Back from Texas, y'all!

Had a GREAT Memorial Day weekend down in Dallas with my sister and brother-in-law. I know one thing-it's HOT in Texas. Even in May. I think temps topped out around 95 degrees. Quite unpleasant to say the least. We had fun in spite of the heat, however. Our adventure began on Friday. I arrived in Salem around 5:00pm and we left for Texas around 5:30pm. My dad had the brilliant idea to drive straight through....so we did (it's a roughly 9-10 hour drive, depending on how many times you stop). I believe for the first 4-5 hours of the trip, I laughed non-stop. My dad is silly and just kept cracking me up-talking about his theory about how all over-the-road truck drivers do drugs (cocaine, anyone?), and when discussing gas prices he said, and I quote, "the Arabs have us by the groin". Uh, thanks dad. We dodged cops (but really, with dad only going 2-3 miles over the speed limit, I think we were safe). We didn't make our first stop until Muskogee, Oklahoma....a city that we will never stop in again, right mom and dad? Let's just say, when folks gotta pee after having been in the car for five hours, Muskogee is NOT the place to be....and I'll leave it at that (I actually heard my father say the words "piss" and "f**k" in the same sentence-it wasn't good). After that incident, I tried to sleep but it wasn't happening...we arrived at my sister's house at 2:45am. Chloe didn't even bark...until we were already in the house. Some watch dog, huh? Sleepy-eyed Red and Jon greeted us with hugs, then we all headed to bed. We were all up bright and early the next day (actually, I was awakened by Chloe jumping into bed with me....nothing says "good morning" like a dog in your face!). We went to the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens (at dad's request). It was gorgeous, as you will see below... This is my favorite picture of the whole trip. Yes, that is my mom, sister and I imitating the See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil statues......this is my attempt to take a bit of an artistic picture....I just thought the tree looked cool.
part of the Japanese Gardens at the botanical garden. Pretty, huh?
my parents....dad's shirt is from the Dallas Arboretum (basically the same thing as a botanical garden) from the last time we were in Texas...
this is the new background on my computer at work. I just think it's so pretty. It is part of the Japanese Garden as well. Mike says he wants me to make his yard look like that (I'm helping him landscape the back yard)-I'm thinking this is BEYOND my level of expertise..........more of the Japanese GardenThis squirrel tried to attack us! He was not people shy at all...he walked right up to us all bow-legged, like it was a showdown at the OK Corral....
my four-legged niece, Chloe. She had just gotten her hair cut the day before. Isn't she cute????PARTY PIC! Doesn't Chloe look thrilled? She LOVES her aunt, I tell you!This is my sister and I at the Dallas Aquarium on Sunday. I always hesitate to sit next to my skinnier, prettier sister....but I think this is a good picture of us... :)
The Fam: my brother-in-law Jon, my parents and me....we weren't quite so hot on this day since the aquarium was air conditioned...some pink flamingos....they were cool but kinda weird....
a view of the tropical fish from the tank that went over our heads...it was very cool to just sit and watch them swim.
Look at the little penguin, isn't he cute?

Nice close up of this critter....some sort of lizard/iguana/thing......
A giant sting ray
A hammerhead shark....

This giant sea turtle made us laugh (complete with my sister making up a song about him...sample lyric "look at me, I'm a giant turtle, I want you to take my picture...."). He was a total attention whore, kept swimming by....the best was when he swam by....riding on the back of a manatee!
The Fam sans me....my sis, her husband and our parents.
Look, it's Mr. Starfish all the way from God's Country...AKA British Columbia! :)

I'm not sure why this manatee has his face stuck in the corner...they were very cool to watch-so HUGE!

In the evenings, we took Chloe for walks, we played board games (try playing Catch Phrase with my father sometime-guaranteed entertainment!), we laughed A LOT, dad craved ice cream (as Red said, when dad falls off the wagon, he falls HARD!), us girls did a bit of shopping and dad and Jon harassed me about the Cubs losing all weekend (I am happy to report they are back on the winning track, thank you very much!). Monday we headed back to Salem (LOOOOONG day!) and now life is back to normal, working like crazy and not having enough time in the day to get every thing done.

My old friends from college, Brian (AKA Cabin Boy) and Todd are coming to the STL tomorrow, so some of my old college peeps and I are getting together for dinner tomorrow night (it would be complete if my FAVORITE person from our college crew, a certain Canadian hottie, were there as well.....).