Arboretum, Blue Bell, and Astros

On the Merkley's last full day with us, we had a very busy day. We left early in the morning to drive to Spring. We dropped Alex off at his friend's birthday party and then we went to the Mercer Arboretum. It is free and hardly anyone was there so it was really nice.

We also drove by the Houston Temple but it was closed because it was a Monday. The gates were closed so were weren't able to walk around it.

After a couple of hours, we picked up Alex and headed to Chick-Fil-A for lunch.

We drove an hour and a half to the Blue Bell Factory and Brenham. We weren't able to take pictures on the tour, but it was cool to see all of the machines and people working so quickly.

At the end of the tour we each got a scoop of ice cream. I was laughing so hard because the lady gave me way more than just one scoop. I tried key lime pie ice cream. It was pretty good.

I was exhausted. I don't remember being this tired on our whole month long vacation. I spent so long cooking big meals and cleaning every day and then we were staying up late so it all added together and I was exhausted. At one point during the drive, Marian said, "Emily, are you doing okay?" I wasn't. I am pretty sure I was asleep. That has never happened to me before. It was hard that everyone else fell asleep and I had to drive home.

When we got home, I fell asleep on the floor in our bedroom and slept there until Sam got home from work. We had planned to go to the Astros game that night but I tried to back out because I was so wiped out. Sam talked me into going anyway.

There were so many home runs during this game so it was fun for the boys to see the train move a lot. This was our last Astros game, possibly ever. It was definitely our last time not having to buy a ticket for Alex. Marian's cheering was so cute and it was cracking me up. She was really into the game and sometimes she would realize she was cheering for the wrong team.

The Astros were winning 2-9 going into the 9th and the game ended 7-9. The game didn't end until 10:15 and I was so tired.We didn't home until 11:15pm!

It was so fun to have visitors and sad to see them go. Come back again!