In April, Bob knew he would have a couple of trips back to back. When he realized that, my wonderful husband suggested that the boys and I take a trip back to Texas. I was so excited by the prospect, but a little nervous about going cross country with the kids on my own. My biggest fear was how to use the bathroom on the road with the kids. I know that it's ridiculous, but being upon the throne is a very vulnerable position to be in public with three kids running around inside a tiny stall aching to break free. It's a frightening prospect. Believe me.
The first leg of our trip was 12 hours. Bob and I got up around 3 a.m., loaded up the sleeping babies, said goodbye, and the boys and I headed out. We drove over six hours before we made our first get out of the car stop four miles from the Mississippi state line. The boys did great. We stopped at a small gas station next to a busy travel plaza. I changed diapers and immediately realized we were no longer in Florida. We had packed a Florida wardrobe - shorts and sandals. I dug out the one pair of jeans I brought for the kids and the one long sleeve shirt. The bathroom went well. We held hands, walked into the store, I peed really fast, and we headed back to the car. We were back on the road in 45 minutes. I think I'm still patting myself on the back for that one. The next time we got out of the car was at Momo's house
The boys immediately found the ladder leading to the zip line Uncle Frank had installed in the backyard. Hours of fun climbing and making Mom worry ensued.
The three man crew climbs the ladder prompting Mom & Momo to lower the ladder for the safety of the crew and the sanity of the adults.
Ryan loves to listen for the ocean. He went through a phase where he would listen to cups, buckets, random shallow dishes, all in an attempt to hear the ocean. He was so happy to find the shells in Momo's backyard.
James & Michael take a listen too. We definitely do things as a group. If one kid does it, the other two are not far behind. The boys did such a wonderful job on the drive, but once they made it out of the car, it was full steam ahead. We had such a nice time playing in the backyard.
Momo's best chef, Ryan, gets in on making some dinner. After dinner, we headed out to take a drive to put the kids to sleep.
I was not sure how the sleeping arrangements would work, but Grandma sat with the sleeping boys in the car while I ran in at WalMart and bought three sleeping bags. The boys love their "Nemo Cars" beds. Over the course of our two week trip, we got into a pattern of the boys falling asleep with me in the bed, a stealthy move to the sleeping bag, and an eventual return to my bed. I think it was the two worst weeks of sleep I've ever had.
While we were on our Louisiana stop, we met up with my best buddy from elementary school who I hadn't seen in twenty years. Carrie and her boys met us at the playground in Lake Charles. The boys loved this park. It was fenced and not too crowded, so it worked out great for our guys to play there.
After the park, we stopped and got snow cones at the world's best snow cone stand that I frequented as a child. Sadly, I forgot to order my favorite grape/cherry combo as I was flustered by the fact that my husband locked our dog in the house and put the child safety lock on before leaving the state. Oops. Thankfully, a trip to the hardware store and a talented Grandpa freed Duke from the horrors of having to go without a meal.
Momo put a small step ladder under this tree so that Ryan could "climb" it. It is possible that we watch too much TV, but Ryan told me that he was a "hungry hungry herbivore like Dinosaur Train." Our new friends liked climbing up our ladder, too.
Since I wasn't 100% sure about our trip, I didn't want to tell my mom and get her hopes up. After keeping it to myself for a while, I decided to tell the rest of the family, but surprise mom. Luckily she's really gullible, so I called while I was on the way from Grandma's to Mom's and told her that I was just leaving playgroup in Jacksonville. When we knocked on the front door, she was so shocked that the kids just pushed past her and went directly to the toys in the living room.
Uncle Joseph came up from Waco, Uncle Zach & Aunt Mandy came over to visit with us, and Grandma, Aunt Faith, & Papa Joe were so happy to see us. Almost as happy as we were to see them. Aunt Mandy & Aunt Faith both did an excellent job of keeping our arrival a secret. They were quite proud of themselves.
Uncle Zach and Uncle JoeJoes introduced the boys to the controller fake out as they played Mario Kart. James adores racing games (shocking, I know). He and Ryan were both so happy to get to play with the uncles.
On Sunday, we went to church at Shepherd of Life. We are still looking for the right fit here in Jacksonville, so it felt so nice to walk into our church home and see some of the people who have meant so much to us over the years. After church, we met Aunt Mellie and went to the track to see the horses.
Usually, when we go to the races, we have a big group of people to help us contain the kids. Aunt Mellie, after years and years of Joe wrangling, is a pro at child entertainment. We did great just the five of us.
I'm pretty sure that Melanie is the biggest spoiler of the kids. She arrives with treats, toys, and a "let me make all your dreams come true" attitude. The kids associate her with Chuck E. Cheese. Every time they see a CEC ad, they say "we went there with Aunt Mellie."
Ryan and Aunt M getting their love on.
James was in horse heaven. We were right at the fence near the gate. My little observer of details noticed that the guy leads the horse into the gate, the gate makes a ching noise, the bell rings, the gate opens, and then they are off. When we got home, James and Michael used their horse, led it and the rider into the hallway door, pulled the wooden chair with slats like a gate in front of the opening, then made the noise the gate makes, and moved it out of the way and yelled "and they're off." Ryan is a big player in this game as well, but James and Michael have it down to an art complete with the horse bucking and refusing to go easily into the gate. It's quite show.
Michael loves popcorn. He kept dipping the popcorn into the coke. GROSS.
We took a day trip to see our Baylor uncles in Waco. The boys still talk about the baseball stadium. We were able to watch a little bit of batting practice, and Uncle Stephen made sure everyone got a ball. They had a blast. We watched the Baylor baseball team as they went through the playoffs this summer, and the boys loved rooting for Uncle Stevie and their Bears.
Since all but one of the boys uncles have attended Baylor, I think that unless one of these Florida universities makes a big impact, they might have to fulfill the family Baylor tradition. I always wanted to go to LSU because my Uncle Kent (and my great grandma) went there. Maybe our guys will end up Baylor Bears. Who knows what the future holds.
Ryan learned what it means to "feed the beaver."
Posing with the bear statues was so much fun. Uncle Joseph is just starting to settle into his Baylor status. He still has mad loyalty to his beloved Sooners, but I think he's starting to embrace the bear.
Uncle Stephen teaches the boys how to ride "bear" back.
Uncle Stephen had to finish working, so we made Uncle Joseph take us to see the real bears.
Those bears are true Baylor bears - why be out in the hot sun when you can be inside your air conditioned lair. After the bear watching, we went back to Uncle Joseph & Uncle Stephen's apartment to visit and watch Star Wars. They have a nice little place despite the current cricket infestation I've been hearing about.
Before we left Haslet, our good friends Riley and Mykayla (and Lainie) came to see us. It was so great to see them. I think Riley grows a foot every time I see him.
Mykayla showing off. She is so precious. It's hard to believe that between Lainie, Anne, and I, Mykayla is the only girl we've managed to produce. She is the undisputed princess.
We spent most of our time at Grandma & Papa Joe's either fishing in the living room (Papa Joe is determined to get someone in our family to care about fishing) or playing outside on the trampoline or tractor. I had such a great time seeing my family and friends. Poor Bob missed out, but he'll be making the next trip with us, and maybe we can convince Grandma to keep the kids while we go see some major league baseball.
From Haslet, we headed to Tyler to see Aunt Sue & Uncle JP. Ryan is still JP's biggest fan. The boys had a great time, but the first night, they were pretty upset that our long drive did not lead to their beds. They all rushed the door at bedtime and tried to go to the car to go home. The next day, they had a great time, but two weeks is pretty much the limit of their tolerance for being away from the familiar.
Aunt Sue's birthday is in early May, so we brought her a cake to celebrate. The boys LOVE to sing happy birthday and lick candles. I'm pretty sure they could do it professionally.
We went to the fancy Sonic playground in Tyler. It was one of the nicest playgrounds I've been to AND they bring you food when you press a button. Heaven.
We spent a good while playing at Sonic and playing outside at Aunt Sue's. She and JP have blackberries growing around their house. The boys really enjoyed picking and eating the blackberries off of the vine.
Uncle JP lost a lot of quarters in this machine much to the delight of his nephews.
Perhaps the best thing about Texas is riding lawnmowers. Both Papa Joe and Uncle JP are quite willing to give the boys tractor rides. Ryan would spend all day riding on a tractor, but for some reason, Michael refused to try it with Uncle JP. Michael just seems to need time to warm up to an idea. I've learned that anytime we do something new, Ryan goes first, then James, and Michael goes last. He just needs the time it takes to figure out what is going and decide how he's going to approach it.
The trip from Sue's to Jacksonville is 14 hours. I thought that was just a little too long to attempt on our own, so we headed back to Louisiana to see Momo. The trip from Tyler to Sulphur was pretty awful. Ryan and Michael spent the whole time fighting. The boys were all a little sick, and the amount of snot that flowed from Michael's nose was truly alarming as he and Ryan went at it. I actually had to pull the car over and deal with them. Thankfully, it was the only bad hour of the trip, but I thought I might have to kill either myself or them.
The kids had a great time everywhere we went, but I think they liked Momo's house because it was all triplets all the time. Mom said that when she went to Grandma's in May, she took mom around the backyard and showed her everything the boys did. I'm pretty sure the adoration is mutual between the boys and their Momo.
I have such wonderful memories of my great grandparents on both sides of the family, and I hope that they boys are able to have many, many years of fun times at Momo's house. One of the drawbacks to having kids at an advanced age is that there aren't as many great grandparents around. I am counting on Grandma to stick around for the duration.
We spent Tuesday hanging out with Momo (who looks so much like my Momo - her mother - in this picture that I have to do a double take every time I see it). On Wednesday, we got up at 4 a.m. and drove home. The ride went well but it was not as lovely as the first leg of our journey. We were so happy to be home. I'm pretty sure Duke & Emma missed us almost as much as Grandma & Papa. Bob was still out of town when we got home, and the boys were not too keen on that even though we'd talked about it several times on the ride home.
On Saturday, Daddy came home, and our little family was reunited once again. It's always good to go on an adventure, but it's even better to come back home. I was so happy to see our crib tents that I kissed them.
