Ahhhhhhh, TEXAS!

We left Virginia after more snow, rain, go-cart riding, and lack of visit to historical markers. It's just a bad time of the year to expect to go to Williamsburg and walk around when it is 37 degrees and extremely windy. We drove from Newport News to Bristol, TN. We had to make it to TN. There was no other option for my husband. We spent the next day driving through TN and only made it to Memphis. Tennessee is pretty long. The third day, we drove from Memphis to my brother's house in Sulphur Springs, TX, where it was raining, again, but the kids were too excited to care. My parents had just helped my brother's family build a big tree-fort in their backyard. We spent 4 days just hanging out with them, going to tennis lessons, watching softball get cancelled due to inclement weather, and celebrating Chloe's 11th birthday. She had a blast. We went to my parents' ranch to ride go-carts and eat cake, of course! Christina (my favorite sister-in-law) made home-made pizza, so we left fat and happy.

We started the drive to Colorado where our entire family went skiing for a week. PaKenny, Nana, Ken, Christina, Jared, Raychel, Hannah, Joe, Tori, Caylea, Chloe, Josh...that's a lot of folks! After a few minutes of ski repair, my kids took right back to it. I did too, amazingly enough, although I still fell several times. Christina kept hoping to see one of my 'spectacular' falls, and I kept praying for her NOT to. Those falls my look great, but they HURT! By the third day, I was done, but my kids, husband, nephew, and parents weren't. They all went skiing some more while the rest of us made sandwiches. lol We got to ride on snowmobiles, which was probably my most fun memory of the week. I had Chloe sitting behind me (yes, they let me drive) and we caught air a few times. She wasn't a fan of that. I was, so I had her sit out while I went on my own in the big 'play' field. That was a blast! We also went to a wildlife park where we saw "Dork" get his antler stuck on his food bowl. (Pictures to come later, or check him out on our Snapfish account.) We also saw a cougar eating his breakfast and the female cougar was upset about something so she was 'talking.' That was creepy, not a sound I would ever want to hear on a long walk in the woods!

We left Colorado to go back to Texas and stopped at a Museum of Natural History off of the famous Route 66 highway. They have a very interesting version of History, but the bones were fun to look at and play with. We ate steak and Mexican food while we were in Texas. Some things need no explanation. :)

We got back on Saturday and our 5 left Sunday to go to Jackson, where we caught the flight out on Monday. We flew on a C-17. That was the most fun plane ride of my entire life. They have cargo seating with a huge empty space in the middle. Across the aisle from me was a 2 year old little boy who looked terrified. My kids and I started throwing our hands up in the air and yelling like we were on a roller coaster and he started copying. He lost the terrified look and started having fun. You can't really hear on those planes and you have to wear ear plugs, so you can yell all you want and not be ashamed. It was a blast! We slept on the cold metal floor, but we didn't get too cold. We had blankets. Next time I'm bringing and air mattress, though. Metal floors are hard on the hips and back!

We're back in Germany now....we had beautiful weather for a week and then the typical 'second winter' hit. By the first weekend in May, it'll be back to beautiful. We're finishing up school before the list of guests get here this summer. There's always room for more! Romans 12:13 says ...Practice hospitality. Get over here and let us practice on you!!! :)