Road Trip to Little Rock

A couple of weeks ago, we planned a very last minute road trip to see Brian's family. If you know me, you know I am not any where close to being last minute, so I am sure Brian's parents were very surprised when we called on a Tuesday and said we would be leaving the following Thursday! We left Thursday and stopped in Tulsa.  The girls loved the hotel cart (lots of entertainment!) and having a slumber party in one room.  The girls did better then expected in the car.  Thank goodness for dvd players, markers, stickers and books and cows and horsed to point at!   We put Clara and Nora in the back together to watch movies and I rode in the seat next to Lila most of the way.  I got really good at changing movies, passing snacks, grabbing tissues, gathering trash, etc. 

 We arrived in Little Rock the next day in time for lunch at the Purple Cow.  From there we got checked in to our hotel and then headed to the Lynches to visit and have dinner.  The girls loved playing with their cousin Coby, climing on Grandpa and playing with Grandma in their playroom!   

The next day we were busy!  We visited the Fish and Wildlife Museum and the Children's Museum.  That afternoon, we swam at Uncle Mike's (Aunt Tammy's husband/Coby and Krista's dad) parent's house and got to spend some time seeing their horses (forgot to take pictures for that...sad)

The next day we were invited to a family BBQ at Aunt Pat and Uncle Dave's.  Lots and lots of extended family and more swimming.  We had so much fun!  The girls got a picture with their Great-Grandfather, Casey and his wife Virgina. 

(Yes, Nora is sleeping and Lila is crying...real life photo op!)

The next day we went to the zoo with Grandma, Grandpa, Great-Granny, Uncle Scott, Aunt Tammy, Coby and Krista.   It.Was.HOT.  I nearly melted.  The humid heat is sticky.  This Colorado native missed her dry air!  We were troopers and saw lots of animals and had fun. 

(I like this...all of Mickey and Marilyn's kids and grandkids!)

(The girls with Great-Granny and yes, Lila is out.)

That evening we had dinner at On the Border and said our goodbye's.  Our departure time on Tuesday morning was 2:00 AM Denver time.  We had a very nice visit. and were glad the girls got to have fun seeing so much family. 

We were on the road by 2:30 AM Denver time. We made it to Tulsa before the girls woke up. We pushed on and made home by 7:45 PM. Yep, 17 hours and 15 minutes with three kids. I think we may be just a little on the crazy side, but we were looking forward to being home.  My view for much of the road: 

Playing Soccer

 I know that most of the pics I post are of the girls looking thier best.  I usually take the picture first thing after a quick face wipe and hair comb, before the clothes are a mess.  But if you even barely know me or my kids, you know that the one second in a photograph is only 1/86,400 of my day and the other 85,399 seconds can look very different.  Here is one of those seconds that cracked me up.  Clara and Nora were playing upstairs in Clara's room.  They came down and said that they were going to go out to play soccer. 

A few things to notice:

Clara is wearing soccer socks and shin guards, just placed on the side of her legs

Clara is running in place to warm up

Clara's cleats were too small, so she opted for her sneakers, which are also too small

Nora is wearing her "soccer" shoes, one boot and one white Easter shoe

Nora's boot is a left boot on her right foot and the shoe is a right shoe on her left foot

Nora is missing pants

Nora is ready to play soccer with her baseball

Clara and Nora are a mess, with snow cone juice all over thier clothes, hands and face

Lila has no idea about the soccer game, but wants in the photo

Lila is a mess...she just finished eating ketchup with her spoon (ketchup gone, nuggets still on plate)

Lila has a dirty diaper...to change her diaper is a wrestling match, with lots of crying and I wanted to get the photo before I had to pin her down and wipe her bottom

And there you have it, we are ready to play soccer, after the Lila vs Mommy wrestling match, of course! 

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Monday we headed to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for some fun!  Here are the highlighs:

Giraffe feeding

Train Ride

Bird Feeding

Monkeys

Carosel Ride

Pony Ride

Petting Goats

Pretending to be hatching birds

Penguins

Apes

What a great zoo.  I highly recommend it!!

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth!  We started the day watching the parade with some neighbor friends.  Later we joined more neighbors at a BBQ.  They did a little fireworks show.  We tried to see the big fireworks that evening, but the rain was too hard.  The girls got to see them the next night!  What a fun day!

Butterfly Pavilion

Last week we joined the Andersons for a morning at the Butterfly Pavilion.  The girls both held Rosie and loved the starfish and butterflies!  We had a great time! 

We Love Summer!