Texas - Day 4

Wedding Day!  We spent the first half of the day just hanging out at the hotel and getting ready for the big night. 

The kids relaxing.

I painted my toes for the first time in I don't even KNOW how long.  Then I proceeded to wear cowboy boots to the wedding.  LOL!

I french braided Mary and Noelle's hair and pinned the flower from the dress into it.

 

Desiree, Mary's mom, painted the girls' finger and toe nails.

 

 

It had been raining for several days, but the sun came out just in time for the ceremony and it didn't rain anymore that day.  :)

 

Grant waiting for his Bride!

Noelle did great walking down the isle dropping rose petals about.  When it came time to stand there and do nothing though she failed miserably.  She was twitchy and kept lifting her dress up in the front.  We tried what we could to get her to stop, but it was worthless since she was on the other side and we couldn't really talk to her.  Only give dirty looks.

Mary and Noelle  

 

The Bride and Groom

 

 

Noelle just adores her Uncle Derrick.  It had only been a few months since he moved to Alaska, but she was so happy to see him!

 Such a tired little bug!  About 8pm I rocked her to sleep and she was out for about 30 minutes before she was ready to dance the night away.

By far the coolest Groom's Cake I have ever seen.

WOW, Adam can dance like you wouldn't believe.  I have video and will have to try and edit it so I can upload it .

 

This was the best wedding I have ever been to.  Great venue and wonderful friends and family!



Texas - Day 3

It was really nice to wake up Friday morning and not have to pack up and get in the car.  We were able to relax in the rooms until mid afternoon.  Justin, Lily, and I went grocery shopping and to find me a skirt while Adam and Noelle played with their cousins in the morning.   Lily and I even took a nice long nap after lunch!

 

Breakfast of donuts and applesauce.  Perfect!

We tried to put her on the floor to play anytime we could since most of the trip was spent in the car, stroller, and our arms.

 

This is how Lily and I's room was set up.  I tried to make it so she couldn't see me when she was going down and waking up.

Mid afternoon we headed out to the wedding venue for the rehearsal.  It was a beautiful place and very peaceful.

 

Mommy and Lily in front of the Lily Pond.

Lily and I checked out the donkeys and goats.  This goat checked us out and decided we were lacking some dirt.  It proceeded to butt the fence and knocked us down on MY butt.  Lily had a tiny spot on her forehead where the fence hit it, otherwise we were fine.  JERK!

Daddy and Lily

 

The rehearsal dinner was at Thirsty Planet Brewery.

 

Aunt Jenna and Lily

The cousins checking out the equipment on the Brewery tour.

Noelle, Adam, Ethan. and Mary

 

Noelle was super excited to get a Flower Girl cup with her name on it from Lindsay.

 

 

We finally made our way back to the hotel about 9:30pm.  Desiree had told us that she was able to get moved to a suite like she had reserved and that they made it sound like there were several available.  We decided to ask about it and were able to get one as well.  We headed upstairs and packed up the two rooms and moved downstairs into a room all together.  YEAH!!  It was 10pm by the time we got settled and put the kids to bed.  What a long day!



Texas - Day 2



Our second day of driving wasn't nearly as easy as the first,  It was 8 hours of white knuckled driving.  Ugh.  We also woke up really late in the hotel.  It was very dark and gloomy out at 8 am when I woke up.  The rain did give us the advantage of getting to Austin earlier than we expected to though since we didn't very many stops and when we did they were quick.

 

Justin made the kids get out and stretch when we stopped for a quick bathroom break.  LOL!

Another bottle in the front seat.  Darn rain.  

 

Justin needed to put her somewhere safe while he was getting the kids lunch.

 

The view for about 90% of the driving.

 We did get somewhat of a pretty view of TX at one point though.  I was just exciting to see non flat land.  LOL!

 

Dinner at Furr's when we finally made it to the hotel in Austin.

When we checked in at the hotel we were informed that they didn't have the room available that I reserved several weeks beforehand.  I had reserved a 1 bedroom suite with a kitchen so we would be able to put the kids to bed in the bedroom and be able to stay awake ourselves in the living area.  Then Justin and I would just sleep on the pull out couch at night.  We were pretty annoyed.  Instead of a 1 bedroom suite we were in 2 separate rooms that only had one bed each.  The rooms were not adjoining or even next to each other.  This left Lily and I in one room and Justin and the older kids down the hall in another one.  It also meant I was secluded once it was time for Lily to go to sleep.  And poor Justin had to share a bed with both older kids.  Noelle tosses and turns ALL night and is all over the bed.  Grrr...  It makes no sense to me why they didn't contact us and explain the situation ahead of time so we could decide how to handle it.  The guy who checked us in didn't even offer to let us know when a room became available so we could move.  On top of our reservation not being held the hotel also did the same thing to Justin's sister and her kids!  If I ever go to Austin again I can guarantee I will not be staying at that hotel.

Texas - Day 1

We were supposed to leave the house at 8am, but I forgot to set an alarm and we didn't wake up until 7:30.  Oops!  We still made it out of the driveway at 9am, even with loading in the pouring rain. We got gas and ran by the bank and were on the road for good by 9:30.

They're ready to go!

She got fussy just a tiny bit the whole day.  She loves to chew on the silicone cover to my phone so we gave he Justin's cover and she happily chewed until she passed out.  LOL!!

We stopped in some tiny town that I can't recall the name of and found a little picnic area to eat at.  Unfortunately it was fairly chilly out, but we were dry!  

Trying some applesauce for the first time.  She's such a stinker!  When I tried again in the hotel she did seem to like it though.

Keeping warm with Daddy.

 Adam and Noelle ate lunch with their blankets over their legs since they had shorts on.

I chose to drive East to Limon and then down through the corner of Oklahoma so we would miss any morning rush hour traffic.  Which was useless since we left so late.  Oh well!

We saw TONS of these turbines going South Towards Oklahoma.  They were huge and just off the road on Wind Farms.

Rows upon rows as far as we could see.  J and I were mesmerized by them.  The kids?  Couldn't have cared less.

I love seeing really old dilapidated buildings.

One of the Cities we passed through.  J grew up on a street named Campo.

These were in Boise City, OK where we stopped real quick.  It was the ONLY town along our route in Oklahoma and was in the middle between Colorado and Texas.

TEXAS!!

Like I said, it rained a lot of the day, but the sun was able to peak through a little and we saw a double rainbow.  

Actually, the brighter arc was a full rainbow so we saw the entire arc.  Very cool.  Again, the kids were not impressed.

We drove a total of 8 hours and stopped in Plainview, TX for the night.  The kids all did awesome!  It was rainy but didn't affect our driving any.  

Enjoying getting to play out of her car seat.