Back from Vacation!

Well, It is that magic time of the day...when I put all of my kids down for a nap at the same time. We are officially back from vacation, and the kiddos have been reminding me with a vengeance! We had a wonderful time in Austin. We stayed at a nice hotel and splurged and got a room with a jacuzzi tub. This picture does not do it justice, I have never seen one this big. My 6'4" hunk of burning love fell asleep in it quite comfortably(he will dispute me on this, but I heard snoring).


On Friday while Kenneth was in the office learning Flash, I spent most of the day in the Texas History Museum. They have this incredible temporary exhibit called "Eyewitness" featuring eyewitness accounts of moments in history. For example, Thomas Jefferson describing the beginning of the French Revolution while he was an ambassador in France. The recording of the radio reporter covering the Hindenburg and watching its destruction. The journal entry of the German u-boat captain who sank the Lusitania. And much much more! It was incredible, and I didn't have to stop once to change a diaper! I also saw 2 of the 3-D I max movies playing. "Tribes of the Oceans" ...boring(ok, ok, it was like reading a biology textbook while a dolphin swims around your head...) and "Sea Monsters" ...excellent. That one had more of a storyline to it and was good at keeping your attention as prehistoric sea monsters where jumping out of the water and snapping at what felt like mere inches from your nose. After that I picked Kenneth up and we spent that evening with his brother, David, and his wife, Michelle. We had a nice dinner and then tried to watch a movie back at their apartment, but we ended up talking too late to make it happen. Saturday morning we were supposed to head out early so we could make it to a church activity, but ended up sleeping all the way to 8:30am....and when you take into consideration that usually we are up by 6:30, it felt positively luxurious. Anyway, it was a great trip!

When we got home reality was waiting...

My mom kept the 2 boys, and my sister Laurie kept Jane. Jane went to Laurie because she has been so low maintenance lately and Laurie has a kid and a big pregnant belly of her own to worry about. Well, miss low maintenance decided to go on vacation and miss no-nap-screamy-face took her place. Poor Laurie, poor tired Jane, and poor little Michael who got very jealous of this screamy cousin taking all of his mother's time and attention. Needless to say, we used up all our babysitting credits in one grand weekend!

One really sweet thing was seeing how excited the kids were to see Kenneth. Atticus especially was beside himself when he saw his daddy. One thing I am realizing is really important is to have the opportunity to miss your kids =). To get away from them long enough to realize that you really do want to come back. I kept thinking while we were in Austin..."I wish Gavin was here...he would love this." The next vacation we take will involve the kiddos too(I think we are going to alternate between "kid" vacations and "real" vacations). I think our next big adventure will be a family trip to the zoo in Houston.