...Continued
Well, was I in for the surprise of my life?!?! When my brother arrived to Kerrville last night, not only was his family in the truck, but also my parents. I was shocked and extremely happy! I had basically done everything but get down on my knees and beg them to come, but over and over they said they couldn't. This truly made my year! It was the closest we had been to being on a family vacation since I was a little girl and the first time my parents had gone anywhere in years. I was so excited that I could barely sleep.
First thing the next morning, we went fishing and later changed into our bathing suits. Everyone had a blast swimming in the river. We then had some burgers and headed to Crider's for the rodeo. This was right up my parents' and brother's alley. I grew up with them watching the rodeo on TV and knew that they would enjoy it. It really is a beautiful backdrop with the hills and the sunsetting. We were all thrilled and ready to watch Brady's first ever mutton-bustin ride! We had practiced all afternoon with him riding Uncle Anthony's, Papa's and Boompa's back. As they called his name, we all cheered. Brady made it out of the gate but not much farther, yet we were all still very proud that he was so brave and held onto the sheep. Cash was not interested in participating, he's waiting to ride a horse. Ha!
We were all having a fantastic time at the rodeo, when I realized that my camera did not have a memory card in it. As I went back to check to see if I had a good mutton-bustin photo, the camera was empty. Aunt Lisa luckily had a couple of pictures (above) of the rodeo but everything else was gone. I was CRUSHED and HEARTBROKEN! The whole day I had taken pictures of our first family vacation in almost twenty years and I sadly knew that I was never going be able to retrieve those photos. They will only live on in my memory. These are the ones that stand out and that I will cherish:
*Papa, Brady, Cash, Uncle Anthony and Bubba fishing together
*Cash sitting on Papa's lap holding the fishing pole
*Bubba and Brady walking to the dam with their fishing poles
*Bubba smiling from ear to ear holding the first fish of the day
*Papa actually swimming! I hadn't seen this since maybe I was twelve or younger
*Papa and Uncle Anthony smiling so big holding up their beer cans while wading in the river
*Papa and Uncle Anthony flexing their muscles in the river
*Uncle Anthony, Aunt Lisa, Kasey and Bubba laughing together in the river
*Papa throwing Brady up in the river
*Uncle Anthony striking the thinking pose on top of the big rock (it was a really cool picture)
*Papa, Granny, Brady and Cash at the rodeo
