Thanksgiving Weekend in Bandera

We spent Thanksgiving day in San Antonio at Jon's parents' house with his family and two soldiers from Fort Sam. We were assigned two girls from the Midwest training to become combat medics. During the day we spent with them I was constantly struck by how young they were. Sabrina was 19 and Kaitlin had turned 18 just a a few weeks ago. They were so young to be training for a such a serious, dangerous job where they were almost assured to be deployed overseas. Talking to our nation's brave soldiers makes me angry that so many of our young people have died or been wounded (physically and mentally) in un-winnable wars.

On Friday I drove up to Bandera to visit my mom and her husband at their new house. Jon was planning on coming too but woke up sick so he spent the weekend at home alone.
After visiting my mom I drove over to my grandmother's ranch just outside Bandera to spend the weekend with my dad, brother, grandmother, aunt, uncle, and cousins. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time hiking around and playing games.

The fall foliage made for a very beautiful walk
Katie and Jim with Cooper

Me and Megan with Ralphie

There were 3 big dogs there that weekend: Katie and Jim's dog Cooper, boxer; Jason and Megan's yellow lab Naza; and my dad's black lab Ralphie.

Ralphie is such a daddy's boy

The three dogs had a blast playing together and all went home exhausted.

All 3 dogs playing a competitive game of fetchRalphie, ready for action

Mema loves spending time at the ranch, including riding with the grandkids on the 4-wheeler.

Molly took Mema for a ride