June 9th - 12th we went our separate ways so I could travel to Texas with my mom, Mary and Betsy for the Zoiber family renuion.
We were up at 3am the morning of the 10th to catch our flight to Chicago and on to Houston. We had smooth connections and then rented a car and drove to the reunion outside of Edna and Victoria, Texas. We changed clothes in a gas station bathroom on the way there. It was really fun to see my relatives- both those that I know and also to meet new ones too. I loved hearing stories about my grandma and grandpa and the history of my grandma's family. What a fun, loving and dear family. Conversations about ranching, John Deer stores, rodeos and wild pigs was new education for me. My heart was full and I felt very grateful for being able to be there. While there, we toured my great aunt Polly and uncle Donald's old house which I could remember eating pie in the kitchen there as a young child. We stayed at the renuion all evening and found our hotel late. Uncle Jimmy gave me some wild boar sausage and also showed me how to deploy his boar traps right from his phone. Interesting!
On Sunday, we had breakfast with many of the relatives and then visited one of the Shoppa's John Deer stores. Lloyd gave us all hats and showed us the store- it was really neat to learn about it and the family's work in Texas. We did a historic driving tour of Victoria, Texas which was really neat and full of beautiful buidlings and houses.
We then packed up our bags and drove 3 hours toward Waco, TX. We thought "since we are in the neighborhood", we should go and check out the famous Magnolia silos. On the way, we stopped and ate at Pinto Bean, a small hole in the wall Mexican restaurant, which seemed to be one of the only places open in rural Texas on a Sunday. The food was excellent!!We arrived in Waco at 6:50pm just in time to pick up some dinner before the place closed at 7. We arrived at our hotel and geared up for an early start the next day.
On Monday, we woke up early excited to check out Magnolia market. We arrived at the bakery first to enjoy breakfast pastries and delicious cupcakes. Then, we got in line for the Magnolia home store. We had so much fun seeing all of the fun decor and unique things found and seen on the Fixer Upper show. The Magnolia market grounds were beautiful and full of people enjoying the turf, playing corn hole and enjoying the sunshine. We left there and checked out the Spice Market shops and then spent the afternoon at the Homestead Heritage Village, a sustainable community outside of Waco. We loved our lunch there and it was facinating to check out their traditional craft village with a working gristmill, weaving/yarn building, pottery and basket buildings. The grounds were beautiful and it was a fun visit!
We made it to the Waco airport with plenty of time to catch our flight only to learn it was delayed and we were going to miss our connection in Dallas. We made to Dallas, closed down the restaurant at the airport and American Airlines put us up in the Marriot for the night. It was a short one, as we were up early once again to catch the first flight back to Minneapolis. It was a special weekend with my mom, Mary and Betsy. A fun and memorable trip!!
