Family, Friends, and Sopapillas!

We had quite the busy day on Thursday of that week because we were leaving on Friday.  Pawpaw and Nana invited us over for lunch and Aunt R was also able to come!  K was very happy to have a middle name picture since these three all share the same middle name. :)

We had a delicious lunch and the girls did a lot of playing while the adults visited.  I got a couple of cute videos I will have to upload later.

Nana, Pawpaw, Mommy, Boo, Auntie K, Bug, Noni, Aunt R

After lunch we headed back to the ranch for naps and as soon as the girls woke up we were off again.  This time to visit one of the men that went on the recent trip with Noni and Auntie Karen.

They were some of the sweetest most down to earth people I have ever met.  She was showing us pictures of all their grandkids and then pointed to a large portrait on the wall.  It was a wedding picture of them, but it was fairly recent.  She told us how they had gotten married when she was 16 and he was 17.  She said they didn’t have any special clothes or even any guests, they just went to the preachers’ house and were married in the parlor.  They became Christians in their 30’s and they have a very obvious love for the Lord.  On their 50th anniversary (just a few years ago) they decided to have a real wedding with formal wear, wedding party (which was their family) guests, the whole thing.  It was such a sweet story.

After our visit Auntie Karen took us to one of my favorite restaurants…Rosa’s!  It is sooo good.  They make the tortillas right there and you can see the machine that makes them.  But my favorite thing is the sopapillas!  So so good.

The girls thought so too.

Texas ~ Part 1

The girls were very happy to finally get to Auntie Karen’s house in Texas.  The first thing they did while running around exploring was grab books and settle down to start reading.  I love how they are both girls who love to read!

Book gettin' comfy on the bed Aunt Karen set up.  Love that smile. :)

Aunt Karen invited Pawpaw and Nana over for dinner the next night (since we got in close to bedtime the first night).  K found the Lincoln Logs and talked Pawpaw into constructing a big cabin with her. :)

Aunt Karen had remembered how much Bug loved bubbles from her previous visits so she had a huge bottle.  The wind was blowing pretty hard so all they had to do was lift the wand out of the bottle and the bubbles would just come flying out.  Boo’s new word that day was, of course, “bub-lel!”

Bug also thought Aunt Karen’s hot pink toes were pretty cute so she got her own painted to match.

So excited!

We went for walks every night as soon as the sun would start to sink.  We had to take water squirters and water bottles b/c it was so hot.  They are having a major drought right now and it was so sad to see all the empty fields where there are usually rows and rows of cotton or maize.

The heat was definitely a little hard to take.  Especially since we have been having such an unusually cool summer in the Northwest.  When we arrived in Texas I saw a sign that said 107.  Quite a difference from the low 70’s we’d been use to!  I thought the girls were going to be beat red in every picture b/c every time I looked at them their little faces were flushed.  We counteracted the heat with a little sprinkler fun…as the sprinkler did double duty to water the kids and the tree at the same time.  They are in water conservation mode down there so we had to make good use of it!

Pawpaw came out two of the other days we were there to kill mesquites with Noni and Aunt Karen.  I was surprised at how quickly the mesquites had taken over since our last visit two years ago! 

After they worked hard they took a break with the girls.  I think this is K’s tough cowboy look. :)

More Texas pictures to come tomorrow!

New Mexico

After Colorado we headed down to New Mexico where we met up with Auntie Karen and her mother-in-law (who has always been like a grandma to me).  Her in laws have a beautiful cabin that is such a fun place to stay!  Since I was last there they remodeled the empty upstairs creating two new bedrooms, a bathroom, a living room, and a kitchenette!  The girls and I got to stay upstairs.  It was gorgeous! 
The new upstairs living room.

K was happy to show off all her tricks. :)

And yet another wonderful place to play Rapunzel!

K was such a friendly girl on the trip!  She just snuggled up to anyone we came into contact with.  I think she thought we were related to everyone we met b/c she would give people big hugs…even Auntie Karen’s pastor.  Haha:)

She also made up lots of new games.  Here was a favorite…roll-y chair!

We went for walks every day and saw lots of deer, or “cows!” as Boo called them.  We did some shopping, and Auntie Karen got the girls some fun souvenirs: a princess tiara headband for K and Melissa and Doug puzzle blocks for S. 
We also played games, read books, and watched movies (after the girls went to bed).  It was a really relaxing few days.
Boo was so funny on the phone with Daddy every night.  I think she literally would have talked for an hour if I would have let her!  She would take the phone and then just jabber away, “Ah ba da go thee ma de” pause “Ah goo go!”  Interspersed with “Hi Daddy!” every few seconds.  It was pretty cute.

I packed a big suitcase with all the girls’ and I’s clothes and then once a week I would switch out our clothes from the smaller suitcase so I wouldn’t have to haul multiple suitcases in everywhere.  My mom thought I was funny with my closet on wheels. :)

Then I had a few “helpers” show up who wanted to play in the clothes too. :)

Thanks for letting us stay in your beautiful cabin B and B!
Next up: Texas!

Colorado

After our first two days of driving we made it to our first destination: Colorado!  We hadn’t made all that many preparations so we were thrilled to find out that Auntie Nina just happened to have the day off on the one day we were there!  We got to spend all day with her!  The girls loved it.  We spent all morning in the quiet little town of Odyssey.  We love the Adventures in Odyssey stories so stopping at Focus on the Family is always a must!

I always get a picture here with my girls…well before it was just one girl. :)

Pretending to be some of our favorite Whit’s End characters. (I just noticed that Boo is in the dog’s spot, haha)

Dancing on stage in the “Little Theater”.

Noni putting on a puppet show.

And then getting a little help from Auntie Nina.

Camp What-A-Nut!

Too much fun!

And of course we just had to get some ice cream at Whit’s ice cream shop…even though it was nearly lunchtime.  We didn’t get a WODFAMCHOCSOD (for you Odyssey lovers) but K did get some chocolate chip cookie dough. :)

Then it was off to lunch at Chik-Fil-A (something we don’t have so we love to go there) and then the girls took naps at Auntie Nina’s.  The girls loved Auntie Nina’s new kitties.  They were so cute!  They have so much personality.  And consequently Boo’s new word of the day was “kit-ty!”

Then we met up with all the other family members and got to go out to dinner at a place called Old Chicago.  It was sooo good.  The girls also got another set of balloon animals!  A puppy and a ladybug this time. :)

Thanks for meeting with us everybody!  It was so great to see you all!

Next up: New Mexico!

Road Trip

I have come to the conclusion that a successful road trip with kids is all about timing!  And planning.  We really didn’t have to make all that many stops to keep them happy, as long as we timed it right.  We found out they could go from wake up to lunch with only a 10 or 15 minute stop as long as they got to play a little when we did stop.  We got good at finding little parks along our route.

Here is one park we found.  I don’t even remember what town (or even state) this was in.

But they enjoyed it and it was just enough to stretch their legs and take them through till lunch. 

We also discovered the beauty of timing our “movie” watching.  Most of K’s videos are 30-45 minutes so I would let her pick one out early in the morning.  Then, using the TomTom, we would figure out exactly what time we would be stopping for lunch and we would start the movie so that it would end just as we were pulling into our lunch stop.

We also never ate in any restaurants.  When we would stop we would always try to find a McDonalds (with a playset) or a park.  I would drop mom and the girls off to play while I went and got gas and usually lunch for myself (I got tired of McD’s after about one day).  Haha :)  Then I would go back to McDonalds and get in line for Happy Meals and by that time 30 minutes would have passed and the girls were ready to get back in the car.  I bought them car trays and since Boo is SUCH a slow eater by the time she was done with her lunch it was time for a nap.  Napping definitely didn’t go as well as at home, but most days she did manage to get 1-2 hours. (as opposed to her usual 2.5-3)

K didn’t sleep well in the car at all.  Most of her naps were a short 30 min.  I think she got an hour once.  But she was really good at playing quietly and not waking up her sister.

We did have to stop and eat at a Fuddruckers one evening before checking into our hotel.  It has always been one of mom and mines’ favorites and we don’t have one anywhere around here.  There was a kid going around doing balloon animals for all the kids.  K got a flower and S got a pink and orange bee.

At night we spent our time getting more energy out before bedtime.  They loved swimming!

Boo was a little nut!  She kept wanting to jump into the pool and when she did she wanted to go all they way under even though she would come up sputtering and coughing every single time!  But she would squirm and wiggle until she could get under water.  What a goof.

A few bedtime books with Noni and they settled down enough to go to sleep.

Here’s K helping me load up after a good night’s sleep.  (that hotel seriously had the most comfortable mattresses I have ever slept on.  They were amazing.  I wrote it down “overstuffed pillowtop”.  That is what we are getting the next time we need mattresses!)

At one Sonic stop the carhop told us there was a nice playground just down the street.  We were so glad she did!  K loved it!  The perfect place for a good game of Rapunzel. :)

Boo just loved climbing all the steps.

Whee! This was a weird swing that they thought was hilarious!

I know I said it yesterday, but they really did such an amazing job on the trip!  They were little angels (most of the time).  haha :) 

Up next: Colorado!

The “Cow”

We are back from Texas! We had a WONDERFUL trip! The girls were amazing in the car!!! They did so much better than I hoped they would do. We had about fifteen seconds of tears in the car. (many more outside of the car since Texas unfortunately did not cure Bug’s penchant for self-destruction). We had been driving for 7 hours one day with only a 10 minute stop when we finally reached the town near our destination. We pulled into McDonalds for a bathroom and play break and started to get out of the car. I had Boo and I walked toward the door when a lady waved through the window and said they were closed. It was kind of weird b/c there was no sign and there were lots of cars in the parking lot. Anyway, when I had to go put Boo back in the car she started crying. But it literally only lasted 15 seconds. They did SUCH a good job.

I will get my pictures organized and put them up in the next few days, but for now I will leave you with this video of Boo and her “cow”.