Our One Day Vacay!

Drew and I were talking recently about vacations and realized it has been about 5 years since our last "vacation" (meaning a trip we go on to explore a new area and doesn't involve mainly visiting family.)  We love our families a ton and we usually spend a lot of our time off visiting them; and then we use the other days just taking care of stuff (appointments, etc) around our town.   When we travel to Oklahoma, two of the vacation days are spent traveling, so that uses up a lot of the time.  Anyway, we had planned long ago that when we visited my parents and family in Oklahoma for the big Independence Day extravaganza, we would take an extra day or so and stop somewhere along our route for a little exploration.  We drive right through the Dallas/Fort Worth area, so decided to pick either Dallas or Fort Worth for our one day excursion.  There is so much to do in those areas!  It was so difficult to choose where to spend our time for the one day--do we go to the awesome looking Perot museum, Legoland, Great Wolf Lodge, one of the popular Zoos, botanical gardens, etc?  We finally decided on Fort Worth, because although Drew and I have actually been exploring in Dallas, neither of us had ever explored Fort Worth.  So, we planned our trip a couple of days out from our departure; ha--we have been super busy!  We decided to go to the zoo (it's half price on Wednesdays), then check out the stockyards, eat at a good restaurant and maybe check out the botanic garden.

The trip was such a success.  We all had so much fun and it was a great break for just one day with all the stuff we have had going on lately.  We always said after I finished chemotherapy, surgeries and radiation we would plan a fun trip to celebrate.  Well, that never happened.  Life happened and so vacations did not.  This little taste of a vacation definitely left us yearning for more time like this.  Some day, we would love to take a couple of weeks off and just drive around to different parts of the country to explore. 

We left early Wednesday morning last week and headed straight to the Fort Worth Zoo.  We arrived around 10:20 and there was a huge line of vehicles waiting to enter the Zoo.  But, we were able to get a great parking spot, and the crowds were not bad at all the rest of the day!

I picked what I thought was a great zoo outfit.  Unfortunately, I valued the fashion above comfort when selecting my outfit.  Running shoes just wouldn't look right with my outfit, so I selected some flats that I thought would be comfy.  After about 20,000 steps that day though, my blistered feet were not happy.  But, the fun more than made up for it.

We got to get up close to a ton of amazing animals.

This was the coolest crocodile!  He was huge and came right up to the glass to visit with us!

I wouldn't want to bump into this guy under water!

Look at those teeth!

and his skin....okay, maybe I was just a little obsessed with him.  How often does one get this close to a crocodile though?

Our little girl gives the best hugs at random times--which makes it even better since it is not even expected.  She decided to hug Drew as we waited for a fun animal show to begin. 

And when she sits next to us, she always has her hand sweetly on us..whether grasping our arm or gently laying on our leg.

The zoo had some fun shows.

They even had an indoor show about weather.  They used lights and sounds to make it look like there was a lightning/thunder storm in the theater--and then it started raining.  We got a little wet, and Luke was pretty scared--it was very realistic.

The zoo was beautiful and almost completely shaded.  There were so many natural areas, including several waterfalls.  Our $6/adult tickets and $4/child tickets were well worth it!

After seeing Abbey's favorite animal--the flamingos, we left the zoo.  We had an awesome time there!

The kids were so excited about checking into the hotel.  The last time Luke was in a hotel, he was a baby so he doesn't remember what a hotel was like.  He asked on the way there, "Are Abbey and I going to sleep in the same room as you?  How are Abbey and I going to sleep in the same room as you--don't you usually turn the tv on after we go to bed?"  Ha!  And then he asked, "so are Abbey and I going to sleep in the same bed?"  When we replied with a, "yes", both kids got even more excited.  The idea of the hotel may have been the thing they were most excited about on this trip.  So, after the zoo trip, we checked into our hotel room.  They thought it was just the best thing ever.  (Let me tell you though--it wasn't!  It was no "Four Seasons, but had a couple of beds and some air conditioning.  Actually, it even had a free breakfast in the morning, so there was that!)  Luke and Abbey were sad when we told them we would be leaving the hotel to visit the stockyards.  "But, what are the Stockyards?" they replied.  "We want to stay at the hotel!"  Based on what they had seen at the hotel, nothing could be as fun as that. So, we left on that note anyway, and headed to the stockyards.  We arrived just in time for a tiny bit of shopping before the cattle drive at 4pm.

Here they come...

Boy, it would be tiring holding those heads up all day. I would want a break--just a little bit to hang up my horns and rest my head for a while.

and the cattle drive was done in about 5 minutes.

After the visit to the stockyards, we traveled to downtown Fort Worth to grab some dinner and check out the area.  All the while, the kids were asking repeatedly, "when can we go back to the hotel?"  Of course, Drew and I were a bit concerned about how the evening would go sleeping all in the same room, so we planned on getting to the hotel just in time for bed.  We hoped that after a long day of lots of fun the kids would be ready to crash.

Thus, after dinner, we did some more walking around downtown.

We found a fun statue to stand in front of.

It didn't quite work for Luke though...

We also explored some fun architecture.

Even the steps were gorgeous.

I really enjoyed the downtown area. It was very walkable and there was a lot to do in a small area.  After our downtown visit, we tried to get a little trip to the botanic gardens in.  But, we didn't get to see too much since they closed at 8pm.   Thus, we finally headed back to the hotel, which Abbey called "our bedroom".  The kids were giddy.  There was about an hour of a pattern of talking and giggling and then Luke exclaiming "stop touching me" (followed by Abbey's, "But I am just trying to give you a hug") in their bed before they finally fell asleep.

We left the next morning after eating breakfast and headed to Oklahoma.  We made a stop on the way to visit my aunt, Clara Sue and Uncle, Randy's home/farm as it was on our way into town.  They weren't able to come to the July 4th festivities, so it was awesome to be able to spend a little time with them at their lovely home.  Clara Sue is an amazing cook, and even made us an awesome lunch from scratch.   Then, we got to play outside and had a fun time visiting with them before heading to my parents' house.

Luke was beyond excited to get to ride with Drew on this.  He had seen four-wheelers at the Bass Pro Shop the week prior and asked when he could ride on one someday.  His dream came true way faster than I thought it would!

can you tell how excited he is?

While daddy and Luke rode the four-wheeler, Abbey, Clara Sue and I went around to the other side of their house to feed their horse, Lucky, some special treats.

She was checking my camera out--seeing if it was something she could eat.

We also fed the cattle some treats.  Although, the bull, Randolph, hogged most of them.  He allowed his ladies about 20 seconds to get up there and get a snack and then he pushed them away so he could have some more.

We had so much fun on our little 24 hour vacation!  We decided that we may need to take the little one day vacay on the way to Oklahoma again someday.  There is a lot to do in Dallas that we have not done yet! Plus, it breaks the drive up into two much easier drives--which is a great thing for Drew and I AND the kids! 

Independence Day 2015

We had a BLAST (haha) on Independence Day this year!  It was just so much fun!  It was an extra special day this year, because my cousin's (Kristin) daughter was also turning one year old.  Michael and Kristin prayed for several years that God would bless them with a child.  Michael is a big July 4th fireworks enthusiast and he and his brother always put on some amazing fireworks show.  So, when they got the call last year that it looks like their adopted daughter would be born on July 4th, it was obvious God was in complete control of everything.   Now, they can celebrate her birth every year with a huge party!  And that is just what we did.   So, while we were celebrating America's birth, we also celebrated Adelyn's birth!

Sweet Addie with her special cake!

 

Addie and her daddy, Michael  (I wish I would have snapped one of my cousin, Kristin, with her as well)

And, they brought over to my parents' house a huge, 18 foot water slide in celebration.  Oh. my. goodness it was so much fun.

My brother, Jeremy, taking a turn

Luke, making a huge splash at the bottom.

Drew having a turn.

Abbey's turn--her face cracks me up!

The speed on the slide was unreal!  It was so fast, that each time I went down it I couldn't help but let out a little scream.  Ha!

And, we made sure to make time for some family photos before the rest of the festivities.

My parents and all their grandchildren.

My parents with their four kiddos.

The whole family.

and the silly photo...some day we will appreciate this. 

And then there was food and eating...lots and lots of food and eating. The food was ridiculously awesome and the spread was massive!

There were two double sided grills like this full of various meats.  Also, others brought delicious homemade briskets, pulled pork, chicken, homemade chili and many other meats. 

Ok...so this may be a bit of photo overload, but I actually remembered to bring our camera around everywhere I went to document the day. So, I may as well share and document here.  

First, here are a couple of my cutie pie nieces...

And here are my cutie pies...

Abbey placed her hand over her heart as cousin, Lilly, sang the "Star Spangled Banner" to begin the fireworks.

Sweet friends hung out and chatted with my mother.  My mom can no longer form logical sentences, but she really enjoys company and can usually respond with "yes" or "no" well. 

The kids loved playing in the smoke of the colorful smoke bombs.

And, one of their very favorite things to do was to chase after and catch the falling parachutes.

Abbey often took comfort and shelter beside her daddy.

selecting the perfect smoke bomb

watching a parachute firework in the sky.

It was fun to watch the Japanese Lantern fly far away.

watching it until it left our eyesight

Abbey's first sparkler.

Luke was a little more afraid of the sparkler than Abbey.

Every year, Drew and I enjoy playing with the "bulb" mode of our camera.  Here, Drew used a glow bracelet to write the words "I love you" while I manned the camera.  Writing that takes some serious concentration and talent, as you have to write backwards, from right to left and Drew had to cover the light from the bracelet in order to create spaces between the words.

More fun with the bulb mode--the bulb mode basically keeps the camera's shutter open for as long as you are pressing the shutter.  this allows the camera to capture the path of the fireworks.

The fireworks were so awesome!  I have seen many fireworks shows in my lifetime, but the show that the guys put on for everyone at my parents' house is always my favorite!

OK, I better stop with the photo overload.  But, if you would like to see more, feel free to check out my flickr album:  https://flic.kr/s/aHskfzpHKh.

We have a couple of swimmers!

We moved into a home that has a pool in mid-March.  Since then, I have been eagerly awaiting summer, so we could quickly teach the kids how to swim.  I want to make sure that they are extremely confident, in case they ever fall in accidentally and an adult is not nearby to save them.  Of course, we have many rules about the pool, including the most important--which is they cannot go near the pool unless Drew is or I am out there with them.   I began asking friends for recommendations of swimming lessons and instructors, and very quickly decided that the best method for learning swimming is one where the kids have lessons daily for at least a couple of weeks.  Having the lessons daily speeds up their learning--which is a good thing since I want them to be able to enjoy the pool all summer safely.  Also, class size was important to us.  So, Luke and Abbey began lessons a couple of weeks ago with a highly recommended instructor (thanks, Nikah for the recommendation!)  Luke and Abbey shared the daily, private 30-minute lesson for two weeks and we are very pleased with the outcome.

All ready to go to her last swimming lesson.

When Abbey and Luke first began swimming, they had only swam in our pool 3 times.  Sadly, they had only been swimming a few times more than that in their lives.  So, they literally went into the lessons with no knowledge of swimming.  Abbey was terrified to go under the water, while Luke was excited about it.  The first couple of lessons, their instructor, Miss Joy (who is AMAZING by the way) worked with Luke and Abbey on gaining their trust.  They also pretty immediately were dunked under water to see if they could hold their breath.  Both were successful at that (although that freaked Abbey out even more) and so they got to move on to the next step.  Over the last couple of weeks, Luke and Abbey learned to swim under water, dive for diving toys, jump into the water and get back to the side of the pool and get out.  Luke also learned to take a breath while continuing swimming, although we are still working on that.  They also learned to float on their back and swim a little on their back (although we are still working on that as well).  Luke is actually a very strong swimmer already.  Abbey loves to glide under water, but we are working on her ability to move at a faster pace than a snail--ha!  Also, she hasn't learned yet how to come back up for a breath and continue swimming.  But, having a pool at our home, they will get plenty of practice and in a month or so, I am sure they will be pros.

Here is a video of the two of them at swim lessons.  Their teacher is in pink and Luke and Abbey take turns swimming to her and back to the step in this video.  

She is pretty proud of that bow on her bottom!

Hooray for swim lessons!

Outside the community pool where they had their swim lessons.

Luke graduated the trout program (level 3) and Abbey graduated the minnow program (level 2).  I was happy with those results, considering they both started out level zero and Abbey was terrified to go under the water initially!

Abbey is no longer scared to go under at all and Luke is a little too fearless.  I think he believes he has become a dolphin--although we remind him he has a ways to go, still having a lot to learn.   :-)  I took a little video last week of the kids swimming to Drew in our pool.  They were excited to show daddy some of their newly learned skills. Drew didn't get to see them at their lessons, and so he wasn't sure of what they were capable.  He was pleasantly surprised.  You can tell in the video though, he is still very cautious of letting Abbey swim and gives her some pretty big pushes to the steps.  That is a good protective daddy though. 

Rebounding!

Funny title, huh?  Those of you who are really into "natural living", health and fitness probably know what I will be talking about here in this post.  Otherwise, you may think this post will be about snagging the basketball after your opponent shoots a basket and fails.  Or, you may even be thinking of "rebounding" in terms of relationships.  Ha!  If that is the case, you may be surprised that I am going to talk about jumping on a trampoline. 

Rebounding, or jumping on a trampoline is SO GOOD for your health.  You know how ecstatic I was when I found out about just how awesome it is for your body?   This was just another reason I could use when trying to convince my husband that we "needed" one.  I mean, I am trying to prevent cancer recurrence, remember?   ;-)  One of the best benefits of rebounding is its amazing effects of detoxification and improving one's immune system.  This is crucial to my preventing recurrence.  Here is just a little about what wellbeingjournal.com says about rebounding's benefits:

"The rebounding motion stimulates all internal organs, moves the cerebral-spinal fluid and the aqueous fluid within the eyes (many people claim improved eyesight), and does wonders for the intestines. Many immune cells such as T-lymphocytes and macrophages are self-propelled by amoebic action. These cells contain molecules identical to those in muscle tissue. All cells in the body become stronger in response to the increased G-force during rebounding, and this cellular exercise results in the self-propelled immune cells being up to five times more active. The job description of these cells includes eating viruses, bacteria and even cancer cells, so it is good that they be active. This exercise directly strengthens the immune system.

Rebounding is an exercise that reduces your body fat; firms your legs, thighs, abdomen, arms, and hips; increases your agility; and improves your sense of balance. Rebounding strengthens your muscles overall, provides an aerobic effect for your heart, rejuvenates your body when it’s tired, and generally puts you in a state of health and fitness.

Jumping on a rebounder is remarkably gentle on the joints. There’s no solid ground to suddenly stop the bouncing of your feet. Your movements are perfectly safe, and they make the effect of gravity beneficial.
Some benefits of rebounding include:
• 20 minutes of rebounding = 1 hour of running for cardiovascular workout
• Easy on the bones and joints (when using a therapeutic rebounder)
• Rebounding strengthens the heart muscle
• Profound body detoxification is possible

By working against constant gravitational pressure while bouncing, you resist Earth’s pull. Your resistance is subtle, but it builds cellular strength. Rebounding’s alternating weightlessness and double gravity produce a pumping action that pulls out waste products from the cells and forces into them oxygen and nutrition from the bloodstream."

You can read even more by googling "rebounding benefits".  You will find countless articles and research about its awesomeness.  Anyways--when we moved to our home, we sold our old playset.  We had planned on purchasing a playset for the kids when we got to our home.  However, we ended up acquiring one for free from someone who was looking to get rid of theirs.  So, I have been campaigning for a trampoline for quite some time.  I finally convinced Drew that it would be a great fit for our family.  So, during the weekend where we had 15 visitors to our home, we used the money we had set aside for the playset, bought a trampoline and assembled it.  We figured it would be additional entertainment for all the kiddos that were there. Also, I agreed that it could be my birthday present (which is coming up in July).  So, there you have it.  That is the story of how a trampoline became part of our family.  :-)

And, here is some of the fun the kids are having while detoxing and improving their immune systems-ha!