Texas Trip: Day 4

Tuesday was also a great day. Lots of dog play. Boomer kept those kids entertained for hours on end all week long. Travis and boys hit the arrowhead mound again. And they all found more heads to add to our ever growing collection.
Bella was pretty exhuasted from the previous day and so by ten she was ready for a nap. Kody also stayed at the house with me since he still hadn't woken up from the previous day. He had fallen asleep at eight the night before as we left the river. And slept clean till eleven the next morning. At around ten I started getting nervous and antsy and would sneak my head in his room to check on him and peek in. He was still breathing the heavy breath of a toddler with his almost snoring sounds. I just let him sleep it off.

We took huge naps to prepare for the Alamo and its rich cultural history and to walk the famous San Antonio Riverwalk. Bella having napped waited for the boys to go to bed and then Nana, Travis's mom, took her to get some more groceries and shopping for some new clothes. Bella got in touch with her girly side and just lived it up. On the way home they shared a chocolate milk and Bella thought she was in heaven.

The Alamo rocks. We got there and did an abbreviated tour and they really start kicking people out by five thirty. Just a note for future travelers. We headed over to the riverwalk. Our family went to Rocky's work, building a new hotel on the riverwalk, and Travis got an inside tour. The rest of us headed down to buy tickets to take the boat/barge rides tour of the riverwalk and to learn the history. Coolest fact, they love to save the historic buildings and so they floated a three story hotel totally intact from one spot down six blocks in six days on air filled tires. It made a world record being the first entire building to be floated down a river and repositioned. After that we came home late and had cereal for dinner at almost nine ice cream for dessert and headed off to bed.

Texas Trip: Day 3

Monday was a blast. Travis was antsy to get down to his favorite pasttime. So Monday morning we drove out to the arrowhead mounds and got started. We all went as a big family including William and his son Ben. We hadn't planned very well and so we didn't have enough tools for every child to have his own set. This created some fighting since everyone wanted to find arrowheads. Travis is the pro and found some rather quickly. After that he would throw the heads he had found in the kids' next shovelfuls of dirt so they thought they had found them. What a great dad. In the end each kid walked home having found an arrowhead. Wyatt said, "Dad you are not very good at finding arrowheads. We all found some and you found none."After we were all sweaty from that we came back and got ready to head over to the Medina River another property they own about forty five minutes away. We took the camper so kids could take naps, people could use the potty without squatting in the woods, and we could bring oodles of river toys and food. Travis's Great Aunt Wanda, Aunt Terry, and Aunt Anita all came. They all had spouses, kids, and loved ones along too. Since it was a work day people were coming and going from noon to eight pm that night. We played, waded in the river, searched for crawdads, went fishing with our bait of crawdads, bbqed, and just ate ourselves silly. It's always fun to see the extended family and I love how close they are. My kids have now met a Great, Great Aunt of theirs. It's amazing to see the four generations coming together so frequently when we are here. That night the kids fell asleep in the camper on the way home and we just let them sleep there. We plugged it back in once we got home so the air would go and Travis ended up sleeping out there with them.

Texas Trip: Day 2

It was a sunday and so of course church was top of our agenda. It was at nine o'clock. We headed in and were welcomed by the people who had helped raised Travis and who came to gawk over the fact that he had four kids and a beautiful wife, Hey that's me. Yeah. After church we came home and hit the naps. After it was time for business. Rocky, Travis's younger brother brought his girlfriend over for us to meet. Travis grilled her the most by saying, "so what is your story?" Untypical for Travis but made me laugh as he cut to the chase to weed out if this girl was potential Whiting material. The kids played outside with the dog, Boomer, apparently hitting him with a piece of rebar somewhere along the way and he ran off to the neighbors house to hide, which is actually Travis's aunt and uncle's house. After all of this we drove to the peak, the highest point on the ranch (the last post has a picture of the peak), but the next county over technically divided by the creak that runs through their property. We got in this old jeep and the rest loaded in the Ford F150 and we started our country dream. We got near the top, hiked the rest of the way up, and enjoyed the view. We had a small run in with red ants, but was avoided successfully from being a full scale attack. We found tons of ant lions and just played for a bit.
On the way back we hit up the creak, the swimming hole, that was drying up at an incredible rate due to the drought, and to see the fields and other parts of the property. It is over three hundred acres so even in a car it takes some time to catch up with Travis's favorite spots. We got close to the one neighbor's fence to spot some Zebras and Ostriches. And we had seen at least a half dozen deer already. We got home and cooled off. And then all engaged in taking a personality test from Lacey's, Travis's sister, psychology class. It is the Kiersey test which is pretty famous and I took the quiz although I had a pretty good idea about myself. But it was amusing to hear everyone else's results. After more talking and playing it was time to get some sleep to prepare for tomorrow.

Texas Trip: Day 1

Well we had been preparing for days. And all we needed was to execute this day with little drama and I would be thrilled. We left our house and headed for the airport at 7:30 in the morning. We got there and checked in with little to do, headed to the gate, and then I got myself a tasty treat to avoid motion sickness from the flight. I ordered a three egg omelot with peppers, cheese, and onions. The men attending to my order were joking amounst themselves and hitting on me. Never mind my seven year old daughter beside me. As I continued to wait for my order they tried to win over my affections and in the end they sent me with my omelot and a load of sausage on the house. Enough to feed Travis, the boys, Bella, and me. Really I can always count on having a confidence boost when in the presence of black men. What can I say truth be told, I have ghetto booty, a decent rack, and "my curves are kickin'." What's not to love?

We boarded the flight. The first leg went excellently. The kids were excited and contained. And...we got to our layover in Atlanta, our old stomping grounds. We got lunch for the kids and us. And there was just enough time to hit up the bathrooms and board. The second flight didn't go quite as smooth because of naptime, Kody was having none of this sleeping on the plane business. Until I walked him up and down the aisles 6 times, three round trip jaunts, and he fell fast asleep. From there we got into San Antonio, we loaded up and got home. The evening was perfect filled with fun and family. We talked and caught up with Travis's two siblings and their families and his parents. We had a camper parked out back to help accomodate all of us. It was a relaxing yet exciting way to start our adventure.

Home Sweet Home, the view from the deck. Yeah this is all their land. It doesn't matter how many times I've been there it still seems staggering how much land it is.

First and Last Day

Before and after shots are usually my favorites. It marks transitions, changes, and improvements. And so it is with Bella starting first grade. She was adorable and innocent and perfect in every way.
Before:
And now she is still adorable and perfect in every way, perhaps a little less innocent, but now she is a fabulous reader, good at math, and all around just a year older in so many ways. Each day she surprises me but in the most pleasant ways. My baby girl is getting older.
After:

Special Delivery

Originally I was going to call this post my little package but feared some of you, Whitney, would take it out of context and harrass me for my sexual innuendos like with the post about Issac and baseball and other assorted sports which included balls. But I digress...Travis brought home this little box the other day with a laser level in it. That should give you an estimated size of the box. And Kody is now 21 months old and he looks so big and old to me, but then he climbs in this teeny tiny box and I remember he really is still a baby. I love this little package. So Cute!

Low Rider

Or not...but these are our new wheels. A silver Honda Pilot. Very shiny.

Isn't it pretty all neat and clean. I love my new ride.

Or Travis's we are still in debate over who gets to be the primary driver. Who do you think will win?