Christine and I drove up to Dallas for New Year’s Eve weekend, so we could have Christmas with the Kamp family. We left on Thursday around noon, and made good time getting there.

We really enjoyed spending time in Dallas with the family, and had a great time exchanging Christmas gifts.

Jack really enjoyed spending time with the family. He made smiles at Mary and Frank (that’s new) and made other noises and facial features for me (you know the type). He really liked Jennie and told Christine and I on the way home that she was free to visit Austin any-time she liked. Jack sat in Uncle Michael’s lap a few times, and enjoyed it very much, and enjoyed watching football with him. Uncle Steven and Jack were bragging to each other about who got better Christmas gifts… I think Jack won the argument.

A special gift that we received was comprised of two hand-made items from Frank: A little plant stand/table and a floor lamp. Both are made out of wood, and have a great finish and a neat design. Thanks Frank.

Mary relieved Christine at night, letting her sleep through the night for the most part, which was a very welcome gift indeed… (we may be going back up there every weekend, if we can talk Mary into staying up all night again … just kidding).

After spending 4 days in Dallas, we decided to head home — right as the weather was deciding to rain. We loaded the car down and got on the road around 4:45 or so.

We drove the first hour or so at about 20 miles an hour, through a torrential down pouring rain. The rain slackened up a bit around the Ellis County line, so we kicked it up to 45 or 50 there. After being on the road 2 hours, we were finally almost to Hillsboro and able to drive around 70 mph, until we hit the narrow lanes (due to the never ending construction on I-35).

One nice thing about the drive in the rain was that we discovered that the new Volvo we got has automatic windshield wipers. Who would have thought wipers could figure out for themselves how fast they need to wipe based on how hard it’s raining?

We made it as far as Salado, Texas before Jack started getting cranky. We’d been on the road 3 and a half hours.

So we stopped at the Salado Creek Grill and Truck Stop. I got gas while Christine got Jack out of the car. She took him into the bathroom to change him, and started feeding him in there, and then got stuck … she couldn’t carry everything back out.

So, after I moved the car, I went inside, and bought a bottle of water and a Mountain Dew, and some Halls lozenges. Then I ordered fried mushrooms and waited. And waited. I finally sent the waitress in to check on Christine, and she came back carrying the child seat for us to help Christine out of the bathroom.

We ordered a grill cheese and burger (greasiest food we’ve ever eaten by the way), ate dinner, got Jack fed and changed, and got back on the road.

We hit Austin around 9:30, and after almost 5 hours on the road, were home.

Ugh… I hate hard Texas rain sometimes (but then again, I’d rather drive in hard Texas rain than soft mushy wimpy Seattle rain any day).

Here’s a few links to some photos we took in Dallas:

• Kamp Christmas 2004 – A collection of photos from our visit to Dallas (wouldy ou believe we forgot to take photos of anyone actually opening presents?)
• Santa Baby – Some photos of Jack with his Polar Express Santa doll
• Two Hams – Frank and Jack checking out the Hams
• Baby Bath – The baby taking a bath

And we took these photos of Jack smiling after we got home from Dallas.