Sandestin Day 1 & 2

It's FAMILY VACA TIME!!!!

A few months back Ryan's parents told us that they sold their condo in Gulf Shores, we had already made our reservations for the summer so we had to come up with another plan for a family trip.  When I told the girls that Mimi and Poppy had sold the condo you would have thought that I told them the dog had died.  They were so sad/mad.  It truly had some great memories for all of us there.  Ryan grow up going to Destin so he said lets just drive the extra 2 hours and go to Destin so after hours of research I book us a week at Sandestin!

So we took off SUPER early in the morning, hoping that this would happen!!!

13 hours and 2 stops we made it!

The girls were more than ready to hit the beach and so were we after being in the car that long.  First on the agenda was sand castles!

We played for awhile and then headed up to get ready there was a magic show at the Wharf that the girls wanted to go see.

  

Waiting for Mommy to get ready, love this pic

Kendall and I enjoying the show

The magic wasn't great but it was a beautiful night.

The next day was filled with catching waves, 

and more waves (seriously they were not afraid to go far out all by themselves!)

more sand castles, 

this was a group effort

The finished project!

Taylor relaxing in the shade!

Kendall (and her friend she made on the beach)

Time to cool off

Later that afternoon there was a nice man giving lessons on the beach on how to made "real" sandcastles.  It was really interesting to learn how they make them and all the different tools they use.

The girls giving in a try.

One side of the project

After some showers and dinner we played putt putt golf.  It was in the parking lot in between our resort and the next.  

It was Über hot and humid but we all had a good time.

We also did some souvenir shopping!

Ryan snapped this cute pic.

While we were walking around Taylor saw this and says "Mom look at these cute little cups"!

I didn't explain

Horse Back Riding Camp

Friday the girls attended horseback riding camp for the day.  

This is the same place where we went for lessons a few months ago.  I stayed for a bit at the beginning to watch.  They started by reviewing how to groom/care for horses.

When I picked them up they said they had a great time.  They got riding lessons, grooming lessons, how to saddle a horse, and got to paint a real horse.

I wish we had an equestrian training facility close so that Kendall could take lessons, she just loves riding.

Surprise Visitor

After our trip to San Antonio we got home late and it was straight to bed for the girls.  As the girls were about to go upstairs the girls yell "there's a bird in the house"!  I of course come back with "no there's not" and they start yelling and running to the ficus tree looking in it and telling me they can see it.  I at this point still don't believe that there is a bird but they continue telling me that it is in the tree.  So I walk over and after a minute of looking sure enough I see this little bird sitting in the tree.

My heart starts racing because Ryan isn't home and I am not sure what to do.  So I open the back door and start pushing the tree very SLOWLY towards the door.  I get about four feet away and the bird flies out of the tree and lands in between the refrigerator and the counter.  Awesome!  So my next plan was to get the broom and try to sweep it out and catch it in the girls butterfly net.  Well as soon as I stick the broom back there it flies behind the door which was wide open.  So then I close the door a bit and stick the broom back there and it slips out!  

Success!  

Thirty minutes later and a lot of excitement later the little bird was finely free and out of my house!  Now it was time to go to bed.  

I am still not sure how it got in the house or how long it was in there but now I have my house and it is in its house.

A Visit from The Madison's

The Madison's came in town for the weekend for some fun and ALOT of catching up, it had been way to long since we had all gotten together.

The kids act like best friends immediately and all get along so well it makes for a super fun visit.  The first night we took it easy grilled some food and hung out.

Trying to get a group shot.

Taylor (6), Mallory (7), Kendall (7), Morgan (5), and Chase (2)

Massive slumber party!

Kendall and Mallory (the are only 1 week apart)

The next day we loaded up for some good old Lake Travis fun!

I just like this picture of these two pretty girls, I can't believe in a few weeks they will be going to 2nd grade!

Me and the Captain

We did TONS and TONS of tubing.  Everyone wanted to go by themselves, then with one girl, then with their sister.  So we did it all.  They all did amazing.

Kendall, Mallory, and Taylor

Did some swimming,

Leslie and Lonnie

Lonnie and Case tubing.  This little guy was SUPER brave, he tubed twice and loved it!

Even the Mama's got in on the fun, don't be jealous of my awesome orange life jacket.  

Thanks Madison for making the trip!  As always it is full of good times and lots of laughter.

Waco Day Trip

Kendall fell in love with her teacher this year and her and I also became friends as well.  At the end of the year she was super sad to say good-bye to her so we promised her that we would get together during the summer.  Well half the summer has gone by and we have been super busy with traveling but finally we made a date to together.  We decided that we would take a small road trip to Waco to the Cameron Park Zoo (which we have never been to).

We saw a giant tortoise,

different types of owls,

Taylor, Kendall, and M with the elephant.

The elephant came super close to us, it was awesome.

My monkeys/gorillas are by far my favorite animal ever so I was super excited to come across the massive orangutan exhibit.  The usually have three orangutans but two of them were at the vets office and the other one was curled up in a ball sleeping.  He was a massive fur ball but he habitat was amazing.

M, Ta, and Kendall being silly

The kids eating frozen lemonade posing with the giraffe's.

I was really impressed with the whole zoo it was really clean, a wide range of animals, and the exhibits were really big.

After grabbing some lunch we stopped at the Bear Pit to check in on Lady and Joy.

Taylor, M, and Kendall in front of the Bear Pit.

It was a really nice day catching up with and exploring the zoo.

San Antonio Trip

Tuesday we meet my sister and nieces at Sea World and got got a surprise, Nanaw was joining us for a day of fun.  She had never been to Sea World before.

We watched the Shamu show!  No matter how many times I see it the whales alway amaze me.

Avery and Taylor wanted to sit in the splash zone, we of course didn't.  So they sat a few rows in front of us and the first time that they got splashed they came running up the stairs dripping wet!

They were thrilled.

I convinced Nanaw to ride Rio Grande with the girls and I.  She hasn't rode a ride in ALONG time!  Nanaw and I were the only ones that got soaked on the ride.

Little Miss A was a total trooper all day with us in her pimped out ride!

Avery had never rode a real roller coaster so I took her on the Steel Eel.  She loved it!  Kendall not so much :(

We walked through the stinky penguin exhibit and posed with one! 

It was a super fun day!

Wednesday we went to The Magik Theatre to watch School House Rocks.  I liked all the old songs but the kids didn't understand much.

After the play the girls and I went out to Nanaw and Popeye's for the night.

The girls playing around in Popeye's old Model T.