TEXAS, Land that I love

Hey y'all! I hail you from the Country of Texas! :) As many of you already know, we had been struggling to make the decision if we should go to Texas to visit family and friends down there. We had pretty much decided we weren't going. You have to think about who's going to take care of the animals and-so-on-and-so-forth. (We had already decided if we were going to go we would leave 12/20/08, which was a Saturday.) Well, Dad comes home from work that Thursday and tells us that we would actually be going Texas! WOW! Only an evening to pack and that would be after work on Friday! As you can guess it was a frantic rush to call some friends and neighbors to take care of the livestock before we went down. Saturday morning came and we took off bright and early all bundled up and looked like fat little sausages. Our goal was to make it across the Oklahoma state line into TX. and get a hotel. MO. and OK. came and went, finally TX! a daunting 12 hr. trip.
Right around that time we get a call from our Uncle Carlos asking where we were because he had just heard we were coming down. We told him where we were and he said "Your only 5 hrs. away, why don't you come down and stay at our place!" Dad asked mom how her back was feeling and suprisingly it was doing pretty well, so 5 hrs. later we arived to a temperature of 65. (A bit chilly, but like spring weather in Il, so still enjoyable.) My uncle and I talked horses, (roping, cutting, and other rodeo-like sports performed with horses), while mom talked to Aunt Leti and the girls talked to our cousin Sarah.
Next morning after breakfast we went out to check out some Quarterhorses my uncle and I wanted to take a look at and in the evening we left for Robstown (which is close to Corpus Christi)where our friends the Martinez' live. We spent time just catching up and played a few games (one of them was ping-pong of course). Monday we did the same thing and Teusday we left for Brownsville, which is at the Southernmost tip of Texas. This is where my grandparents live and some other realatives. We spent weekdays down in Brownsville and weekends up in Robstown.
While down here we went to the beach once with my Aunt Martha and Uncle Dave on South Padre Island, and to North Shore Beach of Corpus Christi the second time, which is where the USS Lexinton aircraft carrier (from WWII)and is permenantly docked there and is now a museum. We played on the NS beach with the Martinez'. Volleyball and Ultimate Frisbee(which was a blast). The weather has usually been about 70 degrees and gets up to about 80 in the afternoon-evening (once the sun has burned off the clouds).
Currently, I'm sitting here at my Uncle Dave's house typing away and am being called off to breakfast so I'd better go. Taquitos are calling!
I just want to reassure everone in Il., that I do miss them and today Lord willing we will start to make our ascent to Illinois.

-Josiah David