Plano, Texas (Days 2 and 3)

On Saturday, Dawn took us to a really cool swimming pool. It's a city-owned facility with an outdoor pool AND two indoor pools. The outdoor one had a beach entrance with a few little splash fountains built it. Daniel had the best time running through them and getting sprayed.

(All pool pictures were taken by Dawn. Thanks, Dawn!). Here are my cute boys at the indoor pool. Every little kid was required to borrow a vest to wear while they swam. The indoor pool had lots of different sections that were all connected. On one side, there was a circle area with a bench all the way around for lounging. Circled around that was the whirl pool section. The water pushed you around and around the circle until you decided to jump out of the opening. On the other side of the pool there was a fun climb-and-slide play are for the kids. They even had hanging ropes to swing on. Every time you pulled down on one, a bucket of water would drop down on you. (Sorry no picture of this.)

Daryl went down the two indoor water slides. To get to either one you had to climb the spiral staircase to the metal platform. For one of the slides, you sit in a tube inside the wall, and it dumps you out on the other side and into the dive tank. It looked really cool.

Heidi didn't care for the water too much, at first. After slowly easing her in farther and farther, she got used to it and had fun time. After a while of sitting in the water, she got too tired and fell asleep. Shortly after, Daniel decided he was through as well. He looked so cute wrapped up in Heidi's Ducky towel.

We had a blast at the pool with Dawn and her kids. What a great place to play.

Day 3 came on a Sunday. Just like at home, Dawn and her family had 9 o'clock church. And, also just like home, Daniel and Heidi had to be taken out one time each. Daniel for a "talking to", and Heidi for a nap. Unfortunately this time, all four of us really needed a nap. We must have looked pretty silly sitting in that pew, trying to stay awake. You don't realize how tired you really are until you stop and sit a while. I was a little embarrassed about the whole thing. After sacrament meeting was over, Daryl drove us back to their house to go to sleep. He stayed awake with Heidi, (she woke up shortly after we arrived there) and Daniel and I crashed for a little while. Thanks honey, for the much needed rest.

Plano, Texas (Day 4)

On Monday (Yes, I know, I'm a little mixed upon days.) we went to the Dallas Zoo. We made a bunch of sandwiches, threw them into the little cooler, and headed out. Unfortunately, Jack (13) wasn't able to go with us. He left earlier that morning for a huge scout outing.

The entrance to the zoo was painted lots of fun bright colors. (Sorry no picture.) This was their way of camouflaging the fact that the the shaded cover over-head was really an over-pass for one of Dallas' MANY freeways. What a great use of space!

We saw many animals, of course. The gorilla habitat was particularly large.

Here's Daniel with Bart, Dawn, Madeline and Wyatt as they search for gorillas.
The kids stopped to pet an alligator between gorilla sightings.

My favorite, as most of you may guess, was the African Black-footed Penguins.

Probably the most fun thing at the zoo was the children's section. It incorporated lost of different buildings and sights into one compact, kid-friendly space. In the center of it all there was a cool little river for the kids to wade and play in.

Madeline and Savannah had a great time with the water fountain at the opposite side or the river.

Daniel wasted no time testing it out himself.

On the far right of the circle was "Travis and Zach's Bird Landing" It's an aviary where several kinds of birds fly around. If you're lucky and calm they'll even land and perch on you hand or on your shoulder. We took some cute pictures of Heidi while we waited to get in. And here are some of Madeline... and her friends.

Madeline made lots of bird friends.

Here she is introducing one of them to Daniel.

After the aviary, we went to "The Underground" where we (ok they) crawled through a tunnel to watch some baby groundhogs in their burrow. Wyatt held Daniel up in one of the viewing domes so I could get a picture of them. (He was a little too helpful and bumped his head on the top of it.) Sorry bud.

On our way out we stopped to check out the"Nature Exchange". This is where kids go and bring any type of fossil or geological item them have discovered. If the workers find it interesting they will "buy" it from them for points. Then, after collecting lots of points, the kids are able to "buy" something cool on display in the store. They also have a small bin of shells and little rocks so each kid can choose one to take for free. (I just wish I'd taken pictures of this part.) We had a great time at the zoo. What a fun place to be with family!

Plano, Texas (Day One)

Several months ago, we (ok I) decided that we needed a family vacation. I wanted to go somewhere we've never been, and as a bonus, it would be great if we knew someone there that we could visit too. After discussing and planning, we agreed that we would drive to Plano, TX (near Dallas) and visit my sister, Dawn, her husband, Bart, and their 4 kids. We left Thurs. June 3rd and drove for 16 hours straight to her house. I'd even packed a cooler of lunches and snacks to minimize stopping time. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the kids, Heidi in particular, handled the trip. I owe it all to a little divine intervention, and our backseat babysitter, MR. DVD. The next day, Friday, we all drove to Six Flags Over Texas, in Arlington.

Here's Heidi relaxing in the stroller when we first got into the park.

Daniel loved to ride the big-rig trucks in Looney Toon Town. He even got to drive! Madeline rode in the front seat of their truck.

Savannah "drove" the truck behind them.

Here's a picture of Dawn and her kids at the Titan roller coaster. Daryl road this one and several other roller coasters with our nephews Jack and Wyatt (13 and 11). Even Madeline, age 7, got on the Titan. She survived alright, but her cute white skirt did not. Her nose started bleeding and it got all over her skirt. Luckily she had shorts on underneath so we could take it off.

Wyatt, Daryl and and Jack had a great time together on the Batman ride. I was going to to ride it too, but I backed out when we got there and I could see how ginormous the thing was. No regrets.

Here's a picture of Heidi an I while Daniel rode with Bart on the Tea Cups.Daniel and I rode on this ride together. It's called "El Sombrero". It looked harmless enough. I didn't care for it myself. As we were getting off and walking back to the group, Daniel said, "Uh go tell Daddy cary (scary)." Apparently he wasn't a fan either. Sorry buddy. I also rode on a couple of rides with Daryl. We went on a Tony Hawke roller coaster. There was also a bobsled type ride that Bart rode with us. A few of us went on a log ride too. It was a great day!

7 Months

Heidi turned 7 months old on the 11th of June. She's always so happy and active. She sits up pretty much on her own now. She can even scoot herself across the room to get to anything she wants. Here are a few fun pictures of her. As you can see, she recently discovered her tongue as well.

Here's a picture of her trying to scoot to her toys.

We love you our little Heidi Girl!

Baptized

Friday, June 12th, I took the kids and went with most of Daryl's family up to the cabin in Pinetop. Arleen's son was getting baptized in Linden (1/2 hour away) that Saturday. Trent drove my suburban for me. This was Daryl's week on-call, so he had to stay home.
We had a nice relaxing Saturday morning. Then, as we were heading out to the baptism, it began to rain. Those of us with umbrellas made several trips from vehicles to church building, trying to keep the little ones from getting soaked.
The baptism was very nice. Noah was baptized by his father, and also confirmed a member of the church. He looked so happy all dressed in white. Congratulations, Noah on your big day!

Here is a pictutre of Noah and Grandma Lamoreaux.