Parting Shot

Now that we're home - exhausted, but home - I thought I'd toss this video out as one final glimpse into our trip. It's just the boys playing around in the water, and having a ball doing it!



This was definitely an amazing trip. The weather was phenomenal, the fun was unlimited, and I met some great new friends that I hope to get to know even better. I am so glad that Kelly invited us to come along and that her family welcomed us as they did. We had a great time, and the boys haven't stopped talking about it yet! They keep asking when we can go back to Texas, and I just keep telling them the good ol' standby answer: "Someday." We are actually starting to make plans for next year so that we hopefully can do it again!

I definitely needed the getaway, and although I am worn out now, I am glad that we went. I almost feel like I can tackle the world....but not until I get a good night's sleep! ;)

Wildlife and leaving

Well, this is it. We are on the road heading home - Kelly's driving so I can catch up a little bit. Yesterday we hung out behind the house at the lake, swimming and relaxing. The lake was really choppy and the waves were really high, so we put on lifejackets and went way out and bobbed around for a few hours.

I found this little lizard on the neighbor's porch. At one point I did have a little run-in with some fire ants. I was surprised at the lack of bugs in general - I figured we'd get eaten alive, but other than the ants I don't think I got a single bite.

We had so much fun. Kelly's family is huge and funny and crazy. The boys had a blast running around with the other kids and wore themselves out. In fact, Alex is out cold already and we just got on the road.

We have about 7 hours to get Kelly's house, and then about 3 for us to get home. So it'll be another long day. I get to pick my computer up from my friend's house on my way home and then I'll officially be back online. I have other pictures on my camera that I will post tonight or tomorrow.

Bubbles!

I went tubing today for the first time ever - no pictures, but we're supposed to go again tomorrow. Being pulled across a huge lake behind a speeding boat was INSANE!!!! But it was so fun!

The boys amused themselves with bubbles in the backyard while I sat back and enjoyed the scenery. Then a fabulous supper and now we're hanging around outside telling stories and laughing at each other. Not sure what tomorrow holds yet.....

The boys were out cold within 30 seconds of laying down. :)

Night fishing

Been a long time since I saw the sun come up...   At least we had something to show for it.

Today's schedule: food, lake, sun, fun. There may be tubing involved.

Perfect day!

We spent basically all day outside....went out in the boat, but the water was too rough so we only stayed out for a few minutes. We are going to try that again tomorrow.

After the boat ride, we played in the water for a while. Alex loved it but Daniel wouldn't get in - he was more content to stay on the shore.

They obviously wore themselves out!

Next up - night fishing!

Is this heaven?

My first view of the lake in the daylight. Wow. Just wow.

We have arrived!

After battling Dallas at rush hour (whose idea was that, anyway?) and driving for a few more hours, we finally arrived in Livingston, TX.

14 hours after I started this morning......

We are staying on the lake with Kelly's family for a few days, then on to our next destination!

Stay tuned!

Oklahoma!

So we are officially on our way! We stopped outside of Oklahoma City to pick up my friend Kelly and her son Alex.
At the moment, we are in Purcell, OK eating lunch at Long John Silvers. It's been smooth sailing so far!

We have another 5-6 hours to go. My boys are fired up and are happy to have Big Alex along to annoy in the van. Kelly supplied me with lots of fireballs and I have lots of caffeine, so we are good to go!

Almost ready...

Ok so the pictures aren't so great inside with the flash....

Have everything pretty much packed. Up by 5:15 tomorrow, get 'em all dressed and fed, load the van, get the older three to school by 7:30, and then hit the road! I need to make a pit stop at Cracker Barrel in Wichita to get fireballs (why does no one sell them locally?) and then we will officially be heading south to our first stop.

Weather at our final destination is supposed to be perfect - 90's during the day and 70's at night. Lots of fun in the sun and the water!

Now it is time to try to get some sleep. At this rate I can get 5 hours in.....a new record!

Stay tuned for the next part of the adventure!!!

More Preparations

......and a test to make sure I can post like this.

Getting two new tires....and I'm ready to trade the kids for them. Holy crapola are they acting out right now!!!! Doesn't help that WalHell is taking their sweet time - but the bonus is that I'm getting two 80,000 mile tires for the price of two 45,000 mile ones!

I'm taking you on a road trip....

I've mentioned a few times in the past week or so that we were going away this week, but haven't really gone into great detail. There's been a reason for that - you're going with me! Surprise!

I am going to be without a computer for the next 4-5 days *gasp*. However, I have a phone. And my phone takes darned good pictures. So this is my plan....

I have tried to write posts ahead of time so that there's always something ready to post, but honestly, I suck at doing that. So I'm going to post as we go. It might happen once a day, it might happen a dozen times a day - who knows? If I see something interesting, or funny, or whatever, I can take a picture of it with my phone, attach it to an email, type an explanation, email it to the blog, and *boom*. It's posted for your enjoyment.

Of course, this is also assuming that my phone will have a good enough signal at our destination. Hmmmmm.....?

Daniel and I spent the afternoon at my favorite garage, giving the van some TLC before leaving. They had this adorable little baby there!

Bad news is that I found out that I need tires. Like, now.

1971 Ford Pantera. Mmmmm.....

So now we are waiting for the older 3 kids to get home from school so that we can go get new tires. Then it's back home, finish laundry and packing, clean, supper, etc.....in the morning I am dropping the older 3 off for their last day of school *sniff* and then Alex and Daniel and I are hitting the road!

So, without real computer access, it might take me a while to read and catch up on everyone's blogs - but I'll get to them eventually! And if you leave me a comment here (I love comments) it may take me a little bit to moderate them and get them posted. Just bear with me, because it's going to be fun!

So....I have just one thing left to say.....

Get in, sit down, buckle up, and hang on!

ROAD TRIP!!!!!!!

Some storm shots

While the local meteorologists were predicting massive storms that sounded as though they were to level the entire state, they turned out to not be that bad here in this area. There were a few moments when I got a bit nervous, but nothing major. We did finally get some much-needed rain, so I'm not going to complain a bit about what we got. T

Sadly, there were some fatalities in another area of Kansas and several in Oklahoma. My thoughts go out to their families - I can't even begin to imagine what they are going through right now.

Looking to the south at 4:36pm - scary cloud!

More clouds at 5:33pm

Finally some decent rain at 5:37pm

Wind started picking up at 5:38pm


Short video, but I actually caught a lightning strike

A break between the storms at 6:41pm

Looks so peaceful....6:41pm

Still a lull. Or maybe it was another one. I lost track, but I took this one at 7:20pm.

By the end of the evening, we went through 4 separate rounds of storms. They each looked like they were going to be worse than what they turned out to be, and because I'm odd and like storms, I was a bit disappointed! But at the same time, I was glad that the boys and I didn't have to take shelter in the bathtub (yes, that's our plan since we don't have a basement).

At least now, the garden shouldn't have to be watered for a few days, so I can go on vacation and not worry about it.

Oh yeah...vacation. I should really start to think about packing...which means that I have do laundry. *sigh*