Oleo Ranch 2008

We just got back from our annual trip to the Oleo Ranch in Colorado. The kiddos did great on the LONG car trip there. Especially considering that we JUST got back from our long car trip to North Carolina :)

I, of course, was sick for the first two days of the trip with some virus. So Ryan took the kids to the lakes to fish, played games, and read them stories.

Little Miss caught this fish at the ponds on the property and Little Man showed off this fish that he caught!

The kids and Dad had a great time fishing. Little Man even fell in the lake one of the days!

As usual we spent the days relaxing, reading, doing crafts, or playing games with the kids in the cabins. We also fished, did a bit of hiking, went into town (Lake City and Creede) to shop, and listened to Denver play the guitar. The kids got to play the spoons while Uncle Denver played guitar. And Uncle Denver and Grandpa even made up a fabulous song about our families and our week at the Oleo.

The highlight of the trip for the kids was when we went down to visit Ronnie, the ranch manager and his wife Barbara. They let Little Miss ride their horse, Tucker. She LOVED it! Little Man also took a turn. Then Ronnie took each of the kids for a ride in his backhoe. Little Man was so excited :) He even let them raise and lower the bucket!

It really was a wonderful vacation this year!

Family Reunion in North Carolina

The kids and I and my parents just got back from our Family Reunion in North Carolina! We left DFW on Wednesday morning and drove 11 hours to Nashville. We stayed with my brother and sister in law for the night. The kids had a great time seeing their aunt and uncle! We left Nashville on Thursday morning and drove 7 hours to Hickory, NC. It was a long trip but we listened to book tapes and had fun messing with my dad's TomTom. The kids did GREAT! They crashed Little Man's Matchbox cars, read books, watched DVDs, and played with Little Miss's Polly Pocket dolls.

Once we got to NC we unloaded our stuff at the local Holiday Inn and headed over to my cousins house. My mother's sister and her three girls were all there with all of the family that comes with them :) The kids had a blast swimming, riding in the pink electric kid cars, and playing in the outdoor kids playhouse. The adults had fun talking, catching up on the news, swimming, relaxing, and of course EATING!

On the way home we stopped at Jefferson City, TN to visit my mom's alma mater, Carson Newman College. We stopped at her old dorm and were even able to see her old room at the dorm.

We did have a little bit of a surprise on the drive home when my Dad drove by a mower on the side of the interstate. The mower kicked up a rock and the rock hit the passenger window of our van in just the right spot to cause the entire window to shatter. Luckily the window stayed in one piece and we stopped at a truck stop and duct taped the entire window to make sure it wasn't going anywhere! We got home late Monday night after a 14 hour day of driving and rudimentary window repair.

All and all, the trip was wonderful. The kids got to see their aunt and uncle, a bunch of their cousins and their great aunt and uncle, tour the campus of Carson Newman, and drive in a minivan with duct tape over the window.