First Hotel

Our road trip to Mt. Pleasant allowed Kate to have her first experience staying in a hotel. A family friend owns the Hampton Inn there and he was kind enough to give out of town guests coming in for Ashley's funeral free rooms. This was a huge blessing and saved us quite a bit of money. That Hampton Inn is extremely nice too!

I was nervous about how Kate would do with new surroundings and new situations. She did so well that I don't even know why I was nervous. She actually slept at night while we were there, and I can only assume this is because we were so busy during the day going from place to place and seeing so many people. Perhaps she and I should get out of the house more during the week, although not right now while the temperatures and wind chills are hovering in the teens...in Texas. No kidding.

Kate took a little cat nap in the morning with Daddy so I could head downstairs to enjoy the free breakfast. Aren't they sweet?

While we were there we had to have a Randy's burger (which I later regretted because apparently Kate's tummy doesn't do well with hamburgers) and we made a trip to Herschel's where I had a super delicious chicken fried steak. They are two required stops anytime you are in Mt. Pleasant, Texas.

Ashley's funeral was a lovely service. They estimated that over 600 people came and it was standing room only in the church. I was really touched to see so many people, friends and family, who cared for Ashley so much. Ashley was a Marine so he was buried in his dress blues, and a few of his fellow Marines were in the same at his service. It was really touching to see, but of course I am always touched when I see a service man or woman in uniform. I'm sappy that way.

It's sad that it takes a tragedy to bring my family together, but typically that's what has to happen unless it's a major holiday. Even then, there aren't as many faces to see there. We rarely make it to east Texas for Thanksgiving and Christmas. So while it was a sad time, it was also nice to see and talk to many relatives I hadn't seen in a long time. Bittersweet, I think is the right word. Next post I'll share with you some special family photos we took while we were there.