All My Friends Were There

Things didn't improve much for Joey when we arrived in Midland last week, and the first pool on the first day he rejected before he even got his knee wet.  The second pool on the third day he actually enjoyed, though rejected his floaty, and since then he has improved his stroke, and the length of time he's stayed in the water, with each visit.  Saying that, by about the 30-45 minute mark you'll still find both him and Lightning choosing their towels at the side of the pool over the water inside it.  Ach well...

Anyway, the past week was an absolutely wonderful whirlwind of catching up with friends and families, seeing as many people, and doing as many things as possible while the Don was still with us.  We went to three different birthday parties, swum in five different pools, snorkelled in a very cold natural spring, had breakfast, lunch or dinner with friends too many times to count, visited the ball park and was caught in a thunderstorm, been to two different churches, shopped in three different Walmarts (don't ask), sat out in the evening socialising over drinks many-a-time, listened to a mariachi band, had a girls night, a boys golf day, a child's sleepover and ... no time on the computer thanks to yakking over cups of tea with Ma-rafiki in any of the spare time we had.

All the late nights and eating out meant it really has felt like a proper holiday, but because it's also in a place we know, doing things we know, with people we know, it's also just felt like old times.  As a result there is not actually that much photo evidence of everything we've been up to.

Why swim when you can fly?!

The Doug Russell public pool was a new place we hit this summer.  It was being renovated the last autumn that we were here in Midland, and since we left we've heard nothing but good reports.  Except of course Joey got cold and refused to go in after the initial excitement wore off, and no one but Toots was tall enough for the slides ?!?! (until the last 15 minutes we were there when for some bizarre reason there was no lifeguard on duty at the bottom of the steps).

The renovated Doug Russell public swimming pool

But we did manage to get a relatively complete group picture:

Visiting the Rockhounds was another must on our Midland to-do list, and even the thunderstorm which finally cancelled play was exciting - helped by the fact that the game finished with the Rockhounds up by 4 runs after 6 innings which was enough to declare them the winner.  And I think rain-cancelled play means we can get in another time for free with our tickets... must check that out...  If not the tickets gives us a free Rosa's burrito, so win-win!

After all the fun we've had snorkelling over the last few months, I was also really looking forward to taking the kids back to Balmorhea this summer.  Of course being a natural spring it was c-o-l-d, and therefore not quite as appealing to any of us as the Arabian Gulf (also there were no catfish this year so there was less to see), but Lightning used a proper snorkel for the first time, and the diving board is always fun - for those brave enough to use it!

Our brave one!

Can you spot him?

But after two weeks of non-stop holidaying, this afternoon we finally had to say goodbye to the Don.  The Don and his two overweight suitcases and two overweight hand-baggage pieces (ooops).  Tomorrow VBS (Vacation Bible School) starts for the kids and we'll be needing to get in to a bit more of a 'routine', because getting to bed after 10 for the kids and midnight for me is not terribly sustainable I have to say.  I am looking forward to three hours a day to 'myself' though!