The Brown Brick Road

DCC

April 13, 2026

Samantha’s Easter surprise was a trip to Dallas to see the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders! We watched the Netflix show together and I had been trying to find a way to get her to a Cowboys game but the timing never worked. Then I saw they were doing a Live Tour to a few cities so I got us some tickets to go to the Dallas show. What fun!! We left Tuesday morning and had quite an exciting trip when there was a medical emergency on our flight! Some elderly lady passed out and they couldn’t get her back to consciousness…

Thankfully she was ok and we made it to Dallas. First stop? Lunch at Neiman Marcus in Northpark!

We then spent a couple hours shopping! The best!

We then got checked into our hotel downtown and Samantha came to the terrible realization that, in the confusion of the flight, she left her airpods and her ipad on the plane. Womp womp. Oh well…it’s just stuff and stuff can be replaced! Thankfully she put it behind her because we had a fun night ahead…

We had great box seats right in the center!

The DCC did not disappoint! They did about 5 dances all together – with the finale being Thunderstruck of course! – and several other solo or small group dances. They also did a Q&A with Kelli and Judy.

They also had 4 girls do a live tryout to make it to the next round of DCC tryouts. In a very small world event, one of the girls trying out was from Mountain Brook, AL?! No way! The audience got to vote and we of course voted for her!! We did feel bad for the LA Laker girl that fell during her kick line. Oops!

Afterward we were able to snap some pics – Samantha was excited to see Jada from last season!

There were also cameras all around and Samantha was very excitedd about the prospect of being on Netflix next season! ha!

We flew back Wednesday morning and she was back at school by 11:30! The best, quick trip with my best girl!

Thunderstruck!

Easter

April 10, 2026

We went to the 9am Easter service at church and Robert and GJ nicely went up early to save our normal row. They said not to arrive a minute later than 8:15!

After that it was pictures, pictures, and more pictures!

We then headed over to CCB with a group of 18 for lunch but first, more pictures!

Baby Holland was the best lunchtime entertainment for sure!

After lunch we went outside for…more pictures!

Aren’t they just the cutest trio?!

After lunch we went over to MBs for a little visit and, yes, one more picture…

A wonderful Easter!

Easter Bunny

April 9, 2026

My sleepy crew was happy to see the Easter bunny visited them on Sunday!

Samantha was especially excited for this urprise…

Can’t wait to tell you all about it! But GJ won Easter when she gave the kids their gifts – European Fanta straight from Paris and POG juice from Hawaii! Perfect!

Thanks Easter bunny!

4 years

April 8, 2026

My Dad passed away 4 years ago. It still seems inconceivable that he is gone. The morning of the anniversary of his death, I had made my coffee and was headed upstairs to wake Samantha up for her soccer game. In a split second, something told me to stop and just sit for a minute. I sat at my spot at the table and looked up and directly in my line of sight was this guy…

He hung around for a minute, flitted around, and then flew off. He stayed just long enough to make sure I saw him.

They say “when cardinals appear, angels are here” and I believe it. Thanks for stopping by Daddy.

In looking for a picture to share, this one seems appropriate…

Not Hawaii but the Polynesian Resort at Disney…a close second! We miss you Daddo.

Hawaii day 5 and 6

April 7, 2026

Friday we got up and had another good buffet breakfast! We then got in a little pool time before heading out for our last adventure…surfing! The kids were excited about it. I was unsure. I ended up doing it and am glad I did…but I don’t need to do it again. ha!

We had a fun instructor who only told us to call him Wave Daddy! He was kind and very patient and we all ended up catching a few waves! The waves were few and far between so there was a lot of waiting in the cold ocean water but it was still fun. Lots of surfing pics…

That night we left the resort to have dinner at Monkeypod. I had been hearing about their pork and pineapple pizza but got there and found out their pizza oven was down! boo. They did have a good mai tai though which made Vacation Robert happy!

We had to wait a while in the cold rain for the car which made us all feel like this…

and then we had to leave the next day! We did get in one last buffet breakfast and a little cabana time before heading to the aiport sad to go…

It was a loooong flight home landing in Atlanta at 7am. We tried our best to sleep but it took me a few days to recover for sure. Worth it? Absolutely.

Mahalo Hawaii! We will be back!!