Texas

Well, we survived. My mom, the boys and myself all arrived home in Colorado...In one piece...on Tuesday morning around 11 a.m. The trip, although exhausting, was WONDERFUL and well worth the effort! I am , in fact, planning another one soon :)

On the 30th the boys and I picked up Mom from the airport in Colorado Springs and headed south. We drove to Amarillo, Tx (about 5 1/2 hours) and spend the night. The next day we drove on to Ft Worth (another 5 1/2 hours) and arrived a bit after lunch at my Grandparents home. The boys immediately went insane...running amuck from all the pent up energy. But my Grandparents loved it and were very gracious! Two days later my dear friend Noelle and I drove to San Antonio for our Midwifery conference. We stayed at my friend Amy's home for 3 days while attending the conference. Noelle and I had a BLAST with Amy and her girls (Shannon and Emily) and cannot wait to see them again. The conference was also quite intriguing...and we met a lot of "famous" people (in the birth world!).
After the conference on Saturday afternoon Noelle and I drove back up to Ft Worth. My kids, again, went spastic when I got home and forgot that we have these things called rules and manners. It was....Interesting!!! The temptation to drive back down to San Antonio was immense, but I overcame it. Sunday we loaded up the kids and we all went o my cousin Judith Ann's home in Granbury. The kids got to swim in the pool and see all the aunts/uncles/cousins. The best part of that day was when they got in the water BEFORE we got on their swimsuits...and then got in the water AGAIN after we took off their swimsuits and put clean clothes on them. Funny. Yet again, my family was very gracious and just thought the boys were adorable. Okay! I'll send them down for a visit! Ha! :)
Monday morning we were on the road again. We drove to Raton, NM (about 9 hours) and spent the night and on Tuesday morning we drove home to Highlands Ranch.
All in all, it was a w wonderful trip! I enjoyed seeing the family and friends...and I enjoyed spending time with my mom in the van. Thanks for coming, Mom! Oh yeah....her flight left Wednesday morning at 6:30 a.m. from Colorado Springs, so her an Josiah left our house at 4:15 a.m. She is still recovering......









The evening we got to Ft Worth Pres fell asleep on the couch.




The boys about to zonk out that evening as well watching cartoons.






The next day we met Noelle and her mom, sister, brother and two girls at a Mexican restaurant. Here are Maggie and Presley.....Maggie is betrothed to Pres and will bear many grandbabies for Noelle and I :)






Here are all the kids...Maggie, Pres, Kell, Brennah, Ethan and Tarin.





Amy and Noelle the night we came into San Antonio....we, of course, HAD to hit Starbucks!!! Amy is 7 months pregnant with number 3.......doesn't she look great?! Yeah, I don't like her anymore....







Tiff, Barbara Harper and Noelle. Barbara talked to me 9 years ago when I was preg with Ethan and wanted a waterbirth (and everyone thought I was nuts). She was VERY sweet!!! She is the author of "Gentle Birth Choices" and a homebirth midwife for scores of years and thousands of births.







Noelle, Penny Simpkin and Tiff. Penny is a doula who has done thousands of births and spoke to use about difficult labor and prevention of such. She is a WONDERFUL woman and we greatly enjoyed meeting her.





Amy and Noelle relaxing as we watched a movie. Actually, we never really "watched" it, we just talked :)






Amy's girls....Shannon and Emily. They were SO SO sweet! You can even see Amy in the background....I know, she is hard to see....she is only 7 months pregnant! Gee wiz!!!






Noelle posing in front of our daily run....to the chocolate factory at the San Antonio Riverwalk.






Me here in with our chocolate. And I wonder why I gained weight on this stressful trip....?????






Noelle and I enjoying our treasured chocolate. Yummmmmmy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






You may be asking yourself (and then again, you may not)..."What did the boys do while Tiff was in San Antonio learning about birth?


Well, my mom and Grandmom took them several fun places! The Zoo, the WildLife experience, and the Stockyards.




Here the boys saw the dinosaur and were scared! Ha!






This ostrich actually pecked on my van window!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






"Ummmm.....what's in here?"






Funny story....a little off color.......that was your warning.
One of the boys (who shall remain nameless) saw this giraffe and exclaimed, "Hey guys, look! That giraffe has 3 pee-pees!!!!!!" In reality, it was a momma giraffe that was nursing a baby giraffe. My mom explained this to him and reassured him that giraffes do NOT have 3 pee-pees.

End of funny and slightly off-color story.





Zebras........





The petting farm....I hope y'all took your wipes! Yuck!!!!!!!!!










Okay. Yes, this is A REAL TEXAS LONGHORN.....and YES, that is my child sitting on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!






This was the cattle drive....or should I say cow drive. A bit smaller than anticipated.






My Grandad taught the boys all about the brain!!!! How cool is that?! :)






My Grandaddy rocked and sand Pres to sleep one night when Pres would not go to bed :)






Me, the Boys, my Mom with Aunt Mary and Aunt Kathleen.






The spa that the boys jumped in....here they are in their swimsuits, but below.....






....they are in their clothes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Their cousin Sierra lives there and played with all the boys. She was SO sweet!!!






The morning we left for home my Grandad gave the boys all a dollar. You would have thought they won the lottery!!!






Texas. There is not much there!






Sunset out on the road.






The last day in the car and the boys started getting looney on us.....well, we were looney to.....