Family Vacation to San Antonio

We had a fabulous vacation to San Antonio last week! The girls did great in the car! We only had to stop once each way for a meal and bathroom break. Wes and Abby napped on the way there. Avery “rested” which means she tried for about an hour, but could not get to sleep. Ha! I think she was too excited. They both napped on the way home. All I can say is, “Thank goodness for DVD players!”

We arrived first at Jenny and Brett Perkin’s house and visited for a while before we all headed to Momak’s to meet up with the Jones family and Kevin Thompson and his son. We had a good time catching up and watching our kiddos play on the playground. Sarah also gave me lots of helpful hints on how to work our camera.

The next day we went to the Natural Bridge Wildlife Safari. I have been on some real safaris before in Kenya and I hope to go again sometime with the girls and Wes. This was a great first safari experience for the girls. We drove around and saw many animals such as giraffes, rhinos, zebras, ostriches, gazelles, llamas, and many types of deer. The girls absolutely loved it! Wes had Avery in his lap helping him drive while I held Abby. The speed limit is only 5mph so we felt perfectly safe. They give you food to feed the animals, so of course, the girls got a kick out of throwing the food out of the window. Abby enjoyed doing this even when there were no animals close up. Thankfully she did not try the food herself, although I felt sure she would. Abby would say, “Hi” and “Bye” to all the animals while cutely waving her chubby fingers. Avery liked to call the deer “Bambi”. I think Avery enjoyed helping Wes drive about as much as seeing the animals.

They also had a petting zoo there with lots of goats. The girls were not shy at all about going up to them and petting them. A couple of them were very pregnant and Avery enjoyed feeling their tummies to see if they could feel the baby goats kick. They will be good pet owners some day… way down the road when they can take some of the responsibility for caring for them.

The next two days we spent at Sea World. We hit all the animal shows and Avery rode her first roller coaster with me. When we got off, she said, “I LIKED THAT! I will have to tell Nana about that!” We had to ride that ride twice. Wes rode a ride with both of the girls that goes around and around high in the air. I get dizzy easily from going in circles, so I just took pictures. Avery told us she wants to ride the big roller coasters when she gets older!

On our second day at Sea World Sarah, Greg, Griffin, and Brooks joined us. Wes was feeling a little yucky from being sick the night before. He was such a trooper walking around with us despite how he felt. (I won’t share the yucky details. He is all better now and none of us have been sick since then.) Anyways we had a fun time with the Jones family. Griffin and Brooks are such cuties and full of personality, but “Sorry Greg, we won’t trade one of our girls for your boys.”

On a side note, our first trip with Greg and Sarah was back in college when the four of us were dating and we went to Greg’s home in Dallas for the weekend. Who would have known that many years later we would be together again at Sea World WITH OUR KIDS!

We stayed in a suite in a hotel near Sea World. Every day we were there the girls took nice long late naps (worn out from each day’s activities). Since we had a suite Wes and I could stay up and read, get online, or watch TV. The hotel also had an indoor pool and hot tub which we thoroughly enjoyed. Avery and Abby are getting braver and braver about swimming on their own. Abby is a little too daring. She could care less about going under water. She does not get scared. She just comes back up smiling and choking up water.

Thanks again Dad for helping make this trip possible!

Avery and Griffin getting to know each other.


Avery kept posing for Sarah. I guess she knew Sarah was a
professional photographer while mom and dad don't
usually know what they are doing with their camera.

Sarah, Brooks, Greg, Kevin and Preston hangin' out.

Our sweet friends Jenny and Brett with Ethan. Zack is hiding.

Avery, Abby, and Griffin dancing on the picnic table. What are we teaching them?

Avery looking out our sunroof, just like a real Safari!

Check out the teeth on that thing. Abby and I were not brave enough to open the window much more or to let the zebra eat out of our hands. Or, maybe we just wanted to obey the rule which stated that you should throw the food on the ground for the animals, not let them eat out of your hands. Abby and I simply threw the food into the zebra's open mouth.

Wes and Avery breaking the rules. I can't believe a zebra's head has been in our car! You should have seen the disgusting spit all over Wes' hand after this. Thankfully we had wipes and Purell!

Avery driving already?

Mom, can we get a pet goat?

Well, Hello Mr. Llama!

Abby's turn out the sunroof.

The greedy ostrich pecking out the food bag.

Sorry buddy, no more food for you!

The whole gang watching the Shamu show.

Avery climbing up the net. Next thing you know, she will be ready for Wilderness Trek!

Whooo-Hooo! Here we go!

Around and around they go!

Brooks taking a break at Sea World to eat his sandwich.

The Girls

Okay, I found a picture on my computer of the three of us (Alexis, Lauren, and I) from over a year ago. I still want to dig up some good ones from when we were teenagers.

Girl's Weekend

On Thursday I went to Alexis' house in Euless to have a girl's weekend along with Lauren and her newborn Cole. I have been friends with Lauren since middle school and friends with Alexis since High School. We try to get together 3-4 times a year. Alexis and I talked Lauren into scrapbooking, so we usually spend many hours doing that. We had a great time catching up on each other's lives, watching some favorite TV shows and movies, eating out, shopping, and of course, scrapbooking.

Friday night as we were headed to dinner Lauren's dad happened to call from Abilene to see if we knew of the bad weather coming our way. We had no idea how severe the weather was. We simply thought it was going to rain. We immediately changed our dinner plans and decided to pick up some food and head to Alexis' house. As we were waiting for our food a single piece of hail randomly landed in the parking lot. It wasn't even raining although the weather sirens had begun blaring loudly! We were extremely scared at this point. As we approached Alexis' house golf ball size hail began to fall. We had to run inside quickly so we wouldn't get pounded by the hail. We all made it in safely, even baby Cole. The hail storm only lasted about 10-15 minutes and then it was bright outside again. It left behind lovely dents in our cars. :( I guess that is why you have car insurance.

I was thankful for the time spent with my friends. They are such a blessing in my life! I am also thankful of my dear sweet husband who agrees to keep the girls so that I can have these refreshing girl weekends.

I don't have any pictures to show for this weekend. We were too busy talking and having fun. I will have dig up some old pictures of us from our teenage years. Ha!

Easter Happenings

Okay, so I am just a little late posting our Easter happenings, but I have some good reasons why. Every year LTC (Leadership Training for Christ) lands on Easter weekend making Easter an extra busy time of year. We traveled with our youth to Dallas, Friday through Saturday for LTC. They all did a wonderful job! We are so proud of them! They won lots of golds. It always brings joy to my heart to see our teens striving to be leaders. I was in charge of two scrapbook teams and they both got golds with all excellent marks on the judges sheets. My girls did great and we had a blast creating them!

We dyed eggs with the girls before our trip to LTC. They also enjoyed using the markers to draw on them. We did have a few egg casualties, but I am pretty sure that is to be expected when you have a two year old and four year old decorating. We stripped them down so they would not get dye on their clothes.

Here are some pictures from Avery's preschool Easter Egg Hunt.

On Easter it was freezing outside. I even had to cover my newly planted flowers outside so the freezing temperatures and possible snow would not harm them. I even offered up prayers on their behalf. They did survive, and the predicted snow never came.

The girls looked cute in their Easter dresses (which were sleeveless sun dresses) with sweaters and tights on. I am sorry to say, I didn't take any pictures. I will have to dress them up later and snap some. That is what happens when you are exhausted from a trip. You just don't think straight.

Later that afternoon, after all of us got a much needed nap we went up to church for the Easter Egg Hunt. Thankfully, they moved it indoors. The girls found lots of candy and treats that will last a good while!