Spring Break 2014

With busy work (and Ironman training) schedules, we weren't sure what we were going to do for spring break and waited until the last minute (we're talking day of) to make any decisions.  It turned out great!

On Tuesday, we stayed in Houston and travelled down to Battleship Texas (which happened to be getting ready for its centennial celebration).  We kept the destination a surprise from the kids and it was a lot of fun to see both of the kids' eyes light up when they saw the battleship.  That afternoon we stopped by the Houston Zoo.

The next morning we got up and decided to drive to Corpus Christi.  When we got there, we went to the Texas State Aquarium which is right on the bay.  The kids enjoyed seeing the dolphins, the bald eagle, the sea turtle, and touching the stingrays and the shark.  The next day we visited the USS Lexington (two warships in 3 days!) and the next day we visited the beach at Mustang Island State Park and had lunch in Port Aransas before we took the ferry across the channel and headed home.  All in all, it was a very fun trip with lots of memories.  For more photos, click on the top photo above.

Summer long weekend in Austin

For our last family trip before Tyler starts school we took a long weekend in Austin.  On the way, we stopped at Louie Mueller's BBQ in Taylor where I had the best BBQ that I've had since we moved here (and we mistakenly ordered 7 ribs until we discovered that they each had about 1.5 lbs of meat on them).  After that, we headed west of Austin to Enchanted Rock where we had fun hiking to the top.  The next couple of days we had fun around Austin swimming, hiking, and, of course, eating.

Click on the top photo below for more pictures.

Summer "Road" Trip 2013

Once again, we enjoyed a wonderful (air and road) trip Up North and to Palatine to see the Burke's, Chernesky's, Shripka's, and Granny and Grandpa. We had a great time tubing, swimming, hiking, go-karting, mini golfing, and relaxing. The weather was beautiful, too. 

After our time Up North, the Shripka's were nice enough to drive over to Palatine for a day of fun at Granny and Grandpa's house. It was a perfect ending to another very memorable summer trip. For lots of pictures, click the top photo below.

Finally made it to Austin!

We've been wanting to visit Austin (beyond the airport, which I visit monthly) since we moved here and finally decided to make a last minute weekend trip.  We loved it!  We explored a roadside BBQ (of course), Reimer's Ranch, the Barton Creek greenbelt, Pedernales State Park, and, of course 6th street and Rainey Street (which we loved).  We also tried to see the bats come out from the Congress St. bridge, but they decided not to come out that night :(.  For more photos, click on the picture below.

Starting summer vacation on Sand Key

Jeff picked up Ty at his last day of school and took the kids directly to the airport for a flight to Tampa and a fun weekend with Granny and Grandpa at the condo.  We had beautiful weather, fun times on the beach, a successful fishing trip, and of course, the required trips to Frenchy's on the Beach and PJ's.  For more pics click on the photo below.

Spring Break 2012

We had a great spring break visiting the Riverwalk and Alamo in San Antonio, camping, hiking and rock climbing at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge, and golfing and playing in our pool at home.  Click on the photo above for more.

Summer 2011 camping trip

This summer we decided to head to Shenandoah for our family camping trip. Since we had some time to kill before our campground reservations that started on Friday, we decided to visit Natural Bridge. We had a great time expoloring the amazing natural structure surrounded by hokey (but fun) tourist attractions. We also got to visit some cool caverns. Thanks to Hurricane Irene, we also got to visit the local Lowe's for supplies and decided to change our 2-night camping trip to a day trip (at least we got to see some great views and very tame deer, and hike about 1 mile of the Appalachain Trail.

We filled the rest of the weekend with a fun bowling trip and a campout in the family room (just in case any trees came down on the house) that the kids loved.

All in all, it was a great weekend. For more pictures, click on the photo below.

Trip to Florida

We just returned from a wonderful short vacation down to Florida with our first trip to Magic Kingdom and a couple of days in Sand Key with Granny and Grandpa. The kids loved Disney World (especially the Buzz Lightyear ride). Of course, they also loved seeing Granny and Grandpa. We got to go mini-golfing, visit the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, and of course, visit Frenchy's and PJs. Ty's favorite part of the trip was a treasure hunt that Grandpa and Granny planned for him. All in all it was a great trip. Enjoy the pictures by clicking on the photo above.

Wintertime Fun

Wow! I'm pretty behind with posting. We've had a great winter (although we're ready for Spring). The weather has been kinder than last year, but we still got two snowfalls with enough snow for the kids to play. We also took a very fun 2-day trip down to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg. Enjoy more pictures by clicking here.


Quick update on the kids:

Megan is starting to come out of her shell (although she still needs a few days to warm up to people) and loves to sing, put everything back in its place (e.g., she LOVES to put trash in the garbage can) and is a bit stubborn at times. She still loves Elmo and Mickey Mouse (not Minnie) and loves to imitate her big brother.

Ty is still his social self, quickly making friends with anyone he meets. He just started reading and loves to show off his new skill. He is also usually very caring with Megan, trying to teach her and take care of her whenever he can.

We're looking forward to more fun times as we wrap up winter and journey into spring (how is it already March???).

Are we there yet?

Here are the numbers from our vacation a couple of weeks ago:

8 days, 40 hours in the car with a 7 month old and 3.5 year old...

13 cousins visited...

...and a great time had by all.

For 108 more pictures from our road trip to Kalamazoo, MI to visit Melissa, Andy, Drew, and our new niece Lily and to my family's cottage in northern Wisconsin, click here.

Fun in the sun

We had a great trip last week visiting Granny and Grandpa in Clearwater, Florida. For more photos, click here.