running in the family

This past weekend my sister and her baby boy came to visit me from California (by way of Dallas). The pressures of daily life had finally gotten to sissy so an impromptu vacation was needed and taken. They spent a few days in Dallas where the nephew got to visit his cousins before they made their way down to the heart of Texas. Once they arrived much fun, food, and allergy suffering was had by us all. The nephew and I did most of the suffering due to the high cedar and mold count at the time.

I am so nebulizing, man.

The poor little guy kind of suffered pretty badly his first night down here, but we managed to get him sorted out by the second day. They spent the first night at my apartment where we have two dogs and live next to a cedar forest. He was doing so badly by the next morning that we moved them to a hotel away from the forest and dogs. He still needed his breathing treatments but was doing much better there. Later that night we went out for an early Chinese New Years celebration dinner. The lil guy consumed several cups of jasmine tea after I told him it would help with his allergies.

gulp ... gulp ... gulp

On the third day before taking them to my favorite BBQ joint (The Salt Lick), we paid a brief visit to my future home. This is the first time I've had a family member visit me since I moved years ago. It was great being able to be able to show them everything they hear me talk about in person. Not that she doesn't have confidence in me, but seeing the trailer in person made a bit of difference in how she felt about my plans. Never underestimate the in-person factor when trying to explain stuff like this. It goes a long ways towards helping them understand the hows and whys.

Where's the BBQ you promised?!?

Proof, kids love bunk beds!

Even though we had just seen each other the prior month, it was nice being able to spend time together again. It also gave us a chance to carry on a discussion about some of our family issues as well as possible plans for future welfare of the family. Our phone convos tend to frequently get broken up by life. That and the toddler tends to be much more forgiving when he can see the grown ups talking in person than to a phone.

The food looked as good as it smelled

And we didn't regret eating every last bit

No meal is complete w/out ice cream!

On Sunday morning I (sadly) took them to the airport. The lil guy gave me a huge hug at the airport making me miss him all the more now. Sissy managed to shake loose most of the pressures that were dogging her and regained some needed perspective. I got to take a day off from work, play, and share it with some of the most important people in my life.