Christmas With the Kids and Grandkids

We stayed four nights in Sugar Land to spend Christmas with our oldest son (Tod), his wife (Leah), and their kids...our grandchildren (Ella & Alex).  Kevin, our youngest son, also drove over from his new home base in Austin, Texas, to join in the holiday fun.  Everyone got to tour the RV for the first time.  Three-year-old Ella was intrigued by what she called the "car-house" even though we had been bombarding her with toys that were travel trailer/motorhome themed for over a year!  She made us a Christmas Tree decoration when she got home and told us we had to put it on our fridge, so we did!  

 

As we shared in an earlier post, we ("we" meaning practically the entire country) had a "generational freeze" event. We had decided that our water hose would freeze solid if we connected to city water, so we used our heated freshwater tank instead.  We also did not use our sewer hookups the first few days.  We had prepared by filling our propane tank before we left Mission, Texas, so we had plenty of propane to run the furnace during the freezing temperatures, which dipped as low as 15 degrees our first night there.  It was warm enough by the third day to connect to "city water" and sewer.  Kevin was supposed to stay in the RV with us BUT Kevin decided to stay at Tod & Leah's house because while we could keep our bedroom very warm during the freezing temperatures, it was a little colder in the bunk bed he would have been using at the front of the RV over the driver and passenger seats. 

We rented a car and drove to Livingston on our first full day in Sugar Land.  We needed to get our mail and Pat still needed to get his new driver's license (turned out the DMV was closed).  Tim also needed to buy a new heavy coat to prepare for the freeze (he threw his old, torn one away in Brooklyn thinking he wasn't going to need a heavy coat anymore).  But almost all of the rest of our trip to Sugar Land involved holiday activity related to two things: kid watching and food.  

 

We fixed our traditional Christmas Eve gumbo at Tod and Leah's house and got to spend the day making cookies and playing with the kids.  On Christmas Day, we volunteered to cook the entire Christmas meal, consisting of turkey, rice dressing, cornbread dressing, green bean casserole, and chocolate pecan pie.  We spent the entire day at Tod and Leah's cooking, watching football, and playing with the kids.  What a great way to spend the Christmas holiday!

Review of Sugar Land RV Park

Hi, this is Pat.  Up until this entry, we have collaboratively written each blog post; however, Tim's sole input into the review of Sugar Land RV Park is that he hates it and never wants to stay there again!  We didn't take any pictures of the RV park but there are a few from our earlier stay here.  

It is definitely the worst RV park that we have visited in our limited travels BUT it is a SEVEN MINUTE car ride to the grandkids (and eleven minutes by bicycle when we get those).  There isn't much short of damage to our motorhome that would keep me from staying at this park.  

I pleaded my case to Tim...

Tim: There are muddy potholes everywhere.

Pat: But we can ride our bikes to Tod and Leah's and visit there longer to have moments like this.

Tim: The management office is a shack, was vacant when we arrived in the middle of the day, and they obviously don't communicate with each other because one emailed us to ask if we were going to show up when another had already guided us to our site.

Pat: But baby Alex is only a short bike ride away from the park.

Tim: But can't we find another RV park that is a little better maintained that is not as close but still close enough to Tod and Leah's?

Pat: We could, but we would not be as close to Tod and Leah's and able to get there as quick, so we might miss moments like this:

Tim: The roads are unpaved dirt, and the sites consist of poorly spread rocks.  There are tree stubs in the middle of the sites, and others have apparently gotten stuck in the mud (we didn't).

Pat: But if we aren't close enough to Tod and Leah's we might miss making Alex giggle.

 

Tim: I agree that spending more time with our family is worth the lousy RV park. You win for now, but I'm not giving up on complaining about it.

Happy Holidays