June in Texas

We had a very fun and very full summer. It's hard to believe that the kids are back in school already. It's hard to figure out where to start, since it has been 4 months, but I figured why not start at the beginning?

We drove to Texas for the first time since we've been married back in June. It was 1200 miles each way, which was pretty daunting for us (I know we are wimps compared to some of you, but hey we're rookies so cut us some slack). To make the drive a little easier, we did it in 3 days for each direction.

Our major rest stop on the way down was Mesa Verde National Park. It was amazing to see what people could do with no technology on the sides of cliffs (And I can't even keep up with my yardwork). After chasing around Jackson all day, it also made me wonder what their two year old mortality rate must have been. Here is Mom with the 2-year-old firmly in hand:

From MyFamily\2012\TexasTrip

From MyFamily\2012\TexasTrip

Anyway, a lot of miles later we finally ended up at our destination:Grandma's House! Mom and Dad were very, very gracious hosts and we had a really good time. We did so much stuff, that I probably can't list it all, but I'll share a few pictures. We all really enjoyed the animal park. Especially Mason (who loves animals) and Jackson. Here is a cute picture of Jackson who doesn't know what to make of it all:

Then of course we had fun at Grandma and Grandpa's Ranch. We did horseback riding, paddle boating, and of course we also made very good use of the Pool. It was nice to have it basically to ourselves. I think we swam in it 4 times?




We also got to go the Hurricane Harbor which was exciting since its much bigger than the waterparks here. We left Jackson with Grandma and took the older three.  Mason was a little nervous but he loved all the slides.  (Esp the ones in the kiddie area, but he braved some of the big ones too)  Ryan and Colin had a blast until we were forced to leave around 3 by a huge storm.  One last Texas picture - Ryan and Colin picked up the art of frog catching from their mother and absolutely loved going outside and catching little frogs all over Grandma's yard:

On the way back home we got to visit Joel and Ashleigh for a day and see their son Cardon get blessed. Joel and Ashleigh were also gracious enough to hold a joint birthday party for Ada and Jackson.  And Joel introduced us to his awesome lazer tag set, which we promptly bought when we got home.




And here is Uncle Neil doing his usual video game corruption:


It was a lot of fun seeing everyone, and thanks for hosting us!