Roadtrip!!

We did it!  We loaded up our minivan and headed south to San Antone for the weekend.  It had been at least 2 years since I'd seen my good friends, Kelly and Stephanie, and even longer than that for Jared.  A reunion was most definitely in order!

Thursday morning we packed, loaded Lila, Maddie, Jackson and Cameron into the van and took off.  Things were not going so well at first, with Lila asking the requisite "are we getting close yet?" only an hour into the drive. Ten minutes later, she asked again.  When I said "no, we've got a ways to go," she said, "but I'm huuuungry! Why didn't we just take a plane to San Antonio?"  Jared and I laughed and then told her it was gonna be a long day.  She turned on Frozen, though, and all was right in her world.

Then 30 minutes later we were at this Burger Shack in Meridian, Tx.  They had one guy working the grill and he knew his stuff.  Those burgers were greasy and good!

After we chowed down, the kids got to pick out some ice cream, too. 

Then we hopped back in the car and took off.  We rolled down the backroads of 67 and 281.  Jackson was watching a movie, but also had the map in his right hand the whole time.  He made sure he knew where we were at all times.  We only stopped one other time, to feed Cami and let everyone go potty, and then we arrived in SA!

Right after we dropped our bags in our room, we went and found Danny, Kelly and their sweet little girl Kennedy.  They had never met Cami and she took to them right away, even letting Kelly hold her for a while!

We took the kids out to explore our hotel and all of us loved it right away.  Such sweet girls!

The Hyatt Hill Country was so cool!  

While I fed Cami, Kelly took the girls around and they did lots of gymnastics.  Danny took Jackson with him and they found a TV in the lobby with SportsCenter on it.  Jackson had found his new BFF for the weekend!

Since nobody wanted to do more driving, we stayed at the hotel for dinner.

While we were waiting for our table, Kennedy snapped some candids:)

And since it was vacation afterall, we even took the kids for some night swimming at 9:45 that night.  They loved it!  Next up, our adventures at Sea World.

Finalmente!

It took until the beginning of August to find a weekend that worked to get up to Denison, but we finally made it!  It had to be a weekend with no sports, birthday parties or vacations, oh, and it couldn't be too hot.  Because we had enough heat in FL to last us for quite a while!  So, when it was only going to be 90 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, we took advantage of it and headed north.  And I'm so glad that we did.  It had been way too long--the girls and I went during Spring Break, but J man hadn't been since last fall--

which is about 9 months too long for this four-wheel driving cowboy!  He hopped on his favorite four wheeler as soon as he could and took it down to the barn.

Us girls were pretty happy to be there, too.  The big girls loaded up in the back of the Polaris...

while Cami rode shotgun with Gigi.

My little cowboy is such a cautious and careful driver.  He made both me and his daddy proud with how well he did!

Madison was so excited to show all of us the five new barn kittens.  She was right--they are sooooo cute!  There are two sets of girl twins and one little black boy, that she's named Tom.

Both of the white kitties are really sweet and

so is precious little Tom.

Jackson was pretty scared to hold the kitties, but he eventually warmed up to them.  Lila Lou never did, but she finally petted this one while I was holding her.

The kids loved just hanging out with the kitties while Boom saddled up the horses.  Cameron liked seeing the horses, too, and even tried to talk to them a little:)

Then it was time to saddle up!  Jackson rode Emma first and

 

the girls got on Princess.  They asked Daddy and Boom to just lead them around the pasture this time for a trail ride.  And they loved every second of it! 

 

 

After Maddie was done, Lila rode with Jackson...

 

and then with her daddy, too.  Such our little fearless cowgirl!

 

Madison rode with Jared, too, but then made sure to get back and give the kitties more sweet snuggles.

After all that horsin' around, we needed a water break.  We headed back up to the house and Lila was thrilled to get to ride in the front seat, without her seatbelt on.  Oh, my!  We are really living on the edge now.  Ranch = No Carseat Rules!

After we hydrated, we went down to the big pasture to see all the cows. 

 

We even got to wish this cute little guy a happy 1 month birthday!

 

On our way back to the house these two literally gave out.  It had been a big day and they were exhausted.  Being a ranch hand is hard work:)

 

 

The next morning after a night of almost no sleep for me and Cameron, my dad asked if we wanted to try and put the boat in.  The lake had lost so much water that the boat dock was actually sitting on dry land earlier this year.  It's come back a little, though, and he wanted to give it a go.  I was thinking, "I'm really tired.  I don't know if I can do this.  Both my mom and Jared have to leave.  How are just me and dad going to do this?...probably not the best idea....BUT, this might be the only chance for the kids to get in the lake this summer."  So I put on my Super Mom cape and we loaded up the golf cart and drove down to the lake!!

And I'm so glad that we did!  It was Cameron's first time on the boat and she did fantastic!  She didn't cry or fuss about the lifejacket (thank you, child) and instead just took a nap in my arms.

My sweet girl.

We didn't do anything fancy, just drove across to the buoys and hooked up.  But it was plenty to keep these three entertained.

They swam their hearts out while this girly napped in the shade.

There were many cannon balls!

Hang loose, dude!



Then our sweet girl woke up, just in time for snacks. 

In the driver's seat already!

This crew demolished the snack bag...

and then Jackson drove us back across the water.

And we did it!  A day on the lake with one grandpa, a mom, and four kids. We stopped to take in this view before heading back to the house for lunch.  It really is my happy place. 
Lake Texoma, I love you!  Goodbye, until we meet again:)

Summer Totally Rules!

 Why?  Just take a look and you'll see.

 

Summer rules because you can do things like find out that the Wylie Library rocks.  These kids had a blast finding new books to read and we ran into cute little Corbett and his brother there, too!  We enjoyed it so much that we went back the very next day.  And checked out 16 books!

  

It also rules because you get to swim with your friends.  We hosted another swim day at Gigi & Boom's and this time Jackson got to invite a friend.  Let's just say that Maddie might have been just as excited as he was to have Matthew there!

After spending a while in the hot tub, this little chickadee was all tuckered out.  She had a snooze on the porch ....

while we watched these three play Marco Polo.

They loved it!

Summer also rules because this baby sister can sleep in and still take a Friday morning post-milk snooze on the couch.  Ah, the life.

It rules because while big brother practices baseball, little sister can have fun with her friend at the park.  These two played for 90 minutes and never got tired.  I'm so jealous of their energy!

While they were playing, baby sister was having a great time cruising around the park. 
Love that smile.

 

It also rules because you get to be all fancy and go out for a late dinner to Tokyo Hayaci sometimes.  This little gal put on her new dress, had me do her hair in a "big side pony," and then put on lip gloss and perfume.  Ha!  You'd of thought we were going to the Ritz!  She loved the food, too, and tried everything there, from the soup and salad, to the chicken, fried rice and grilled veggies.  Her favorite, though, was the grilled shrimp.  Yum!

And finally, quite possibly the #1 reason that summer rules is because little rabbits just might run into your house on a hot summer night to try and get cool!  Yep.  As we were walking back inside our house on Friday around 5:30 that afternoon, a rabbit darted across the sidewalk.  When it did that, it hit my foot and got rerouted straight into our house!  We all ran in after it and attempted for the next 20 minutes to catch it.  It was crazy!  Those little guys are so fast!!  We finally gave up and left it in our utility room.  While we were at dinner with dad, we told him that we had a wild animal cornered in our house.  I think he was just relieved that it wasn't a skunk or something.  He was the man for the job and took care of it when we got home that night by finally catching it with our crab net.  Such a wascally wabbit!