Our ALMOST Perfect Vacation...

Here's where the perfect comes in:
We spent a week in Phoenix - Matt got home a couple days late so we didn't get to spend a couple of days with Kim & Ralph as planned, but we spent a couple hours with them before checking in at the hotel & we met them for dinner later on in the week. The week in Phoenix was Heaven - we (Matt, me & our friends) played games while the kids swam, and then the kids all played together perfectly while we hung out & played some more games. Then after we put the kids to bed we would play more games. Our friends kept our kids for us each night so Matt & I could have some 'alone' time. It was just a week of spending time together & lots of relaxation.

We took a detour on the way home to Dallas & spent a little bit of time with Matt's family. They threw him a really nice party & lots of people came to see him. He was so happy to see everyone & spend time with family - something he has missed out on these past 9 months. Our last evening there we went over to Terry & Roger's house and played their Wii & had dinner with them - Loved it! While we were in Dallas that weekend, Phil & Lauren had their baby - CONGRATULATIONS to them!!! She is precious & we were thrilled to be able to see her!

After we came home we got together with Matt's friends & co-workers from AT&T, then spent a little while back at the office with the ones who couldn't make it. It was very nice - I think it helped Matt feel at home again. The soldiers worry about being needed & wanted again once they're back home and while Matt is pretty grounded to begin with, after so long away from home these past 2 weeks really made him feel like he still has a place here.

Here's where the 'almost' perfect comes in:
On our way to Aunt Sue's house after lunch with the AT&T crowd we pulled off I35 to fill up our nearly empty gas tank. We got back on the highway, which was busy with Austin traffic, and had someone in front of us & cars on either side of us. All of a sudden the car in front of us swerved at the last second & Matt couldn't go anywhere so he went over in the lane as far as he could, but he didn't have enough room to avoid the huge thing in the road. Our tire blew out immediately so Matt pulled over to the shoulder of the hwy. When he got out to check the damage on the tire I told him I smelled gas & to check to make sure it wasn't us. Well, sure enough - it had busted a big hole in our gas tank. Right about that time a police car pulled up behind us & the officer asked us if we happened to hit a TV. Don't you know that it would be our luck to run over a TV on I-35! They had to completely shut down the hwy for about 10 minutes to clean up the TV shrapnel that was all over the road & then they had 3 fire trucks camped out around the van until the tow truck got there. They did manage to patch the gas tank so we only lost about half the gas in it & they tried to help as much as possible. So $600 & 2 days later we had our van back, but I guess it could've been worse - at least no one was injured.