This was not news to us. We knew when we decided to make this trip that it would be a long drive. I remembered it from the time we went before when we piled into ONE vehicle with the Farells and made the trip together. (Poor Lydia crammed into the "waaay-back.") I remember it well because I was pregnant with Julia... and a 10 hour drive through the night piled into one car with two infants in the seat next to me (Drew & Avery) and one in my belly is something you just don't forget. ...and this year we tried the drive in the middle of potty training Avery...
This year, with two potentially-LOUD travelers in tow, we went with a different travel plan: Stop half-way and spend the night in a hotel. Good plan! It was a fun little family adventure... in Big Spring, Texas! :) The best part about it was the full breakfast that was included. When morning came, we filled up on eggs, sausage, waffles & coffee and got back on the road.
About 30 minutes into the 2nd day of traveling, Avery informed us that she needed to potty. We pulled off the highway and into a vacant parking lot, and the pictures can tell the rest of the story... Hey, at least it was a successful stop! There's one diaper saved...
It's been SO long since I've sat and typed in this little window box to create a new post. So long, in fact, that when I came to the blogger site to post something it actually asked me to SIGN IN again! HA! ...Even the website has forgotten who I am. And who can blame it? It HAS been a while. A loooonnng while...
Not for lack of activity, either. There have been events-- some good and some bad-- but they just haven't seemed to make their way onto the blog. For anyone worried that something may have "happened" to cause my hiatus... not so. I think it's just the combination of having most of my friends move to Facebook (which made me think nobody really checked blogs anymore) AND the busy-ness of life with two little girls. But realizing that many people still check in on us from time to time has given me a new desire to post what's going on in our lives!
To list everything that's happened since the Spring would take too much time (to type AND to read) so I'll be brief and spare you the details:
Over Memorial Day weekend we got to join 4 other families on a trip to Cloudcroft, New Mexico! (Picture this... 10 adults, 8 kids... ONE cabin. It was utter chaos, and SO much fun all rolled into one week.)
Mom & Dad celebrated their 40th Wedding Anniversary on June 6th, and we threw a big dinner party with family in Sherman.
Unfortunately, we've seen our share of bad mixed in with all the good this Summer as Collin's Dad is currently in ICU and is struggling. But we have been blessed with getting to see family as they come to visit Norman and are thankful for the "nuggets" of good that have come along with this even, though we wish they came under different circumstances.
We joined a pool this Summer and have had fun swimming! ...We've only been once and forgot to take our camera! (See how out-of-practice I am with the blog thing?? I can't believe I forgot to take my camera!)
We have saved for a new DSLR camera and should announce that new "addition" to the family soon! ...still researching, but ready to take the plunge as soon as we decide on the right one. And after that, you won't have to suffer through any more grainy images on this blog! (That is, if I ever post anything! Ha!)
So, to the two or three of you out there (**cough!** Mom, Dad & Janice...) who may still check in on us, THANK YOU for your patience! I'll try to keep up and be better about posting. :)
Avery had a FUN day today and I thought it was worth posting...
We love Fridays at our house because Avery gets to go to school and play with her friends. She looks forward to Friday all week, and frequently mentions her teachers' names during the rest of the week, wondering when she gets to go back and see them. (And, yes, I sent my baby to school in the height of the Swine Flu storm. Don't judge me...) :)
BUT- today was a SUPER fun Friday because after Collin picked her up, they met up with the Farell boys for a 10 mile bike ride around White Rock lake! The kiddos got to ride in the toddler trailer and just take it all in. Apparently Avery slept through about 20 minutes of the ride, but woke up just in time for a 7-eleven stop where her Daddy bought her some Cheetos! :)
What a fun afternoon. Thanks for the pictures, Farells! ***A couple funny things I love about these pictures: That my poor baby girl truly needed an adult-sized helmet, but they strapped it on top of her head anyway. That her snack-trap says "Julia" on it when it's usually the 2nd child who has the 1st child's name plastered on things. Cute.
"Jamaica, no problem." That's their answer to almost anything and it makes for a VERY laid-back, relaxing vacation. Honestly, I didn't realize that "Yah mon!" is something they really say! I just thought it was the touristy thing to say... but they all SAY it! All the time! Just like we say, "Yeah" or "Yep" ...they say, "Yah mon." Hilarious.
For those reading this post who don't know, Collin was on assignment in Jamaica for the last two weeks. Because of my sweet, selfless (and adventuresome) parents who offered to take the girls to Austin for 6 nights, I got to go to Montego Bay and join him for a little 2nd Honeymoon.
It. Was. Awesome.
After sending the girls off with Mom & Dad on Thursday afternoon, I walked back inside the house and closed the door and just stood there. Silence. I realized that I had no responsibilities for the rest of the night! Don't get me wrong, part of me was already missing my girls in lots of ways but I have to be honest-- I was GIDDY with excitement! I haven't felt that way since grade school when the last bell rang on the last day of the year, and it was SUMMERTIME! I felt like a KID! NO responsibilities... I was jumping. And laughing. OUT LOUD. I was ridiculously hyperactive, and had no idea what to do with all my free time... So I did what I used to do before kiddos: I went and got a pedicure. :)
The next few days were spent in the beautiful Caribbean with Collin by the beach or the pool. Ahhh... bliss. We did a zipline canopy tour that was AWESOME, but other than that we really just hung out at the resort. Lots of good quality time together. It was much-needed, and we enjoyed every minute. We'll be back in Jamaica at the end of the year as part of a Caribbean Cruise we're doing with our Sunday School group. Already looking forward to going back!
Re-entry to the "real world" was hilarious... Avery got car sick on the drive back to Dallas with Mom & Dad, and for the first few hours of being reunited after our respective vacations, all she did was throw-up on me. Ha! But I gotta tell ya... I would choose mothering my precious girlies over a lifetime of vacation, 100% of the time. (But it sure is nice to get to do both, sometimes, so THANKS for making that possible Mom & Dad!)
We didn't really take that many pictures... I wish we had gotten one of the two of us all dressed up BEFORE the sun went down and it got dark, but it honestly didn't occur to us to try and do that. :/ Guess our brains were on vacation too. But here are some of our favorites...
It was SO MUCH FUN to do a ladybug themed party for our little Jules!
The weather was gorgeous, so a majority of the party ended up being in the backyard, just by chance. The kids loved running around out there and playing with outdoor toys, and the adults seemed to just enjoy the weather and fresh air.
Julia was GREAT to watch as she dug into her individual ladybug cake. (I used a hard-shell/almost chocolate-like frosting for these, so she had a little difficulty getting into it to eat it-- see video-- but it sure made for a less-mess cake! Imagine red icing everywhere! Good thing I didn't do that...)
Happy First Birthday, Julia! We can hardly believe how fast you're growing... We love you SO much and look forward to many, many more. Here are a few pictures that my sister took... I still haven't gotten the ones off of my camera and the grandparents and my friends have some good ones too! But this is a good start...
I just wrote about Good Friday, and happened to scroll down and see that there were 6 comments on my last post. I had no idea people were still reading this blog!! I thought everyone had moved on to Facebook. Not that there's anything wrong with that. So I'm blown away! Thanks, guys, for still checking in on us even though my blog is about as current as a majority of the things in my refrigerator... I should always remember to clean out my fridge before I go on vacation.
Thanks for hanging in there with me, loyal friends! You're feeding my addictive spirit... ;)
What a fun day we had on the Friday before Easter! Everyone was in town because we had Julia's Birthday party lined up for the next day. It was a GORGEOUS day so we decided to head to the Arboretum, along with everyone else in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
No kidding-- it was PACKED. We had to park off-site and take a shuttle to the garden... it was NUTS trying to ride the shuttle with three kiddos and their strollers, but the "shuttles" were chartered, air-conditioned buses, and they had their act together so it wasn't too bad. Once inside the gates, it didn't seem crowded at all. Amazing how many people those grounds can hold.
The entire day was pure fun, except for about 3.5 minutes at the beginning when Avery decided to wander off in a huge crowd during the childrens' concert at the amphitheater. One down-side to having 6 adults watching 3 kids is that everyone assumes that "someone" is watching the kids at all times. Well... we have a sneaky one, and she moves FAST. I'm not going to downplay it... it was the most traumatic, terrorizing 200 seconds of my life while she was missing. Truly. Terrorizing. And EVERYWHERE I looked there were kids her size, so she did not stand out at all. Collin and Julia were headed up to the stage for something, and were completely unaware that there was a crisis. When we realized she was missing and did our quick, head-spinning glance in all directions and still didn't see her, we scattered to search for her. The HERO of the day was her Uncle Andrew who (after handing Drew off to Jen) dashed around on a mission to find his niece... and he did. He found her clear across the amphitheater, marching along and not even looking back. Ugh... that precious child... she loves to explore.
I tear-up just to type this because for me and Collin, there's nothing more endearing than to watch someone else love and protect your child as their own. I will forever be thankful for Andrew and his initiative in that event. The blood-chilling lesson learned was how stinkin' FAST it can happen. It only takes a second and POOF! She was gone. Thank you, Lord, that she was found quickly! And by Uncle Andrew instead of a stranger who would have called Child Protective Services on all 6 of us! :/
So, after that adrenaline rush of losing her, finding her, scolding her for walking away from us while in the same breath telling her how much I love her and wouldn't know what to do if I lost her, hugging her (probably too tightly) and weeping like a crazy lady... we spent the rest of the day completely carefree! We celebrated Spring and a little bit of Easter (2 days early) with our own little family Easter egg hunt. :) All is well that ends well, I suppose...
There once was a time when I was addicted to this thing called "blogging." Where have those days gone? Seriously... it didn't matter if I hadn't slept for days with laundry piled up to my ears and no idea what was for dinner. Didn't matter if I was nursing one child while chopping up meat and veggies for the other and typing one handed. There was a time when I could do ALL of that and blog simultaneously because I made it a ridiculous priority. And now... it's been a MONTH since I posted something? Crazy. My old blog-addicted self judges my current blog-neglecting self.
If there's anyone still out there!!... We're still here too!!... :) And I'll try to post some things that might be of interest.
MUCH has happened since I last posted. Let me hit the highlights:
Julia had her 1st Birthday Party and it was so much fun.
EASTER!!
Julia is walking! ...and has a total of 6 teeth that we can see.
Avery continues to break new ground everyday and misses Daddy like crazy
Collin has been traveling for work and has been gone 5 out of the past 7 weeks. We all miss him terribly, but he'll be home in a matter of HOURS now so that's wonderful!
My sweet parents volunteered to watch the girls for a few days while I went to Jamaica to visit Collin. What an amazing gift that was! Ahhh, Jamaica... I miss you already.
I have 3 blog postings in the works with pictures! Check back soon for those... and I can't promise I'll be much better about regular posts, but I'll try not to keep the same old post up for an entire month again!
Let's see how many pictures I can cram into one post, shall we? :)
For the last week that Collin was in Kentucky, Gram came up to Dallas and drove all of us back to Austin for Spring Break!
We had SO much fun doing all sorts of things! The weather was beautiful and we were on the go! We played at the Lost Creek park, explored the Austin Zoo, went shopping and had a blast at the Austin Rodeo and carnival! It was SUCH a fun time! The girls loved all the things they got to do and see, but especially enjoyed time with Boppa, Gram and Howie.
Playing at the park... guess I only got pictures of Julia. :/
Then on to the zoo in the afternoon!.. PLEASE watch the video of Avery talking to the tortoise, which I kept calling a "turtle," but whatever... I think it's my favorite video yet. (Need to turn your sound up.)
And then the Austin Rodeo, petting zoo and Carnival!...
Avery still in the "rodeo spirit" for her bedtime routine back at the house... Poor kid still had peanut butter on her face from supper. Guess that's what baths are for, huh?
And finally, a picnic in the park on our way back to Dallas...
