Stamps Postings: Reese's Trip with Poppa!

The week after Christmas, Reese and I (Poppa) took a roadtrip. Our destination was Wichita Falls, birthplace of Greg (and Doug) and home to my alma mater, Midwestern State University. But we didn’t get there the most direct way, but instead we first drove to Nocona, TX. It is in Nocona that they make the NOKONA baseball glove and we went to watch them make gloves from a side of leather to the finished product. It is a small operation and the grandson of the founder gave us a tour which we both enjoyed. Reese was excited to get to push the button that started the embroidery on the gloves. They were very nice at the Nokona factory and even gave Reese a styrofoam ball which we later used for some in-hotel room baseball action.

We made our way to Wichita Fall, checked into our hotel, played a little baseball in the room and then headed over to the Falls at Wichita Falls. It was fun climbing around and also racing down the hill.

From there, we drove by the hospital where Greg was born and then had some dinner at McBrides Steak House. This was something we never got to do back when we lived in Wichita Falls as we were trying to get through college. It was quite tasty.

Next, we headed to the campus of Midwestern State to see the Fantasy of Lights display. This is a tradition in Wichita Falls every Christmas season and something we enjoyed taking our two little boys to when they were toddlers. Most of the same displays are still out. So we roamed about in the cold and enjoyed all the sights and sounds. Then back to the hotel for a warmup in the heated spa.

When we checked into the hotel earlier in the day, Reese told me that he had a surprise plan for me later. But he needed a little help. So I helped him set up the coffee maker to make a pot of coffee for later. He asked me if I could forget about it because he wanted it to be a surprise later. In my season of life, it is real easy to forget things, so after our dip in the spa, we headed back to our room and Reese surprised me with a cup of coffee. We hopped in bed, turned on the Food Network (Reese’s favorite channel) and drank coffee and ate snacks that MawMaw had sent with us.

The next morning, we went back and explored the campus of MSU for a while, drove by our first apartment where we brought Doug home from the hospital and also drove by our little house where we brought Greg home from the hospital. In our little neighborhood was a little playground that still has the same playground equipment in it so Reese got to play on the same equipment that his dad played on when he was only a couple of years old. (As a matter of fact, we went to that park to play with Doug one day and Greg was born just a few hours later.) We also stopped by our little church that we attended when we lived there – Sunnyside Baptist Church.

We had taken a couple of rolls of aluminum foil and on our drive back home, and made stuff out of aluminum. Of course we both made a baseball glove and they turned out great. We played a little catch with the styrofoam ball. We also created what Reese described as a water slide that we rolled the ball from the front to the back seat.

Last but not least, we had some McDonalds in Decatur and went over to a store called AgVantage. It is a farm and ranch store owned by the Hancock’s (friends of ours from church). We just roamed around and explored all the interesting things they had in the store and might have bought a little tractor and plow.

We made it home safe and sound and I think just in the nick of time. About 20 minutes from home, Reese started talking about being ready to see his new puppy, Lucy.

We had a great time and Reese is a great traveling buddy.