Trip to Dallas. Classic Roweton.

I am not sure if it is our maturing with age or my leaving for college, but the Roweton kids have somehow become agreeable. Eight-hour car rides and tiny hotel rooms used to mean constant bickering and snickering. But I can't remember one instance over our trip to Dallas that anyone was upset for longer than a minute or two (Sam). We have managed to master the art of "Getting Along" and it makes trips so much more fun. I should preface this by explaining Sam's catchphrase for the trip. Somewhere he picked up this little expression, "Classic ________" fill in the blank. All throughout the weekend he would awkwardly laugh at something we'd done as a family and say, "Classic Roweton". Meaning it's so expected of us...

We made the trip for my cousin's wedding. It was beautiful service, but we'll get to that later. I left Columbia on Friday morning at 6:30. Having ventured out to Big 12 the night before, I was running on 4 hours of sleep and the magic of coffee. After some Third Eye Blind and The Kinleys (not your average combination) I was pulling over the cattleguards and into our driveway. We loaded up my stuff and set out. The ride was mostly uneventful. We read, slept and played the iPod game (each person sings the song playing over their iPod as the others race to guess the title and artist...I dominate). Classic Roweton. That night we settled into our hotel and went out to eat at Italiannis.

The next morning--after some horrid hotel coffee--we drove into downtown Dallas and toured the JFK Museum. The museum was a listen-along maze through the actual floor from which Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK. It was interesting to listen to the headset for about five minutes...and then we were over it. Classic Roweton. So, we just wandered around reading signs and looking at pictures till we were bored. We were even able to look out the window where Oswald shot from. After the museum we continued to roam around Dealey Plaza (the park area around where he was shot). We saw the X where his car was when he was shot and the "GRASS KNOLL" where onlookers first suspected the shot came from.

We left the plaza and headed to lunch as the West End Pub. On our way, we shared more than just our enjoyable company...we all shared Sam's coat. We called this phenomena "Coatception", coats in coats in coats. Classic Roweton.

After our day downtown, we returned to rest up and get ready for the wedding. We looked adorable, if I may say so. Our only flaw was that Becca and I had MATCHING SHOES. Apparently 3-inch black pumps are Classic Roweton. Who knew?

The wedding was beautiful. The chapel where it was held was very classic looking and decorated perfectly. I couldn't help but think through my Pinterest "Here Comes the Bride" board and dream of my own wedding. The reception was in the same building in a fabulous dining hall. We took pictures in the photo booth and enjoyed the open bar while we waited for the wedding party to take pictures.

Finally, we all sat down for toasts, dinner and dancing. Becca and I had to be drug to the dance floor, but when the slow songs started, we were happy to pair with Dad and Grandpa. I hope grandma wasn't too jealous. We left after cake and returned home for some Indiana Jones before bed. Indiana Jones...Classic Roweton.

The car ride home felt a lot longer than the drive there, especially after I finished both my books and couldn't force myself to sleep anymore. The final moment of the trip happened at Pizza Hut in Bolivar. We had joking planned our amazing "Thank you" to be said at one of the tollbooths in Texas, but never worked up the courage. The idea was that dad would start by singing "Thank you" followed by Sam, Becca and I chiming in at the next interval note: 1, 3, 5, 8. We would cut off suddenly and mom would blandly say, "Thanks". We practiced it few times and by the time we were in the Pizza Hut drive through we had finally worked up the courage. We paid and took the pizzas...
"Thank yoooooou..." Dad started.
Sam chimed in "Thank--"
"--You're welcome," said the Pizza Hut employee and shut the window before we could even finish.
Talk about anticlimactic.
Classic Roweton.