Texas "Tripp"

On Thursday January 16th I took my first vacation without Lillian and Kevin. I was worried about flying (leaving Lillian) and really the whole process of going through the airport and switching planes and having a layover stressed me out. I had pump every four hours to keep my supply up while I was gone so two times I pumped in the DFW airport bathroom. Not a big deal but not a fun experience. On the way back I went through to security points and I was worried they would make me throw out the expressed milk. At the Amarillo airport they were very kind and discrete about checking it for me, not that I cared and then at the Dallas airport they didn't even check for. I did however get stopped on the way out of town at the Nashville airport because there was a pair of large scissors in the side of my book bag. Obviously I had no clue they were there and was liked "you can throw them away" and the guy said they weren't a problem just to put them down in my bad instead of the side pocket. I thought that was crazy you can have scissors but not more than 3 oz of shampoo but I'm sure those rules are in place for good reasons. I was also concerned about how to keep the milk frozen but I took a thermal lunch bag and packed all my frozen milk inside and once I got home it was still frozen. I did have one or two that seemed to be melting almost to a slush but I think that's okay they stayed pretty cold. It was out of the freezer maybe a total of 6 hours.

I headed to Amarillo Texas to visit my best friend Kinsey Morgan and finally meet her sweet baby Tripp. Tripp is Lillian's future boyfriend even though he is 8 months younger. But that's okay, Lillian will take after her momma and date younger men. I debated whether or not to take Lillian with me but decided against it glad I did. It was less stressful for me through the airport and I was able to give more attention to Tripp and stay up  late and talk with my bestie.

I had been to Texas before but not Amarillo. It's not real small but a lot like Huntsville. I really liked it but my skin did not do well with the dryness. I felt like I had wind burn the first day. Oh and a funny thing I did not like was two different times I was outside and I could smell the cattle. I never saw any but for sure knew they were around. I mean hello it's Texas of course. We didn't do much (not much you can do with a nursing 11 week old but it was exactly what I wanted to do). I don't get to see/talk with Kinsey but maybe once or twice a year so it was great to just spend the days on the couch holding sweet Tripp and talking mommy stuff.

We did  go eat a couple places that weren't typical franchises. One was a great burger place called Blue Sky and a doughnut place called Donut Stop. They were legit good and apparently put the Krispy Kreme in town out of business. We may have gone to eat doughnuts two days in a row. :) Amarillo is a great little town with its own little character. Kinz took me on a tour one afternoon and they have this place called cadillac ranch. Long story short a really rich old cattle rancher Stanley Marsh gave money to the city and loved art so there are a couple things around the city to commemorate him, one being the cadillac ranch. It is exactly what it looks like in this picture

Its like 8 old Cadillacs that are all sticking out of the ground at the same angle and people can go and tag it with spray paint. Two other "art" pieces around the city are these quarter horses in front of businesses painted 

and then these random signs.

 If I remember correctly the rich cattle rancher started paying people in lower income parts of town to put them in their yard and if they didn't remove them he would pay them a couple hundred dollars each year. They are so random but totally cool at the same time. As Kinz puts it "Amarillo is a little quirky". lol

Besides eating out and "sightseeing" I got to snuggle with this cutie all weekend.

I know you're jealous. His smile is so adorable.

I had a layover in Dallas and my college roomie Lacey lives there so she was sweet enough to meet up with me at the airport to kill some time. I finally got to meet her handsome little man Charley and he is ADORABLE too. I'd be okay if Charley and Lillian dated too but not until they are 25 ;) 

 He is only about a month younger than Lillian so they are doing very similar things right now as far as development goes so it made me miss Lillian even more. It was so good to catch up with Lacey too even if for just a short visit. Unfortunately Charley wouldn't take a picture of me and his momma so i'm referencing a REALLY old college picture.

I really enjoyed my mini vacation by myself but I was very happy when I got home to my amazing husband and happy baby girl. I got so many snuggles from Lillian I don't think I'll be able to leave her again any time soon.