The Lee Family: Fun With Oregon Cousins

My brother Pancho and his wife Julie and their kids Max, Sam and Lucy came to visit us and our area during their Spring Break, which was the week before Easter. Pancho had texted me weeks before their visit to see if they could stay with us (of course!) and we traded phone calls over the following few weeks trying to talk about ideas of what they wanted to do. Max is 18 and a senior in high school, Sam is 17 and a junior and Lucy is 14 and in 8th grade, so I'm not super familiar with fun stuff for those ages. Also, we really have hardly seen them over the years, so we don't even really know the kids very well. We did spend two days with Pancho and the kids following the McConnell family reunion two summers ago and ended up going to Knott's Berry Farm together, going to the movies, dinner and swimming in the hotel pool. All five of the kids had a ball together, but Olivia said she didn't remember what they looked like! So, we were super excited to have them visit and I thought of a few ideas they might enjoy. I took the entire week off tennis, so I could spend as much time with them as possible (and as they wanted to spend with me), although the girls had school each day. Sofia started calling Lucy "Lauren" from the time they arrived, because she "looked like a Lauren and not a Lucy" according to Sofia! By the end of the week, we all had a hard time calling her Lucy!

Pancho and his gang arrived on Monday around 5pm, after a very early morning departure from Portland, Oregon and a long day of travel. I made chicken tacos and a salad, since it's easy and everyone could pick what they wanted to eat. The five kids ended up eating together while the adults ate in the "formal" dining area and talked. Pancho and Julie are really two of the coolest and funnest people I know and it was so great to connect with them and hear about their lives in Oregon. They are used to cold, dreary and/or rainy weather in Oregon, and I was really hopeful that Texas would provide a week of fabulous, sunny weather which is pretty common by late March. Unfortunately, our streak of rainy cool weather continued and they had two days of consistant rain and cool weather. Of course, they loved it because they are used to it and it kept a lot of the crowds away, since we aren't used to it here!

On Tuesday, after a big breakfast of scrambled eggs, pancakes and bacon, they all headed to downtown Dallas to check out the 6th Floor Museum. They said it was a great museum for all of them and they really enjoyed it. They didn't end up leaving the house until after 1pm, since they all slept in. They are still on West coast time, which means that they are used to it being 2 hours earlier. After the museum, they drove around Dallas a little bit and then headed back to the house. Meanwhile, I picked Olivia up from school and she was super eager to see her cousins. She was super sad to hear they were in Dallas, but I assured her they would be home shortly. Once they were home from Dallas, the cousins showed the girls and Antonio, who was at our house for piano lessons, a few different card games, including spoons, war and hearts. Sofia loves card games and Antonio jumped into it just as much as Olivia. Also, Max showed them a few different card tricks, which were actually quite good! He said he learned them on youtube. For dinner we had the girls' favorite: spaghetti casserole. I figured the five kids would eat massive amounts, and made two casserole dishes of it and also served salad and garlic bread. I was surprised at how little they ate, but my girls probably only ate the garlic bread, since I never serve it. After dinner the girls stayed up with their cousins and Olivia soon found that Sam loved playing whatever she wanted to play. He followed her around into her room to read, up to the play room to play Legos, and was great at being a buddy to her! It was so sweet! Meanwhile, Max, Lucy and Sofia played some serious games of Hearts! I loved how engaged the Fulton cousins are with our girls!

On Wednesday, the crew headed off to Magnolia in Waco, which was really the highlight of the trip for Lucy and Julie. After they explored Waco, including Baylor University, they headed to Hard 8 BBQ in Roanoke. We suggested they either eat at Hard 8 or Babe's Chicken Dinner, if the wait wasn't too crazy long there. They returned home around 8:30/9pm and told us all about their day which sounded awesome! Once again, Olivia was really sad after school when she heard Sam (and the rest of the cousins) weren't home.

On Thursday, we decided to let the girls stay home from school so they could spend the entire day with their cousins, since they hardly get a chance to see one another. The girls were super excited! They have been staying up until midnight and even 1:30am (!!!!) playing cards and hanging out with their cousins, so I knew they would also welcome sleeping in Thursday morning, even though they hardly slept in. Pancho and Sam ended up heading out at 8am to meet the lacrosse coach at Dallas Baptist University and get a tour. After that, they drove straight to TCU in Ft Worth for another tour and meeting with their lacrosse couch. So, Julie, Max, Lucy, Sofia, Olivia and I got into my car and headed to Joe T. Garcia's for some authentic Mexican food. The day ended up being sunny and crisp, which was perfect for a day in Ft. Worth! We sat outside and we all enjoyed the food and talking. Sofia took all the "girls" to the bathroom which is in the far end of the courtyard, so they could get a "tour" of the area. They all loved it and it really hit the spot. We then drove and parked by the Stockyards and met up with Pancho and Sam. They really enjoyed TCU but absolutely loved DBU! We showed them Leddy's boot store and ended up at the general store across the street to look for a "Texas" sticker for Lucy. Aunt Julie bought both girls harmonicas! They sounded surprisingly good, despite it just being a lot of random noise. Both girls needed a bathroom since they had about 10 iced teas at lunch, so we showed the cousins the bar with saddles as barstools and took a "cousins" photo.

Soon it was time for the Longhorn cattle drive, and the girls and Max each rode on the saddled Longhorn beforehand. I think both our girls have been on that Longhorn at least ten times already! We stood along the sidewalk and had the best view! The girls practiced their harmonica while we waited! At one point, one of the Longhorns turned and started walking straight for us, which was a little disconcerting! After the cattle drive, we headed back to the other side of Ft. Worth so I could go tot he Apple store and they could drive through TCU to show Max, Lucy and Julie the campus. We met back at the house where all the cousins jumped on the trampoline together and had a great time! For dinner we ordered pizza from Palio's and hung out. The cousins and Aunt Julie ended up staying up playing cards until midnight! I actually couldn't stay awake and ended up going to bed around 10:30!

Friday was a school holiday for the girls, so they slept in a bit and waited for their cousins to wake up. Unfortunately, they all headed back to Oregon on a 1pm flight! So, we hung out for a short time and took a few photos before saying goodbye. We were all really sad to see them go, but especially Olivia. They are all so much fun and we enjoyed our time with them all so much! Hopefully Sam will decide to attend DBU after he graduates next year! That night Olivia started crying at dinner because she missed Sam. Poor thing. We'll have to visit them in Oregon!

The first of many fun nights of playing spoons, hearts and war together!