And then, in Texas...

After hubs finished his half Ironman and got cleaned up, we packed up the car and headed a little further west.

I've not spent much time in Texas, so I thought it'd be great to go west and visit a few places like Sea World, the Riverwalk and check out a little something called the Alamo. The icing on the cake was that I have a bloggy friend somewhere along the way in TX...one who was really hoping that my husband would find a job that would have us relocate close to her. The relocation didn't happen, but we have continued to grow our friendship through our blogs, emails and facebook pages.

I will have to call my friend 'Happy Momma' because I don't believe she has ever used her true name on her blog...I must respect her privacy.

Happy Momma writes Pink Explosion...only now she has a touch of blue. She has two daughters and a four month old 'pork chop' son. Again, my terrible memory leaves me clueless with how we came to know each other, but it's been a while now...

HM first said that we could stay in her home with her family...but days before we were to arrive, her hubby put the kabash on that plan...he was convinced that we could be axe murderers. My husband wanted to show up with a plastic axe from the party store...but he settled for introducing himself as 'Charles Manson, but most people call me Donald.'

I cannot fault her husband at all for protecting his family...but to hubs and me, it was just funny that someone could think we would be harmful. Crazy, yes. Harmful psychos, no.

Oh, wait...HM gave me 'her' cell phone number so I could call her, but, it was oh so funny when it turned out that she actually gave me her husbands cell phone number. So...I called the guy who thought I might have driven hundreds of miles to off his family. Good laugh.

HM and her sweet children met us where we ate breakfast Monday morning. We chit chatted and then made the trip to downtown San Antonio. HM = supermom. Handling all three of her children without any help...she would not let me push the stroller...hmm...maybe she just thought I'd get too many germs on the handle. HM is, how shall I say, very aware, very cautious of all the germs out there...her children learn early that mom will dish out 'soap' (aka Purell, GermX) on a regular basis while they're out in public. Made me chuckle quite a bit...but I did partake.

So we went to the Alamo. Poor memory. Hubby had to tell me the story of the Alamo. (see, I plan to get re-educated when my kids go to school!)

We then went to the Riverwalk. The kids got a kick out of watching the ducks. The mommas just got nervous. Nervous that one or more of the children would jump in the 'river'. It didn't happen...but that's probably just because we tied them to trees. No. We didn't. But you would've thought they had leashes on because of how they were pulled back every few seconds.

We had a yummy lunch at Chilis...and a wonderful time getting to know each other in person. It was so great, so comfortable! It felt so good to 'click'...you just never know. I don't think I had any expectations, but I certainly was not disappointed!

We then went to their home. But not without cracking jokes. We asked HM if she had called her husband to let him know that they were all still alive. Maybe we are sick!

The kids played together so well. I got to hold and squeeze on sweet-little-pork-chop-baby, and Donald found a friend in their middle child...and taught her how to jump off the coffee table into his arms. That wasn't such a good idea, but they did have fun.

We shared a wonderful dinner with the whole family...and even the husband decided that we weren't 'that' kind of crazy afterall. In fact, he has added us as friends on Facebook. Now that's a good sign!

The next day, we took the kids to the park and small lake before we had to hit the road. (hmm...why did we take the kids to another place where we had to keep them from jumping in water??) The kids had a good time throwing rocks at the geese/ducks in the water...and no one got wet!

Happy Momma and Me...make that Two happy mommas!!

We have truly found great friends in Texas!! And the best part? They are coming HERE!! Eek!

We will get to see our new friends in a few months. They are going to East Tennessee and they now have a reason to stop in West TN. Can't wait!!

I bet they'll show up with a plastic axe from the party store.

**P.S. SeaWorld was closed. Boo**

**P.P.S. I will post more of our pictures tomorrow!**