We had SOOOO much fun on our little family vaca to Texas!
The kids did awesome in the car (we broke it up into 2 sections on the way down and then did the whole 8.5 hrs on the way back).
Brian bought a Groupon for our stay in a hotel in Oklahoma on the way down to Texas. The hotel has a casino and a really awesome outdoor pool with tons of neat features. We left on a Thursday around 2 pm and made it there around 5 pm. As luck would have it, a huge storm rolled in around 5:20 or so and they closed the pool down...all.night.long.
So, we made the best of it and went down to spend our Groupon bucks on some fried chicken and mac & cheese at the casino, and hung out in the room. The hotel lost power briefly due to the storm, but we had fun watching "the world's strongest man" competitions on TV and doing some 'strong man' activities of our own.
The kids at the hotel check in...
Brian took turns tossing each kid into a huge pile of pillows (like the strong men competitors were doing with huge 300 pound weights).
So much giggling and laughing going on!!
Brian must have harrassed the front desk enough to open the pool back up, because FINALLY at around 8 pm they opened it up and Brian took the 2 older kids down to swim. I put Eli to bed and then just minutes later, Maggie showed up at the door because she was too cold.
Brian came back up with Colin shortly - then went down to the casino to spend our Groupon gambling bucks downstairs.
Colin woke up the next morning complaining of a headache, then proceeded to get 'sick' multiple times and this delayed us in getting on the road. Poor kid was miserable. He couldn't keep anything down. He finally felt okay to take some ibuprofen and we made it to the van.
He slept for about 2 hrs in the car, which really tells me how he was feeling because Colin NEVER takes naps. But, he woke up feeling like a new kid and we didn't have any more troubles.
We made it to Texas to visit the Texas Teson's around 3 or so. We stayed for 6 days. Every day we did something fun with the kids - it was perfect!
I have no idea why this picture is crooked but oh well!
We loved playing in the fountains near by their house.
We caught everyone for a quick picture at the fountains.
Eli and Lucy - those two were funny. Eli would occasionally pick on Lucy (like pull her hair or tug on her shirt...). Maybe he just wanted her attention, but Lucy sure didn't like it :)
We watched a fountain show where they paired it with music.
So many fun parks to visit. We had to go in the morning or it would be WAY TOO HOT by afternoon.
We hit up a minor league baseball game one night, right before some storms rolled in.
Let's go Rough Riders!!
At the ball game, Eli loved cheering for the players
One morning we went to Top Golf and swung the clubs.
It was only minutes from their house, so convenient!
Even Suzanne got a turn - poor lady always has to watch the kids, but she kicked some bootie out there!
Love this cute pic of the 3 of us!
All 12 of us smooshed in there before we left Top Golf
There was a super fun pizza type place nearby, too.
Colin sat and watched this gentleman make the pizza's for a LONG time.
He was just amazed at how it all worked in the oven.
Eli practiced some yoga in the fountains
This was after a HUGE downpour of rain while we were eating dinner.
He just ran around and got soaked in the puddles.
We hit up a $1 movie at a really nice movie theatre.
The movie was Sing, or so I was told, as Brian and I were chasing Eli around the majority of the time. It was his first movie in a theatre, so we figured that would happen...
We went to 6 Flags over Texas amusement park one day.
The kids had a blast.
Eli was always so sad when the ride was over
Suzanne was driving the girl truck
Peter was not amused, clearly
There was a group of people that did a show in the middle of the afternoon (in air-conditioning, yes, please!!!). They sang country music and the kids thought it was really awesome.
Eli got up and started dancing and clapping in the aisles.
Another fun park in their neighborhood one morning
We even took advantage of free babysitters to hit up a nice restaurant, just the 4 of us.
Joe, Pat and Luke did a great job watching the younger kids.
A picture of everyone just before we hopped in the van to come back home.
We had a great time and everyone got along really well.
Thanks for hosting, Texas Teson's!
