Texas Tour

Before our Texas Tour, we spent a day at the Masters with our good friends Luke and Meredith Dalzell. Meredith won a lottery for 4 tickets on the Wednesday practice round, and they invited us to join them.  It was awesome.  Pictures really don't do the course justice.  We had a great time with the Dalzell's as always.  Meaghan, our former nanny from North Carolina, came down and stayed with the boys one night, while we went to the Masters.  Meaghan had not seen the boys since they were 18 months old.  She was happy to see them.  She is awesome with the boys and we didn't want to let her go back to North Carolina.  She escaped.

Just telling them how awesome we were playing!

Amen Corner

Meredith, Luke, Megan and Brian at the Masters

We are back from an extended tour of Texas. To quickly sum it, our itinerary included: Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Beaumont, Ballinger, and Dallas.  So now an extended version.

We all flew into Houston, where Megan's parents met us at the airport.   They took the boys with them to Beaumont, and Megan and I drove to Austin to visit our good friends Will and Carrie, and their two kids Jett and Lucy.  They cooked us an all Texas meal, including drinks.  Will was unable to have any Keystone, which was hard for him.  We had a great time with them and their kids.  Lucy is 4 and she is sweetheart.  Jett is a week older than CoCo.  I never really understood how wild our boys are until we were around little Jett.  He was so calm, quiet, and sweet!  We were amazed at his lack of interest in breaking everything within his reach.  Don't get me wrong, our boys are sweet, just not in a calm sort of way!

Will, Brian, Megan
Lucy and Jett

This is our group of Tejas friends back in 2005
Ann and Clint Vincent, Carrie and Will Etheredge, Meg and Brian

After spending time with the Etheredges, we stayed a couple of days with Uncle Craig and Aunt Sherry in Lake Travis.  They were kind enough to show us around the area, as we scouted out potential places we may live in the future.  They were able to provide us with some good insight on what to expect in the upcoming years with CoCo.  Craig and Sherry have three boys.  Scott, Kevin, and Kyle.  Scott is one year older than Kevin and Kyle, who are twins.  They can truly empathize with what it is like having multiple toddlers at once.

After Austin, Megan and I drove to San Antonio for my yearly endodontic conference.  We had a great time seeing friends and enjoying all the food and fun the RiverWalk has to offer.  After 5 days in San Antonio, we drove to Beaumont to see Megan's family, and to meet back up with the boys.

We were both very excited about seeing the boys, after a week long separation.  It was a happy reunion!   Their vocabulary had increased significantly in the week we were gone.  Patt (Marmi) and Butch took the boys to Clayton's baseball games, and Cooper went to Clayton's school for lunch.  Butch (aka Pappi) took them for multiple rides on the lawnmower.  Aunt Paige and Cousin Will were there to help and play with the boys all week.  We all celebrated Uncle Wade's birthday at Outback the night before we had to leave.  

CoCo with Pappi and Marmi at Calder Baptist in Beaumont

CoCo at Pappi's dental office in Beaumont

CoCo with Dominoe the rabbit

The boys eating their snack at Marmi and Pappi's house

CoCo with Marmi, Will, and Clayton before Clayton's baseball game

Aunt Paige walking the boys

After a night in Beaumont, we made the 8 hour drive to Ballinger to visit my parents.  We had a good time in Ballinger.  The boys rode the lawnmower with GranStan and played with new toys with GG.  We also visited my grandmother and grandad, Bunka and Jim Bickel.  We had dinner at the Turnrow in Rowena.  The boys got to see some horses and trucks.  Both a big hit.   The visit was short, but we had a great time.

GG and GrandStan with the boys

Cole riding the Buckin Bronco while Cooper adjusts his Cowboy hat

CoCo with Uncle Brad

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Four Generations of Bickels.  Brian and Cooper, GrandStan and Cole, and Jim Bickel

After Ballinger we made the 4 hour drive to Aunt Blythe's and Uncle Fred's house for one final night in Texas.  Blythe is just a few weeks away from her due date.  She is expecting a little baby boy.   Fred and Blythe made an awesome fajita meal as our last dinner in Texas.  We flew home the next day.  The boys were pretty rowdy on the plane ride home, but fortunately we were surrounded by understanding people (mostly grandparents)!