nip a cold) and hair spray (it is the land of big hair, ya know).  When I walked out to the parking lot to find Robert, who was waiting in the car, I was approached by two adorable little Mexican boys…..

“Hello, ma’am!  Would you like to buy some tamales?” they asked.  (I kid you not.)

“Oh, no thank you.  Not tonight.”  I replied.

“OK.  God bless you, ma’am!”

So yes, we have definitely left Massachusetts, and arrived safely in the land of tamales and Tex-Mex.  Heavenly!