Two other things we did while in Texas....I wanted to go visit my cousin, who is incarcerated in East Texas, so we took off on a 2 day road trip.  We went to see him, which was very interesting and eye opening for my boys to see a maximum security facility.  After the visit we headed toward Austin.

We spent 2 nights with some lifelong friends in the Austin area.  Our intention had been to drive to San Antonio to see the Alamo and the Riverwalk all lit up.  Well, when we got to our friends' house, the boys had such a great time playing, we ditched our plans and laid low with Nerf gun wars, trampoline jumping, playing and exploring at Nameless Valley Ranch.  NVR is a deserted camp that was bought in recent years for development.  My friend's husband works for the developer so we had access to the land.

This was the old lodge/cafeteria.  They played a cross between shuffleboard and hockey.

One of about 15 abandoned cabins.

They found this contraption and managed to roll it down a hill and into a building.

The old barn

We ventured away from the cabins and lodge and explored the creek.  A bonus was a pack of wild hogs we saw...The boys.  Fun to have our friends with boys the ages of Benjamin and Joseph.

Jacob just hanging out.

They wanted to cross the river but the water was flowing higher than last time.  So, the boys spent about 15 minutes building a bridge with rocks and logs. The bridge was sturdy enough for all adults to cross over.

You can see this outing was ALL BOY!!!!  Although the San Antonio trip would have been nice, some great memories were made and lots of running around was done, versus 4 hours in the car and walking around San Antonio.  (I was dead set on San Antonio so it was a stretch for me to put it aside, but trying to embrace the moment and throw plans out the window when a better opportunity presents itself.)

We also ate at Chuy's.  A local mexican restaurant.  The boys, especially Benjamin, loved it and claimed it the best ever.  I am so glad to see his taste buds maturing.  Then on the way back to my mom's we stopped by Schlotzsky's for a sandwich.  I love S, but my  boys had never heard of them.  Once again, they were amazed and very thankful for the sandwich.  (Because of our S stop, all three of my boys will ask for a ham sandwich now.  I know it sounds silly but we finally have some more options, other than PBJ, when it comes to sandwiches.