9 Days and 90 Years

We are back from Texas! Did you miss us? This was our longest trip visiting there- 9 days. I was flew there by myself with just the kids for about 4 days and then Phil joined us later when he was off work.

I didn't have room for the camera in my suitcase, so the pictures start once he's there, day 5.
We, along with one of Phil's sisters, Rachel, took all five of our kids to the beach on Friday. It was really crowded and very hard for me to keep an eye on my three little ones. No way I could have done that without a second pair of hands....and I could have used a third!

I call this the Bay Watch picture. Left to right- Chase (with Puddle Jumpers on), Bryson, JuJu and Phil. Chase grew up so much on this trip, first learning to swim underwater the length of the pool and then also just being so independent and playing with all of his cousins all day. I didn't see him until it was time for me to put him to bed! He LOVED playing with his cousins!

Daddy and JuJu. She knows that Daddy's job is to keep her safe, so she was stuck to him like glue in the water.

This one was a mess at the beach! He was so hard to keep an eye on, which gave me several heart attacks. He also ate SO much sand and there was no stopping him. Not very surprising, he had some GI issues about two days later and ran a low grade temp for three days. Hmm....

Anyway, he's just a mess, but I love him!

We also did lots of swimming in the pool! I mean lots!!

Chase swam for so long one day that I had to make him get out to eat after about 4 hours. He was so hot and tired that night, I thought he would be sick, but thankfully never was.

The little boy cousins, there were four of them, also played lots of ball when they weren't swimming.

And then we did some 90th birthday celebrating! Phil's grandmother, Mema, turned 90 while we were there. Lots of Phil's family was able to make it down to Houston to celebrate. Mema is the sweetest lady and she and PopPop, who is also 90, still live together and totally independently.

Aren't they sweet?! Happy Birthday Mema!

More of Texas to come.

The Rest of Texas and Easter

Okay, after this post I will be done with April and moving on to May! We happened to be in Texas for Easter, so we got to spend some good quality family time at church, hunting for eggs and having a great Easter Dinner.


The kids actually slept in the main house with MomMom and PopPop on this trip so they woke up on Easter morning without us. We got them just a few little things that morning, mostly candy. (And we flew home the next day and Sadler ate it all, lol.)



Four generations- PopPop #2 (65), PopPop #1 (90), Phil (40), Parker (15 mos)
Parker and Mommy swinging with MeMa and PopPop. We got to enjoy a great afternoon on the porch with them while all three kids were napping. Parker woke up first and got to join us. We had great weather while in Texas! It was actually a little chilly outside at times during the day!
I really wanted this picture of him....but smiling. It wasn't happening. Every time I made him lay down like that he cried.




The older two kids hunted eggs in the morning, while Parker took his morning nap (can you tell I'm working in reverse order here. No time to move all these pictures around.)

Eating some candy from inside the eggs.






This picture is hysterical! It was the best one we could get. Needless to say, it was nap time for Parker. We went to church SUPER early that day, so we were home in time for his morning nap, which is at 9:30. Yes, we had eaten breakfast, gone to church and were home by 9:30!



The reason we picked Easter weekend to make a trip to Texas was because Phil's baseball team, the Houston Cougars, were playing. This was our family's first time to see a game.
Chase is way into baseball so he loved it! Parker was a disaster and I don't think we'll bring him next time. Luckily MomMom and PopPop came along so MomMom strolled him around in his stroller for a while.
We had a great trip to Texas and we'll be returning soon, in July, for MeMa's 90th birthday! I don't think the weather will be quite so nice then.

Texas, Part 2- The Pool and Grandparents

After a day at the beach in Texas, we were ready for a day at the pool! Our kids have both fallen in love with the water and cannot get enough of it. Julianna is our dare devil and wants to jump off the side of pool and go under water.

Chase starts off pretty timid, but warms up to swimming after a while and then doesn't ever want to get out of the water. He still wants to check and double check that someone is always holding on to him.

And Parker....well, he just loves whatever is going on! This was his first time in the pool and he really liked it.


After church Sunday we had to get some group shots with the great-grandparents and Parker. Notice that I have four children in this picture, lol.
My kids and their great-grandparents. Phil's grandfather will be 90 in August! How exciting!!

The kids with Phil's parents and grandparents.

And now just the men- Eldest PopPop-89, PopPop-64, Phil- 39, Chase-4, Parker-4 mos. These are the only Lewis men on this side of the family.

And the 4 generations picture with Parker.

And the Rest of Texas

The rest of our time in Texas was pretty low-key. We enjoyed the weekend with MomMom and PopPop and MeMa and PopPop (Phil's grandparents).

We visited MeMa and PopPop on Saturday and MeMa had saved a wishbone from a chicken for the kids. As you can see, they both were motionless while she was explaining it to them.

We finally convinced them to break it, but they weren't sure of the whole process. Chase had to go to his happy place when it was over and asked me if he could suck his thumb.

Chase loving on PopPop.

And Julianna loving on the other PopPop. I think the book she brought him to read to her was called, "Common Ailments and How to Treat Them". Or something like that. :)

After dinner one night the kids got to enjoy music from MomMom and PopPop's Player Piano. All the kids love to see this piano play all by itself and they love to dance to the music.



Here come the dance moves.


Lots of tea parties were also enjoyed while in Texas. I love that the kids will play so well together. This is a benefit of having them so close together, no doubt.


Sunday was a busy day. We started off at church with MeMa and PopPop and MomMom and PopPop. After that it was lunch at home and what else, but football.


While the boys watched football, JuJu pranced around in her pink high heels!

Sunday was also our 6th wedding anniversary. We took advantage of the babysitters and went to dinner. It was nice to be alone, even if it was just a couple of hours.

Chase was very concerned about our anniversary and wanted to know what it was, etc. So we told him that we'd take pictures of it all and show him the next day, which we did. So, this is where we ate. It's a Cajun Seafood restaurant on the Kemah Boardwalk, which is right on the ocean. This whole area was totally wiped out in the hurricane last year, but is now re-built. I think this restaurant is new to the boardwalk since the hurricane.

We had really wanted to take the kids to the boardwalk for the rides while we were there, but it was really crowded the one time we tried, so we left. Hopefully we can do it next time b/c it's a lot of fun!

MomMom and PopPop took the kids to a pumpkin patch while we were at dinner. They said that Julianna really wanted to pet this dog.

They each got a pumpkin, which I somehow managed to pack in our suitcases, along with 3 new pairs of shoes and a halloween costume. I never thought I'd be stuffing real pumpkins in my suitcase though. :)

Monday we hit a few more stores and then Panera for lunch. Texas has so many stores and restaurants and lots of things that we don't have here. So we love to hit up our favorite places while we're there. The kids even got in a nap before we had to head to the airport.

We had a great trip but probably won't be making it back until next fall. That seems like a long time from now, but there's a baby on the way! Hopefully we'll get some visits from the grandparents though.