About a year and 1/2 ago I took Ryan (then 5) with me to a TMAA event in Houston because his Mimi and Bampa were going to be there too and could help me watch him. We stayed at one of the large hotels downtown that connects to the convention center. It was Ryan’s first airplane flight so we made a pretty big deal about the whole 2 day trip. We stayed the whole time in the hotel and convention center which seemed like it would be dull for a 5 year old, but I was not seeing the magic that Ryan saw. He got to spend the nights in Mimi and Bampa’s suite on the conceirge floor, visit the all day food spread, go to the vendor fair in the convention center, pose for pictures after Mimi’s speech, get mentioned in Bampa’s speech, hang out with mommy without brothers, etc., etc. The most memorable item was the very large cookies in the conceirge floor cafe which he has mentioned at least weekly since the trip. In fact, the story of his trip to Houston gets bigger every time he tells it. On Friday, we were in the minivan heading home and the legend of Houston by Ryan started again, “Mommy, remember when we went to Houston?” (please insert the nodding and “uh-huhing” needed) “I have tried to tell you this, but you NEVER listen” (please insert “go ahead Ryan I am listening now”) “When we were in Houston I saw the prettiest sunset, except it was in the morning” (please insert a lesson on what a sunrise is) “It was beautiful, it had so many colors, it was like a rainbow in the sky, Houston is so pretty, Reid, someday you will go to Houston with me someday…they have cookies the size of car tires…”(please insert, “Ryan, you may be exaggerating a little bit there”) “OK, maybe the size of kid’s bike tires.” Let me clarify that the actual cookies were about 8 inches in diameter which brings me to the point if this boy ever does go back to Houston he may be a bit disappointed in the “tire size” cookies!
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