Fun In Texas

To kick off our own Spring Break, the babies and I went back home to Texas for a couple weeks. We had so much fun spending time with all our family and friends. Believe it or not, 2 weeks still isn't enough time to see everyone unfortunately. If only we could all have personal assistants that can work with everyone's schedules, along with our crazy schedule that involves meals, naps, etc. Maybe then we can work time management better and fit even more in...but it would take something extreme like that!

Grandma Jackie flew up to Colorado Saturday night and then she flew back home with me and the babies the next morning. At their age it's NOT FUN to fly with the babies right now. Getting through security is quite hectic, then being trapped in our row on the plane with them for 2 hours is one of the most exhausting things one can possibly do. And 2 hours is really nothing compared to other flights--I can't imagine if it were any longer. PLUS, I DO benadryl them. Giving them benadryl before the flight only makes them fight sleep harder, thus making for a pretty miserable time for all involved. Despite the fact we have an entire row, the babies insist on fighting over who gets to claim the most territory on my lap. I'm always so relieved when the plane lands and we are off and headed to get our bags and get to our final destination!

It was nice to spend time hanging out at Grandpa and Grandma's....

It was also fun to get to see Shannon and play with Carlin for a bit. The babies really loved playing with Soren's toys, of course!

We got to do fun things like go to Market Street and go out to eat...

...and have yummy drinks...
Always a good time at Mimi's house, they really enjoyed messing up her office area--right before the house was to get cleaned, of course. It was at this same time they instantly figured out how to work Mimi's iPod. All of a sudden a Michael Jackson play list started and it turned into dance time, along with messing up the house time...
While we were there we got our first case of pink eye. This picture is from the early stages of it--when I thought we were only dealing with some out of control hives. (Hives are a common occurrence with allergy-ridden Cole.) A few days later his whole eye was swollen and raging though, and we got to visit our first, original pediatrician in The Woodlands. It was indeed confirmed pink eye and Cole got to do eye drops for the rest of our trip. To his credit, he was such a GOOD boy doing his eye drops. He's usually my good medicine-taker-baby and he stuck to that title with his eye drops.
We also went up to Mimi's school on Go Texan Day and did lots of hoedown dancing with the kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders. Camryn was all about the hoedown dancing. She so badly wanted to join one of the many circles and dance right with the kids--but she had an equal good time dancing with Mimi through the afternoon. Since the hoedown was in the gym, Cole was content to just keep pointing to the two basketball goals proclaiming "BALL!" the whole afternoon. And of course, playing with everything in Mimi's room is always fun too...
I had such a great night out with Cheryl and Rachel AND baby Mason. It's still shocking to me how good Mason is anytime (well, all 2 times) I've spent time with him and Rachel. The first time we saw them we spent some time out at Panera and at the park. Cam and Cole downed all the fruit and Cole ate most of my bagel (not his) at Panera's, then their behavior took us to the park. There were HUNDREDS of ducks there. I always wonder how the babies would do at a petting zoo, or around other animals in general besides dogs and cats. My question was answered at this park--that they are just as comfortable around animals such as ducks, as they are around their beloved dogs. In fact, I now worry for the animals, not my children. Camryn and Cole were running after all the ducks, literally trying to grab them (wrapping their arms around them from underneath) and carry them--or something crazy to that extreme! Seriously. From now on when we're in a petting zoo or other free wildlife setting, I will look out for the animals' safety instead of my own children. This crazy happiness toward the ducks was really bothering the weird home schooled children and their moms nearby as a little side note observation...They continued to play at the park then it was time for everyone to go home and take a good nap.

I was very excited for a few days later when I got to out without the babies!






Such a fun time!
The first weekend we were there, the babies stayed with Mimi while I went to Austin! Cheryl and I went to Paul and Sarah's wedding and got to hang out with the Dillon's and our friends there.

Seems Cole finally gave into a nap while at Mimi's that weekend too...
Austin was a fun getaway! I really miss hanging out with Cheryl and being closer to our friends in Austin and Dallas. How great that the timing worked out for us to all see each other!

Once back from Austin, we still had over a week to go in our visit! There was a lot more hanging out and fun times...like cleaning...
One day out and about, I decided to drive around memory lane for a bit while the babies napped in the car. I forgot to take a picture at our old house, but I remembered as we drove by the hospital where the babies were born. Sweet memories :)
We hit up the mall too. The babies enjoyed their lunch mesmerized by the merry-go-round...

We loved seeing The Shorts and finally meeting baby Caydence. Amanda and I had a lot of fun for our own little girl's/momma's night out!
We also got to celebrate Great-Grandma Jenny's birthday. No celebration would be complete without Aunt Carol's amazing blue cheese dressing. It's worthy of it's own picture...
Cole got his real first taste of steak. No surprise that he enjoyed it! (It's always important to bring toys to the table sometimes--especially a big basketball..."boo ball")
Grandpa got into watching Sprout with us too--who doesn't love Nina and Star?!
We're so excited Aunt Stacey came down for part of her Spring Break. The babies love her!
...More bedtime with Sprout time
Cole likes to share people's cereal...
And we got to see "Aunt" Cary too!! Cam always manages to find someone to have a reading time with.
The last Sunday we were there, we enjoyed going to our Church. They are now in the Panda room there. It was good to be back. :)
Fun with the zoo with Uncle ("Gonkle") Robby
More fun playtime...


We were sure to soak up the sun on our last day...


Cam figured out which button turns on the bubbles in the hot tub. "Bubble Bubble!" was proclaimed a lot--a ton of fun!


Heading to airport to come back to Colorado. We got a tiny nap in on the way--so they were good and crazy for another exhausting airplane experience. This time Aunt Cheryl was the "lucky" one who got to fly with us. We should've know things would be a little crazy when my actual seat was the reason for our whole flight being delayed. The "mechanical problem" was my tray table that broke right before take-off. As expected it took 45 minutes for someone to come out and duct tape it back on. We could've done without that. Then things became humorous when Cole threw a small stuffed animal at the row behind us twice. Thankfully Cheryl brought lots of candy. Jelly Beans from Aunt Cheryl are far better than the yogurt raisins I brought! We made it through another exhausting plane trip and Aunt Cheryl came back to spend a few days in Colorado with us...

As always, I wish I had taken more pictures of our trip home. I'm glad we will always have great memories of this spring trip to Texas!