Stranger Belly Rub

Travis and I planned a trip to Chris and Shannon's house near Dallas-Ft. Worth for the past weekend. It is about a 5-hour road trip, so we decided to leave after work on Friday so we would have at least one full day at their house. Unfortunately for us, there was a serious storm covering most of east Texas, complete with tornado warnings across the whole state. It took us six hours to get to their house, so we got in a little late. We stayed up and chatted for a few minutes before heading to bed.

Our host and hostess were gracious enough to offer the pregnant lady their bed with adjoining bathroom for easy midnight trips. Another plus - they have a memory foam pillow top cover for their mattress. Both nights I woke up when the sun came up ONLY because my hip had fallen asleep. The only time I rolled over the entire night was when I got back to bed after a trip to the bathroom. I slept like a ROCK. Travis and I both slept like a rock.

Saturday morning we got up and Chris made us awesome breakfast sandwiches. We hung around the house and caught up on each others lives. For lunch we went to a local burger place and for dessert I had their version of an oreo "blizzard" that HIT THE SPOT. It was frozen yogurt, which is my fave. We went back to Chris and Shannon's house to work on digesting all the food.

They live in a gated community and the guard that was working was new and he was an elderly gentleman, so he seemed a little confused. He was cute! Chris and Shannon's house is pretty big and they have a Texas back yard. And by Texas, I mean that it has not been landscaped yet, so it probably looks like it has for centuries. The soil in their area is very rocky, so there are all sorts of flaky, sand-colored rocks jutting out of the ground. There are pine trees EVERYWHERE making it smell like a pine forest every time you step out their door. Chris also educated us in the fact that Mesquite trees grow rampant in those parts, so their yard and neighborhood was filled with them. They could cut off a branch in their own yard to grill their dinner! Ha!

For dinner, we went into Fort Worth. Chris grew up in this area, so he knows all the good spots to eat. He brought us to this great mexican restaurant with a huge, beautiful patio called Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Restaurant. I could not get over how busy this place was. I also could not get over the amount of pregnant women and children that were there. Seriously! I went to the restroom while we were waiting for our table and got traffic jammed in the ridiculously small bathroom when there were suddenly two large bellies in the tiny room. We managed to maneuver our way past each other. Then when I got back out to the waiting area, there was a pregnant woman in line in front of us. And THEN, we saw two gigantically pregnant women walk past on the street to go in through a separate entrance. So strange.

After dinner, Chris took us for a walk through the Stockyards. I guess it's the area where the cowboys used to coral cattle before heading north. Nowadays, it contains a large building where the local rodeo is held and the streets are lined with shops (that mostly sell cowboy gear), restaurants and bars.

Cowtown Coliseum - Travis and I

Fort Worth Stockyards - Shannon and Chris

Since it was after dark, the shops were closed and the nightlife was buzzing. We walked by a bunch of bars as Chris told stories of places he used to go to. We passed by a basement bar and debated going in. Chris knew the owner and he wanted to check it out. This is where the story of my first Stranger Belly Rub comes in.

I would like to first digress for a moment to mention that I sort of skipped the first Stranger Belly Rub step a month ago when I had a stranger forego the belly rub and go right in for the belly kiss. That's right, a stranger kissed my belly. The worst part is that it was my bare belly because it was when I was on the beach in a bikini for Robert's birthday. Ugh, so awkward. I thought the woman was leaning down to talk to my belly. Silly me - she wanted to KISS my belly. Phsh. I quickly backed up and went over to Ariel and Robert. Come to find out, the lady was on Ecstacy. I instantly freaked out wondering if the woman had any of it on her lips that might be on my belly now, absorbing into my bloodstream and making it's way to my baby. Talk about freaky. so taht was my first Stranger Belly Kiss.

Anyhoo, back to my first Stranger Belly Rub. It was a drunk guy. On the streets of Fort Worth, in front of a bar. Turns out he was the co-owner of the bar we were debating on entering. The guy was telling me how beautiful my belly was and he wouldn't quit touching me. Everyone quickly made the move to leave the guy in front of his bar.

I'm thinking I must have a pretty intimidating resting face. My mom has had many problems with just such a problem, so it only fits that I should have this issue too. Because why else would the first strangers to touch my belly be on drugs and alcohol? Why not the sweet old lady at the pharmacy? Or some young woman at the grocery store? The logical answer is that I must look like I'm going to punch them in the face if they get near me and the only people stupid enough to look past that are high or drunk. The only logical answer, right?

After the belly rub incident, we settled on an outdoor bar with a band playing outside. It was nice for me because it wasn't very smoky. The band played a few of their own songs and threw in a sprinkling of songs we would know - like Sweet Home Alabama. It was so nice out, but we were all stuffed from our mexican dinner that we didn't stay long.

At one point, a group of middle aged people came in and sat at a table close to the stage. One of the guys was wearing what appeared to be a belt with a gazillion pouchs attached to it and we were discussing what we thought it was. Our question was answered when the guy meandered on the stage while the band was mid-song with his pouch-belt, pulled out a harmonica and started jamming with the band. It was hilarious! He didn't appear to be a part of the band at all. He just went up and joined them in the middle of their song.

Harmonica Man is in the white hat on the right side of the stage:

Crazy Chris Topher (and Shannon)

We got home late that night since it was a 30-minute drive back to their place. Sunday morning we ate and ate some more. All in all I would say it was a weekend full of sitting and eating. That's our kind of weekend!

I have some good stories about the drive home on Sunday, but I'll save those for later...