Girls' Getaway

 

 

Spring Break 2015

Maggie's 18th birthday was the perfect occasion to schedule our second ever girls' getaway.

Time for just us older females, leaving house, chores, school, siblings, and all responsibility behind for just a stint, long enough to play hard, and look forward to coming home.

In classic Parnell fashion, nothing would do but an east Texas cabin nestled in the country, with a loaded kitchen for cooking, and cook we did!

 

    We stopped by Sprouts on our way out picking up the last few ingredients we needed for Pioneer Woman's tomato soup with grilled three cheese sandwiches on Rye, gluten free cinnamon rolls, cheesecake shots in glasses Maggie bought for the girls as keepsakes, fried chicken with homemade macaroni and cheese, and Truvia sweetened tea, and of course, fresh flowers for the table.

    After an hour and a half of driving through a torrential downpour, we found the property and this was the entrance.  Uh.  Now what?  I took this pic and sent it to Curtis asking if he thought the van would make it back to the cabin.  No.  So, we texted the owner and she graciously offered to drive up to the gate and carry us back in her SUV.  She later told us how nervous she was that we'd be upset over the flooding and muddy roads, but we were thrilled for the adventure!  We had nothing to do but sit in yoga pants, and pjs talking and cooking, watching movies, and dancing to really loud music anyway.  Today was all about chillin'.

Waiting for her by the gate...

Loading her SUV with absurd goods, like coolers, groceries, vases of flowers, bags, blankets, and a hula hoop.

The first carload off and running.

Their cows, with three calves due any day.  This is a 100 acre working cattle ranch.

Ahhhhh, finally, the cabin.

 The chefs getting started.

Warming up for the contest.....yes, they had one, complete with rewards.

Capturing better pics than mine with her state of the art camera.

Dinner and toasts to three girls turning 18, to the future, to their dreams,

and for the fun of it.

Happy Birthday, Maggie, Hannah, and Mikayla!

Birthday present time!

Hannah and Maggie have known each other since they were three years old.

Hannah's family wanted to buy Maggie her official graduation ring, and tonight, she opens it.

Homemade gluten free strawberry cake.

AMAZE!

The next morning, the rain cleared out, and the owner's husband had leveled out the road, making it safe to drive, so Maggie ventured out down the 1/2 mile path to retrieve it.

Then, Mercy decided to join her.

Out on the town, the little bitty tiny town.

We had heard that Mineola, Texas was a hot bed of antique shopping, so we decided to go see for ourselves.  They did have several antique shops that were lots of fun to sort through, but by the time we got there, the shops closed in another hour.

Nope, no 9:00pm closings, not even 6:00pm.

5:00pm, CLOSED.

The girls all wanted to come back the next day, so we did.

But no shopping day is complete until you've hit Walmart.

Back to the cabin for lots of laughing and dancing.

Mercy won the hula hoop contest going a straight 35 minutes before we convinced her that nobody was going to challenge it, though I did give it a shot.

After not even being able to get it to go around more than twice, I did finally get it to go for 37 seconds.  If only we had taped that one.

Canton, Texas war memorial.

This was serious.

    We seriously had so much fun.  I love these girls, and Curtis and I wanted to celebrate each and every one of them.  It was more memorable than what I had hoped.  Curtis held down the fort with the boys and our M&M's (Miriam and Meredith).  He said they did so well, and were relatively easy to tend to.  The only thing I found hilarious was that the girls decided to camp out in our bedroom near Curtis' desk, and set up their story while he fielded business calls.  I can only imagine the high pitched squeaky voices and giggles he had to quiet before tapping the green button on his phone.  Maggie was grateful, and we all decided to do it again, maybe in another year.