Spring Break

For spring break this year, we hopped up to Fort Worth/Dallas to spend sweet time with friends and to have a little family fun.  We had a great time but ended up cramming a lot of stuff into our trip, so it was also exhausting.  That said, my back only gave me minor aches and pains, which was such an incredible blessing.  I wouldn't have even dreamed of being able to make a trip like this happen last year or even last fall so even though we were a little wiped out by the end, it was still amazing to me to see how far I've come.  Praise be to God!!

Anyway, back to the fun stuff - as soon as we got there I dropped George and the kids off at our friend's house in Fort Worth and I went to Dallas to spend a few days with my bestie Mackenzie and her new wee one Henry.  He is a dream and it was so wonderful to be able to snuggle him and to be with Mackenzie.  She is already such a great mommy and has a lot of perspective that I lacked with Ainsley.  I am so grateful to have gotten to share some of these first few precious moments with her and her family.

Then back over in Fort Worth, we stayed with our dear friends Tim and Emily and their three boys for a few days.  It was almost comical going from the sweet stillness of Mackenzie's house to the loud and crazy circus of having 5 kids under 4!  But oh, was it fun!  And it was great to see how wonderfully our kids played together.  Here they are below on night at dinner.

Luke (3), Ainsley (3.5), Caleb (4.5), and Matthew (4.5)

Matthew (4.5) and Bailey (almost 2) - Matthew was so sweet to Bailey the whole time!

After dinner that night it was off to TCU to see all the new construction.  Sadly it has been quite a while since we have been back and it has changed so much!  The school has built a new student center, lots of new dorms and eateries, and a new stadium.  Everything looks beautiful but it is a bit nostalgic seeing our old stomping grounds change so much!  On the drive there we were explaining to Ainsley that this is where mommy and daddy went to school when we were kids and that this is where we met and fell in love.  She was so cute and quietly took it all in and then asked if she could go to school here too when she got bigger.  We said yes and then she asked me if I would come with her to which I said of course!!  Hope she remembers this conversation when she's older.  :)  Here's our pics in front of frog fountain...

We had such a great time with the Bates' and they are always such gracious hosts.  We feel so blessed to have such wonderful life-long friends such as these.  Here are some other pics of our visit...

Feeding fish, which Bailey LOVED!!

Ainsley and Caleb

And this was our last minute attempt at a group shot as we were all heading out the door... in front of the TCU golf cart no less.  :)  Matthew and Caleb are the only ones who truly participated but at least there is a glimpse of the other three.  Thanks Bates'!  We love you!

Our final stop was staying at The Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX which has an indoor water park and is a hotel completely catered to kids.  Aside from a family-wide meltdown (yes, George and I included) shortly after we arrived which was directly followed by a family-wide nap (and yes, again, George and I included), it was awesome and the kids had such a great time playing in the water and exploring the hotel.  The two pictures below are taken from the balcony overlooking the indoor water activities.  I didn't risk taking my camera down below and didn't want to buy a pricey waterproof camera, but the kid's excitement about everything was priceless!  I was so proud of Ainsley who was brave enough to go down the large winding tube slides all by herself (in the pic below they are the yellow and green slides on the left).  Both kids were however terrified of the giant bucket (top of pic) that would slowly fill with water and then randomly dump on the crowd below.

It is hard to see in this picture but this is the area designed for kiddos Ainsley and Bailey's age and it's where we spent most of our time.  The water was shallow and there were ride on water guns and small kid slides that both Ainsley and Bailey went down hundreds of times.  They were both so grown up and after going down the slide would swim/walk to the stairs to get out and wait in line to do it all again.  Poor Bailey was pretty chilly the whole time though and would just shiver and shake while standing in line.  Even though his lips were blue, it never stopped his enthusiasm.  And thankfully he has a sweet daddy who would often take him out and towel him off to warm him up.  In the back of this pic you can barely see the wave pool which Ainsley also loved!  The wave pool was my favorite when I was little too and her and I played lots of games of Ariel and the Sea Witch.

Then there was the arcade.  I'm not sure who had more fun here, the kids or George, because apparently some of Bailey's favorite arcade games include basketball and go carts.  Hmmm... :)

Bailey was so excited to see this critter and ran up and gave him a big hug saying yay, yay!  He is just like Ainsley in the fact that he knows no strangers... or at least no large fuzzy ones.

George and the kids watching one of the puppet shows after breakfast.  It was pure fascination for the munchkins.

And here we are in one of their photo opps to prove we did it.  You can see the sign but unfortunately George cut off the Bear's head.  :)

All in all, it was a great trip and great memories for our little family of four.  I'm so thankful both physically and financially to make things like this happen.  We are truly very blessed.