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 Safari

We went to Texas for Easter and we got to enjoy the Safari there on Good Friday. Boy was it packed!

JuJu is going through a stage where she's learned fear. I remember being so sad when Chase went through this stage because I felt like a part of his innocence was gone. And I feel the same about her now too. :( My poor baby! Well, she (randomly) decided right before this trip to be afraid of BULLS! And she still is. We have spent hours at home reassuring her that bulls can't get in our house, or come through her bedroom window, etc. (We think, from talking to her about it that she had a nightmare about at a bull at the end of our driveway while she was outside riding her bike.)
...and then we go to Texas and put her on a Safari with.......these Texas Longhorns! I don't know if they are bulls or not, but in her eyes they sure were! She was already afraid of all the animals on the Safari before we got to this guy so she spent the entire trip in PopPop's lap. Luckily he was seated in the middle of the jeep so there was less chance of the animals getting to her.
I don't think that PopPop minded holding this sweet baby girl one bit!

Luckily Chase wasn't scared so he just fed and fed and fed all the animals.
I felt so bad for this Momma ostrich. I think she was laying on her eggs and these vultures were trying to get to them and eat them. How does she ever go and get any food or water??
These ostriches, however, were ruthless and at one point we had to shield ourselves from them. They were pecking all around looking for food and one bit MomMom's arm! It was a good sized bite and starting bleeding immediately and she had a huge bruise!

Look at that pouty face! (Glasses look familiar Leslie?)


And look at this guy! This is why Phil calls him jolly- it's a mixture of his constant smile and that chubby face!

Stay tuned for more of Texas!