The Flying Dutch: The Lone Star State!

This past weekend we headed to Texas for a cousin get together and family trip. Our cousins in Texas are my mom’s dad grandpa Hal's brother's kids and their families (I hope that makes sense!) Leading up to the trip Decker was not at all excited to go. After Grady was born, he got a little clingy and didn’t seem to want to meet new people. When we told him we were going to Texas he cried and said he liked his friends here and didn’t want to go stay with new people and didn’t want to ride on a plane that daddy wasn’t flying. So brilliant Daddy told him that Texas is where real cowboys live and it snapped Decker out. He’s been excited to go ever since! We flew out of the Des Moines airport and Aunt Katie joined us on our flights. This was the first time Grady flew and Decker’s first commercial flight. Decker was very excited for the trip and kept yelling “woohoo” the entire morning and in the airport and plane. He especially liked the takeoff when we went really fast. We had a stop in Kansas City where we stayed on the plane while they let passengers on/off. The flight crew was great and let Decker go check out the cockpit. One of the pilots even got out of the cockpit so Decker could sit in his seat – a real treat! Grady did an amazing job on the plane. Well both kids did, but I wondered about 3 takeoffs and landings with a baby. Grady didn’t cry once! He was such a little trooper the entire trip and flirted with the passengers and flight crew. We did have some diaper issues on the way out there which made for some interesting times changing diapers in the plane bathroom with no changing table (luckily Jeff got that one!) And thankfully Aunt Katie was with us to help out too!

I’m not for sure what Decker thought Texas would be like… but we had to take his cowboy hat and boots so he could wear them with the cowboys. As were flying into Dallas, Decker looked out the window and said “Mom, I can’t see any cowboys.” And before the trip Decker was telling me his boots were getting small and so I told him maybe we could buy some new boots in Texas. As we were on the plane, we again brought up the boots and about maybe buying some new ones in Texas. He then said “But Mom, I don’t know if I can buy boots in Texas. Those cowboys down there may know that I’m not a real cowboy and they may not let me buy cowboy boots.” If only I could see what was running through his brain ;)

Once we got to Texas we had a fun weekend with family. On Sun. Laurie and Larry hosted a big crawfish boil at their house and all the cousins came from various parts of Texas, plus my uncle Brad and Quendy from Iowa made the trip too. It was great to meet cousins we had never met before and also visit with some that we hadn’t seen in years. The crawfish boil was interesting to see the process and they turned out delicious! On Mon. we visited the Fort Worth stockyards and got to see some real Texas longhorn cattle and cowboys on horses. We’re now looking forward to some of the Texas cousins visiting us in Iowa and hopefully will be able to visit Texas again!

Decker's ready to go to Texas!

Pilot/cowboy Decker

On the stop in K.C. we were able to spread out and Grady was thrilled to have his own seat and not be confined to someones arms.

So excited!

Big boy in his own seat on the way home!

Family pic at the stockyards

Cattle drive with the cowboys - surprisingly they do this 2x every day

Decker and his new friend (cousin) Gabby

Claire and Katie on the longhorn! The little girls did great and climbed right up. Decker was going on three days of no nap and it caught up to him about this time so wouldn't even go near them...

Gabby taking her turn

Decker and Claire getting Pampa with Claire's new lasso

Some of the cousins came in waves so here are two group shots of the majority of cousins. As you can see, LOTS of Sweeneys!

Mom and some of her cousins that were there:

Tricia, Uncle Brad, Laurie, Jamie, Shane, Madeline, Charles, Mom

Cousin David, Pampa, a friend of the fam, Matt, Nash, Quendy and Uncle Brad

David, Laurie, Patrick and Tricia cooking up some yummy food - bet you can't guess which way Laurie voted last fall :)

Mom with Tricia, Laurie and Nash with balloons for her birthday

Laurie, Katie and Tricia cooking some breakfast

Gabby and Decker checking out the crawfish

Emma was brave enough to hold one while it squirmed

David entertaining the kids - they said he wouldn't climb in. I love how Decker's just looking at him like you're crazy

Gabby and Decker pouring salt on the live crawfish to purge them. They did this three times and then rinsed to get out all the mud before they boiled them.