Memories

I had an extra hour of free time today and decided to take a look at some old photos.  It makes me incredibly happy to look back and and remember some really fun times.  Here is one of my all time favorite photos.  We were in Colorado snow skiing and ringing in 2008.  The kids loved a giant bubble bath at the end of every day.  

Carissa, Jenna, Bobby

Pool Time

We have had a few weeks of 80 degree plus temperatures in North Texas so the pool is finally warm enough for us all to swim!  The kids have been swimming for about 3 weeks, but its been way too cold for mom and dad to get in.  Last night, we lit up the bbq pit and had some great family time in the backyard.  

Bobby playing catch with dad (he is breaking in his new glove)

Jenna 

Carissa dancing on the waterfall

Girls playing swim tag

Bobby swimming

Halloween

Last night, the kids had a ton of fun trick or treating in our neighborhood. I hope you had a fun Halloween. Here are a few pictures of them before we left the house.

Carissa as a mummy.
Bobby as a fire dragon.

Jenna as Athena the Goddess.

Jenna and Carissa

Jenna, Carissa and Bobby.

Michigan Trip

Last week, we went to Michigan for my Grandma Eleanor's memorial service. Each day I aspire to be like my grandma. She was a woman of quiet faith, a wife and mother and always took time to listen. My scanner is broken so I can't add any picture of her right now, but I will as soon as I can.

The kids and I stayed with my cousin Rick and his family (thank you for your hospitality Barber family). We spent a day at the zoo. It was a perfect day for the zoo with the temps in the high 80's.

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Jenna and Bobby sleeping.
Carissa sleeping.

Lilly, Natalie, Jenna, Carissa, Bobby and Isabelle at the Detroit Zoo.

Bobby and Carissa checking out some animal facts.

The girls playing at the zoo park.

Arctic Ring of Life

Natalie and Carissa near the ice wall in the Arctic exhibit.

Jenna and Isabelle

Bobby on the elephant.

Lilly on the elephant.

Carissa and the elephant. She is trying to be very serious.

Ft Worth Stockyards

Yesterday, my father in law, the kids and I went to the Historic Ft. Worth Stockyards. What an adorable little area of Ft. Worth. The streets were made out of brick and you actually felt like you were in the early 1900's. The stores were made out of the old animal holding areas, where the animals waited until the were auctioned. A train track runs through the middle of the building.
We started out thinking we were just going to the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame, but once we arrived we quickly figured out we would be spending many hours there. Note...next time I will go in the spring or fall when its not 102!! We started the day at the Cowboy Hall of Fame. There were tons of booths with info and memorabilia from excellent cowboys/girls. Next we went to the "Rodeo Zone". The Rodeo Zone has a longhorn, maverick or a bull to ride (mechanical); horseshoes, and a roping section. The kids loved riding the maverick and learning how to rope. We also went to the Ft. Worth Stockyards Museum and stayed for the daily cattle drive. Here are a few pictures from our day.

My father in law dressed up as a rodeo clown with the kids. (He will kill me for posting this, so shhh..don't tell)

My father in law alone.

Bobby getting ready for his bucking longhorn ride. The only chaps in his size were pink. We told him real men wear pink.

Carissa is all ready for her bucking maverick ride. She is a mess...what can I say it was 102 outside.

Jenna driving the chuck wagon.

The kids did a Texas sized Human maze. This maze was in season 5 of The Amazing Race. It took the kids 18 minutes to find the letters M-A-Z-E. The man who runs the place said the fastest time was 4 minutes (I am sure that this person had done the maze several times).

Here is the last longhorn of the cattle drive. Bobby called this longhorn bobble head because his head bobbled the entire time.

Just Dance!

Bobby came home on Friday night. The kids and I were extremely happy to have him home. While the kids were waiting for him to arrive, they played Just Dance 2. We just hung out at the house on Saturday morning and in the afternoon Bobby had baseball practice. While he was practicing, the girls were sliding down the big hills on snow sleds. I didn't have my camera but I'll be sure to bring it next time.

Halloween

For Halloween, we went to the church behind our house. They had pony rides, a pirate ship with a cannon shooting candy, petting zoo, games and trunk or treating. Then we went trick or treating in the neighborhood.