This past weekend, Kari and I flew down to Texas to visit my sister and Chris. We've never really hung out with just the 2 before, so it was nice to finally get to visit - just us.

And as an extra bonus - travel was crazy smooth. NWA didn't charge us for checking bags (in fact we could've each checked an extra bag if we wanted), plus we got free sodas, and 1 of our flights even landed 30 minutes early, nice!

So anyway, we got into San Antonio late Thursday said some words, then we all basically crashed.

Friday, Halloween, we took Daniel to a pumpkin patch and then checked out the new house that Bre'anna and Chris are building. It is stupid nice. And yeah, I'm a bit jealous that my younger sister has a nicer house than I do. Actually, everything on the northwest side of San Antonio was crazy nice. All the houses were built with quality, the yards were cool, and ... I dunno, it just seemed like kids our age had a lot more down there, it boggled my mind. It would be like if you kicked the rich people out of West Des Moines and put 20 year olds in their houses.

Anyway, after checking out their house, we went to this fancy outdoor mall called La Cantera where Kari and I bought a load of t-shirts and other accessories. My sister then made us dinner and we finished the night relaxing at Chris's parents' house.... this was also the first time I've really hung out with Chris's family. They are awesome people. Very nice, very real, and very caring. They definitely seem to be taking good care of my sister, ha. It's fun that we both have amazing in-laws.

Saturday started off nice when Chris's parents gave us their mustang convertible and threw $20 bills at us, haha. It was a great day. We had lunch at BJ's Brewhouse on them and got to drive around the hilly country with the top down - with a couple stops at vineyards to sample some wine of course.

Then after cruising around, we stopped for a cigar and had mexican food at a place that I think was called La Hacienda... or some incredibly original mexican restaurant name like that. But anyway, huge, huge patio, nice weather, and good food. I liked it.

Sunday we woke up and went to Chris's dad (Robert)'s church. Robert gave a sermon which had quite a lot to say about the (then) upcoming election and about being good people. It was one of the best sermons I have heard in a long time. For some reason I was totally expecting to be told to vote republican - because that is what I think a lot of churches have been doing. But to my amazement, nothing was biased or judgmental. In fact, it was ridiculously unbiased and nonjudgmental. It was awesome. It was really how church should be. Again, Chris's family is good people.

So after church, my sister had a giant 1st birthday party for Daniel. I didn't really know anyone at the party and there were a ton of babies... so it wasn't exactly a blast for me, but it was a decent time and seemed to be really nice for Bre'anna's friends and family.

Monday, our last day in town I hung some rope lighting in Bre'anna and Chris's entry way, then we had lunch at Schilo's and walked around the river walk before busting outta Tejas.

Overall, it was a great time. It was nice to hang out with just Chris and Bre'anna for once.

...I just don't get the parenting thing. That is such a full time, draining job. I don't get how any parent can possibly be productive. I mean I'm glad that Bre'anna is happy, but I think I am plenty satisfied with just being an uncle, haha.

So... now I'm just waiting for Kari to give me a go ahead on that vasectomy I've been hankerin for.
Pics!