Great weekend!

It was a beautiful weekend to be at the ranch. Cool in the mornings with the highs reaching about 80 degrees. Mom & Dad brought Daniel up late Friday night, Pam, Jack, Merr, Kenzie and Avery arrived earlier on Friday and the girls and I arrived around Noon on Saturday. We had a little trouble getting to the ranch on Saturday due to the heavy storms Friday night. Apparently, they were really bad and kept almost everyone up at one point. My drive was going really well until I tried to turn onto the first dirt road off the paved highway. The dirt road was covered in water for a good distance. Uh-oh. I sat in my car thinking about whether or not I wanted to attempt to drive through it, tried to unsuccessfully call the ranch (several times), and finally turned around to head to the nearest little town. I knew there was another way onto the county roads from "town", but didn't know it. So I got back on my phone - couldn't reach the ranch, Dad's cell, Shelly on her cell, I got Brian, but he didn't know the route. Finally, I got David. Yes, I called David for directions. My mistake. This is the guy who wanted to go to Katy in Houston and ended up in Baytown (completely opposite direction about 40 miles apart). He gave me his best directions - I ended up on another dirt road covered with water. About that time, Dad called me from his cell and gave me good directions. All of this took me an extra hour (its only a 2 hour drive). Believe it or not, the girls, even the baby, were great the whole time.

We finally got there. Mom & Dad had friends Gary and Sandra out with their grandson. The kids all ran around and had a ball playing outside. Dad and the guys fixed brisket and ribs in the smoker. It was exellent. Laurie went for her first ATV ride and loved it. She even cried when it stopped.

It was a relaxing weekend and fun with great weather.