Bergstrom Babble: Texas Turkey

This Thanksgiving we traveled to Texas to spend time with my side of the family. Trips like this are always so packed with hugs and cheerful greetings that it makes me really wish we lived closer to all of our family.

First stop — Grandma Dodie’s house in Cisco, Texas, a small town about two hours west of Dallas. We spent long hours playing games, catching up with cousins, cooking, and of course, watching football. Anna, the youngest by far, made herself right at home with the aunts, uncles and cousins she had never met at all or last saw when she was about three months old.

The Turner Grandkids with Grandma Dodie: Liz, Christine, Madison,
David, Amy, Jason, Anna, Ted, Jamie

Lucky for her, this crowd enjoys playing games, and so were more than willing to play Memory, build puzzles, and have tea parties. She quickly attached herself to Ted, the youngest of the cousins (he’s a Junior in high school) – she thought him a kindred spirit because his pillow was covered with a Toy Story pillow case. If he was out of her sight, she would refer to him, never by name, but instead by the endearment, “The little boy who is big.”

Playing games at Grandma Dodie's

I had promised Anna we would go see “Tangled” while we were staying at Grandma Dodie’s so one day we packed up the troops and headed to the closest theater in Abilene, about 45 minutes away. Unfortunately, when we arrived, the movie time we were shooting for was sold out so we decided to buy tickets for the next show. When we turned to leave, Anna did not understand we would be seeing the movie in a mere two hours, and proceeded to have the biggest melt down of her two-year-old life. We’re talking a 15-minute-screaming-arms-flailing-red-faced-stiff-body-unwilling-to-get-in-the-car-seat-tantrum. It took two of us to get her buckled so we could go eat lunch before the movie. All was well once Anna realized we really were going to see the movie, but woah, the fireworks. The movie was great, by the way, and worth the wait.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we started what will be referred to as the “driving portion” of the trip. We headed down to San Antonio for a mini reunion with my mom’s side of the family – with chili and tamales (yay TexMex!!). Upon arriving, Anna was thrilled to see two little gals much closer to her age, her second cousins, 1 year old twins Zeneia and Zaria. She proudly showed them all of the important toys she was toting in her backpack. Her excitement was raised even more when Callan arrived – a “big” girl who quickly took Anna under her wing and played with her outside (I was very excited, too).

The Sramek clan: Tara, Cindy, Ralph, Callan, Dave, Austin, Grandma Sramek,
Dee Ann, Matt, David, Madison, Clay, Beverly, Charley, Amy, Anna, Jason, Andy & Nikki

That evening we headed down to the Riverwalk for more TexMex and enjoyed the cool light decorations adorning the river. Anna really, really wanted to go on one of the boats, but the lines were too crazy, being the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

On Sunday it was off to Fredricksburg, to see Uncle Jim and Aunt Linda’s new house (so nice!). The boys hung out watching football while the ladies headed into the town for some shopping in a very quaint town square.

Goofing around in the shops in Fredricksburg

Sunday evening it was back in the car and back to the Riverwalk for a boat ride – the crowds were much more reasonable…in fact they were non-existent. The boat capped off our trip and it was back to the ATL on Monday morning. At the end of the trip, we had logged nearly 1,000 miles gallivanting across Texas, but it was definitely worth it to be able to reconnect with the family members we don’t get to see too often. But, I can’t wait until teleporting is perfected – sign me up!