Texas Trip!

The school year ended last Wednesday, and a few days later, we took off for a trip to Texas to see our family there.  We count this trip as a parenting milestone, as it is the first time we have traveled without a carseat in tow!  We sent a carseat to Gramma and PopPop's house and let Trevor sit in the plane seat himself without the carseat now that he is getting to be such a big boy.  He did a great job on the plane, even though he was crabby right before we got on.  He was pretty excited to put on his seatbelt like a big kid.

 And still smiling after we arrived!

As soon as we got to Gramma and PopPop's house on Saturday, the kids checked out the pool toys.  They were particularly enamored with the rowboat.

Jack enjoyed the love from the kids.

Sarah loved the dogs and enjoyed playing with them, petting them, and helping Gramma feed them.

On Sunday, lots of family came over for a fun day.  We had the 5 of us, Gramma and PopPop, Brian, Kelly, Diana and Stephen, Ryan and his girlfriend Mallory, and Jeanne and her boyfriend Rob.  Gramma made a feast and we enjoyed time together.

Brothers reunite with a Coke.

The kids had a blast in the pool!

Trevor chomping Sarah with the hippo.

On Monday, we spent the day exploring Fort Worth.  We went to the stockyards and saw a longhorn cattle drive.

 Up on the viewing deck.

My little cowgirl.

 Austin looks good in a cowboy hat.

Sarah got a gift from Gramma and PopPop of a cowgirl mermaid.  I never would have come up with that combination. So cute!

 Austin showing off his name tag license plate.

We headed to Joe T Garcia's for lunch. It was pretty hot out so we ate inside.

 But they also have a huge, gorgeous garden/patio area outside that we explored after eating lunch.

Afterward, we enjoyed the Fort Worth Water Gardens.  Here is a shallow pool surrounded by trees and by waterfalls down all the walls.  The kids put their hands on the walls and enjoyed the water trickling over their fingers.

 Another area had waterfalls going down all sides, but with stepping stones to walk down into the bottom of the waterfalls.

Diana and Brian at the top. 

Part of the crew that made it down the bottom. 

 Mommy and Sarah.

 The climb back up.

Austin posing in front of another area that had a bunch of fountains spraying upward making the whole area look misty.

We were all pretty HOT by that time, since we had been walking around most of the day in the 95 degree temps and sunshine, so we took a break for milkshakes before heading back to Gramma and PopPop's house.  Look how pink my baby girl is!

 On Tuesday, the kids got to go out in the barn to see the horses.

 Tommy, the miniature horse getting ready to give the kids a ride. 

 Sarah went first.

 Then Trevor got a turn.

Austin is too big now to ride the miniature horse, but he did a great job learning how to lead the horse.

 Meeting the big horses.

 Then the kids all got a turn driving the tractor with PopPop.

Here is Trevor perching on top of the couch on one of the dogs' pillows.  He was pretending to be a puppy.

 He also really enjoyed Uncle Brian's old Legos.  He played for hours with the pirate ship!

We had some more pool time and some down time (everybody was exhausted by the end of the trip), then headed home on Wednesday.  My poor Trevor had some difficulty breathing the 2nd night we were there and I had to find a 24 hour pharmacy and prescribe him an aerosol chamber to be able to give him my albuterol inhaler I had brought with me.  He did great after that, but Austin developed a pretty terrible cough while we were there.  I'm wondering if the kids have the same allergies that give me trouble (cats, dogs, hay, grass, etc)?

We had a great trip and, aside from Trevor breaking the disc cover on the portable DVD player on the plane ride home, we had a rather uneventful trip home.  We're looking forward to the next time we get to see our Texas Cronks.

In other random photos...
The weekend before we went on our trip, Michelle and Theo came over to play for a bit and we walked down to the park.

Check out the cool dude in the baby shades. 

 Chillin' on the swings.

Trevor loves the swings too!

That's it for now.  Sarah's dance recital is on Saturday, so I'll be posting photos and video of her performance soon.