STAYCATION...DAY 2

Day 2 of our staycation we traveled to Fossil Rim Wildlife Park in Glen Rose, Texas. We realized by the time we left the house and I was reading our brochure that we better eat lunch in Glen Rose before making the 3 hour drive thru the park. We decided to stop at Dairy Queen (one of the only fast food places in town) to get a quick bite and the boys played for a little bit before we loaded up again. You would have thought they never get to play on playground equipment the way they were acting.

Connor and Preston riding the dino:)

Connor's expression cracks me up.

After an hour drive from home we arrived...

The zebras are known to nibble on fingers so we were told not to touch them.

This ostrich wanted in our car so bad...the window was barely cracked and the kids were screaming.

All the boys loved feeding the deer.

Doug took so many pics of deer...you would never know he loves hunting:)

The deer had felt on their antlers which Doug taught me falls off during the summer.

The beautiful view as we drove around the park...

Grantsters and Mommy:)

This crazy animal was so friendly. He didn't nibble fingers as we fed him, but sure liked to lick!

Preston trying to get away from it's mouth...

Preston and Connor feeding the same animal. Preston got scared and tried to retreat into the back dash:)

The observation deck from the gift shop area.

My Boys...

Connor took a pic of Doug and I.

The boys had so much fun. We stopped back at DQ for some ice cream and as soon as their food was gone...well, they were gone:) What a day!

STAYCATION

STAYCATION...A much needed vacation that at night after enjoying a day of fun you get to sleep in your very own bed!

This summer we opted for staying at home rather than putting 3 kids in a car and driving hours on end to get somewhere fun. I can barely spend an hour in the car with the three boys much rather 12 hours! Monday this week we celebrated my birthday with lunch at Chili's and just hanging out together as a family at home. Tuesday we drove to Athens, Texas and went to the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center. The boys got to see where fish are grown so that they can eventually be released into Texas' lakes. After watching a diver feed the fish in a tank and later go into the crocodile's habitat and feed them chicken, we got to fish for bass and catfish in a stocked pond. We had so much fun...between Doug, Connor, and myself I think we caught somewhere around 8 or so catfish!

The boys at the entrance...

The gentleman to the side just fed the catfish and they splashed water on all the boys. You should have seen the look on Preston's face when he turned and looked at me with water dripping from his face:)

Doug and Preston watching a video about the hatchery.

The boys are sitting at the back of this pic watching the diver feed the fish.

Connor and Doug riding the tram around the ponds.

The twins and mom...

These are the 1-2 acre ponds full of fish...

They breed Koi in order to feed all the fish on campus.

I think Connor had the twins pose for this shot:)

Grant and Preston kept acting like Vanna White directing us as to what to look at next:)

Fishin'...this is the only minute Preston actually sat still.

What a big boy...he had a blast!

Preston needed special attention...

I was the first one to catch a fish...Connor said "Your daddy would be so proud!" It made me think back to when I was a little girl fishin'.

Connor was next...

Preston wanted to touch the fish every time Connor caught one.

The fish would swim right up to the banks of this particular pond so the boys were all trying to catch a glimpse.

Grant had a bird's eye view of the crocodile feeding.

Preston and Connor watching the crocs.

What a fun day even if we did have to drive 90 minutes:)

Stay tuned for more fun!

Protective Preston

Tonight at dinner we no more sat down to eat and Grant spilled his drink on accident. Doug and I both got up and two towels later the table was clean and we were back to eating. Half-way through dinner Grant intentionally knocked over Preston's glass. We asked him why he did that and it was because he got mad at Preston. I told him to go to his room and with a little convincing from Doug off he went. Grant came back to the table about 5 minutes later and mumbled an apology of sorts and no one but Grant knew what was said. After several attempts at Doug and I telling Grant how to apologize out loud, Preston quickly jumped in and said, "Don't worry...I understand whispers!" It was all I could do to get up from the table fast enough and get to my bathroom and laugh until I was crying. Upon returning to the kitchen Doug said, "Thanks for supporting me in that one"...because he was laughing too!

Sprinkler Park 2009

In years past, we have visited a certain sprinkler park with my best friend and let the boys play the morning away and have a sack lunch. This year, we decided to meet up again at the same park and the boys were soooo excited..........until, we got there! The twins still had a blast playing in the water and on the adjoining playground, but poor Connor, the big boy, has officially outgrown one of our activities. I felt so sorry for him, but we weren't going to abruptly change our plans just for him. He was going to have to suffer this one through and I was going to somehow make it up to him later. The pics tell the story...

This was shortly after we arrived while the lil' boys were splashing in the water.

A bit later he was so disgusted he decided to hide under our towels and then Preston went searching for him:)

He finally decided to get up and go play by himself for a bit.

Grant hiding under a fountain...

The twins going to join in the fun with their brother.

After lunch the boys found some nearby trees to climb on. The trees had several branches that swooped to and fro and were strong enough to hold all the boys.

Anyone who knows Grantsters knows this look all to well:)

The entire gang!

Next year we will have to try one of our other favorite watering holes!

Movie Day at Hillcrest Baptist Church

One of our fun-time activities in the last few weeks has been going to the new youth building at church and watching a movie. The new building as you can see has a TV that consists of 6 screens put together to show a single picture... pretty cool! The best part to me the mom of three is that they had the entire room to pick a spot to lay down and they chose to sit by each other:)