Summer Vacation - The 2nd Adventure

The next leg of our trip took up right by this place. It is a place that Brett wanted to attend when he was younger, and now both of my boys want to attend:

We walked all around the visitors' center at the Air Force Academy and they are super excited to go (sorry it's not Annapolis, dad).

Claire posing

Emily posing

My four children. (I think they all look thrilled to be getting their picture taken.)

Looking at the "ranks."

Outside with the mountains in the back ground.

The children with the huge "hill."

A quick story about our trip: We went to the gift shop and bought some souvenirs. Brett bought a wooden statue of a falcon to put in his home office (pictures to come). When we got to the car, Brett was reviewing the total of our purchase in his head, and it did not make sense to him that the total was just over the price of the statue, so he had me look at the receipt. Sure enough, the person at the register has spent so much time wrapping the statue so that it didn't break that she forgot to scan the price (it doesn't help that we had four children who continued top put stuff of the counter, and she had to keep track of all of that). Brett went back in and asked her to please scan another one so that he could pay for it. We laughed how we could have had a "free" statue that "exemplified the qualities sought in Air Force Academy cadets; courage, intelligence, love of the wild sky, ferocity in attack, but gentle in repose - and discipline," and to Brett - EXCELLENCE. That would have been too ironic.

So, we paid for our purchases and left - a few more hours in the car.

I looked back and saw this. I did make Caleb sit up, because that just did not look safe.

We arrived at my grandpa's house on Tuesday evening. We had dinner and visited with him. It was a very pleasant visit.

Here is my grandpa sending "mess up" vibes to Caleb. We had the children doing chores and we told them if they "messed up" they would have to do more.

On Wednesday we went over to my grandmother's house for lunch. One of my cousins and his family came over, too. We just visited and let the children play.

Here we are with GG.

My cousin & his family.

All of the second cousins.

These girls share a common interest - Taylor Swift music. They sang one of her songs for us.

Grandpa's automatic dish washers.

On Wednesday afternoon, we went for a drive to get some fresh produce in Palasade.

He took us to this cute little roadside stand. We had given him the head's up that we wanted to buy some peaches, so he had gone out the days previous and scouted out the best place to get them.

It was a very simple place, and everything looked delicious.

This was the orchard on the other side of the parking lot.

When we left, we went through a drive through some more orchards.

Here are apricots.

A neat looking building.

Peaches with the mesa in the background.

On our way home we stopped to visit the cemetery where my grandmother's remains are.

It is a very beautiful, peaceful place.

The marker on her vault.

The children in front of her vault.

Walking through, looking at, and honoring the veterans.

A gnarly tree on the site.

After the walk, we went to dinner at Red Lobster. YUMMY! Then the children got to participate in a karate class with their cousins.

Here they are doing some warm-ups.

After all of that, we went back to my grandpa's house. He and Claire were playing a game where one person would draw a "squiggle" and the other person would draw a "doodle" from the squiggle. This was one of Claire's favorite part of the trip.

Grandpa & Claire talking about the game.

It's grandpa's turn to draw a squiggle.

Claire finishing the doodle.

The visit was too short, however, it was fun to be able to reconnect with family.

Summer Vacation - The 1st Adventure

A picture narrative (with some, maybe too many, words):

With bags packed and the car loaded, we were on our way out of town.

The checklist was completed.

Were were ready to roll.

*The smiles you see above were not there two hours later when we were back in our driveway getting ready to "start" our journey AGAIN! Why were we back? I forgot my purse. In it was the cash for our trip (easy to get more), my phone (as hard as it would have been, I could have gone without it), and the thing that really mattered was my driver's license (which I would need later in the trip to get on the airplane). So, we had to come back home and get it. That set us back by two hours. Brett eventually did forgive me, and it was pretty smooth sailing.

We drove to Lincoln, Nebraska, and spent the night in a hotel. There was a pool and a continental breakfast. We arrived too late in the p.m. to use the pool when we got there, and Brett was too excited to get on the road in the a.m., so we ate breakfast and left.

Before we really got on the road we had to get gas.

We put the children to work removing the bugs that had their lives cut short by our van.

We settled in for the drive. (I guess I wasn't entertaining enough for Brett.)

Caleb enjoyed reading.

Claire - just being silly, however I think we were all feeling this way to be in the van again.

Emily playing games.

Just plug this boy in, and he is happy - music, games, t.v., movies - if it is electronic, Eli is its friend.

We arrived at my aunt an uncle's house around dinner time. My aunt had a casserole ready to go in the oven, so we were fed and entertained. My cousin came over with his family. It was fun getting reacquainted with them and meeting their youngest.

The CHILDREN enjoyed playing the candy bar game. Even though there was some healthy competition and tempers, it was all good in the end.

On Sunday we went to church with my aunt and uncle, and then the family came over again. Not only did all of the little cousins come over again, but my other cousin and her husband came for dinner and they spent the night.

Sunday evening we went to a park called Garden of the Gods. The were rock formations and the trails were beautiful.

We came across this guy playing the didgeridoo.

One of the formations.

My family after the trek around part of the park.

The silly girls.

This little guy loved to put his fingers in his ears and listen to himself.

Kissing Camels under the moon.

... and the sleeping arrangements.

Claire

Emily

Caleb

Eli

On Monday we went to an indoor park. There was mini-golfing, go-carts, laser tag, a kid's room, bumper cars, and an arcade.

Here we are waiting to play laser tag.

A couple of my goof balls doing the go-carts.

After the indoor park, we went home and grilled burgers and hot dogs. We left the children and went to a late night movie, Inception, with my cousin and his wife.

We had a wonderful visit with my family. It was great to get reacquainted and build the family bonds. We love you guys and appreciate all that you do for us.

didgeridoo

Today we met a man who plays the didgeridoo. I was able to try it out. I didn'ty-doo very well.

Here he is playing it for us.

The Start to our "Freedom" weekend

On Saturday, 3 July, we started out on an adventure. We went to the airport here in town and had a pancake breakfast sponsored by the Austin Morning Lions. We met some friends there. We had pancakes, sausage, spam (remember we live in Spamtown USA), juice, & milk. Then we were able to go out and see the airplanes.

This is our group at the "fly-in" breakfast.

After breakfast, the children had to prepare for a performance. Brett & a friend went to a movie, and I took the children to the dance studio to do a run through of their dances (they haven't dance these since the end of May). After the run through, we went to the bandshell for the performance.

Emily tapping.

You will come "to this conclusion." Emily is really a ham up on stage. She is a lot of fun to watch.

Emily being a carriage - she danced to "Love & Marriage."

Eli & his partner getting ready to start. He danced to "Let's Hear if for the Boy," and he had to be a "bad-boy."

money on the mind

I think this is called a K-kick.

begging

The End!

Claire's class (only about 1/4 of the dancers were there).

My pretty posing princess.

We're off to see the Wizard

We started off our freedom celebration by having a dance performance on Friday, July 2. The three younger children were in a dance production of "The Wizard of Oz." They had a two week dance camp, and then at the end of the camp, they had a performance. It was about thirty minutes long, and it was fun to watch.

Claire was a mini-munchkin.

Emily was a munchkin and one of the emerald city people.

Eli was the wizard.

The children all did a great job. It was a ton of fun to watch. It was also fun to have friends come and watch. After the performance, we had some friends come over (they will be moving out of state soon - so it was the last time to see them before they go). We grilled and had pork ribs for dinner, however, the highlight of our time together Friday evening was roasting (and eating) the giant marshmallows. First we did s'mores and then Brett & our friend stuffed candy in the giant marshmallows, roasted them, and ate them. (Just a note - these marshmallows are = to 4 large mallows).

Our friend's giant s'more, and the first candy roasted mallow.

Our friends eating the treasures.

Brett eating his candy mallow.

Me & my giant s'more.

This was a great start to a fabulous week end. Thanks friends for playing with us.