GB & PM part 3

Family picture:  we had to take our annual family picture in front of Mom's bushes.  This time around we of course had more issues to deal with- more kids then laps, nap schedules, hungry kids and redneck tooth (c has a snaggel tooth that refuses to fall out, but sticks out enough to gross you out).   For the most part everyone was really good, but toward the end c got silly and this is the pic we got.  Be on the lookout for good pictures from Holly's camera.  For those of you that knew my sisters when they were little, I bet you can guess who belongs to whom!  

GB & PM part 2

Spam museum:   A trip to Iowa is not complete without a swing through Austin.  We went to the SPAM museum first. Caroline of course wanted to make SPAM and even with Papa Marc coaching and a practice round she still lost to the amazing mommy.  However at the SPAM exam quiz show, Grandma Becky kicked all our buns. C discovered she was old enough to enjoy the humor of MontyPython's  flying circus with the spam, spam, eggs and spam skit.    The spam food truck was parked out front so we taste tested spam curds-batter fried spam and cheese sticks.  Everyone agreed they were awesome. Of course we had to spend a few of Papa's points in the gift shop and I got a tin side spam lunchbox and a new long sleeve spam shirt.  We even found a mike the knight look a like in sir can a lot and purchased Parker a magnet and tattoo.

Of course we had to have lunch at Taco Johns and introduce c to potato oles!  Jeanne Tomlinson met us there before we drove by our houses (there is too much "town" between our house and the corn fields now) and schools (Shaw has been gone for a long time, but it is still disorienting when trying to find Putt's house). 

Summer at Grandma Becky and Papa Marc's lake

Crazy games with auntie Jill: Jill brought 45 glow sticks!  We broke them all and headed to the basement after dark for an hour of craziness.  Parker and Brayden wore their bracelets and swung their arms around to watch the glow.  Brayden rolled hoops down the hall.  Amy and C played ring the gak.  C and Jill pretended they were a circus act and tossed them back and forth until Parker came running through yelling "pause!"

Coffee with the big girls: while mom took the boys to get party supplies c got to have coffee ( ok, hot chocolate) at the chocolate season with the aunties.  She was not impressed that Landon was on the girl team.  She wanted her aunties to herself!

It's just a few blocks: from the coffee shop we walked over to the pet shop and then decided to go to a local park.  It would have been a few blocks to walk back to the cars and then a struggle to get the boys in car seats so Jill and I walked with the boys ( I held L, she skipped with P and B). While everyone else went to move cars (c went with Holly of course). Our walk was a bit further than we expected, but the kids were troopers and we even got to stop at a fire station along the way.

How does Mrs Dugger get anything done:  As we attempted to sit down to our first meal with all kids and grand kids it seemed like a three ring circus of needing more milk, I want to sit there, I don't need a booster seat, where are the napkins and yes you do need to take no thank you bite.  But by the time my sisters left, we were a well oiled machine.

Water balloons: we forgot to blow up the balloons the boys had picked out for c's party, so we decided to let them toss water balloons instead.  Of course they weren't meant for water so we had some close casualties.  Brayden squeezed a little too hard and had one explode all over him.  His face was priceless!  Of course when his mom asked if he needed dry clothes because he was wet, he thought she meant he had had an accident and was adamant that he was not wet and would not be changing.  

Fishing with Uncle Brian:  kids went crappie fishing off the dock and caught close to 20 fish. Brayden caught his first fish and carried it up the hill for us to see.  C had a blast sight casting.

2013 Easter Pics

A Glimpse of the Future

We had a new exeperience this week. Amy and I were half of a "foursome" to see Lord of the Dance at the Galveston Opera House. Oh boy...looks like trouble to me!

More Big Bend pictures

Top of the lost mine trail. 2.5 miles and 1200 feet up. This trail was later renamed the "mommy death march" because I kept growling, " just keep walking" as we were going up hill. I tripped and created a rock-a-lanch coming down and landed in the lap of a very surprised family that was headed up.



Caroline riding Sunny. Her first time riding a horse without someone leading it. She loved it!

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Nebletts in front of Mariscol mountain. This is the southern most point in the American Rocky Mountain chain

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The fam in big bend state park.

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Big Bend has its own species of mutant blue bonnets. They grow to be 3 or 4 feet tall rather than the 18 inches we have around here.

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We hiked in to a hot spring along the Rio Grande one afternoon. Unfortunately our footwear was not exactly beachy.

2,073 miles later...

...we're back from Big Bend National Park. The weather was ideal, and we had a terrific time. Each morning we left in the dark to be on the hiking trails at first light.

We calculated our total hikes and came up with 21.5 miles in 4 days of hiking plus 2 hours on horseback.

Crossing the Pecos river on day 2.

Santa Elena canyon on the Rio Grande. Our first hike of the trip at BBNP. There were tons of people on this trail that afternoon. It seemed like they too had just gotten to the park since many of the kids seemed to be in traveling clothes and flip flops. It got us a little worried but every day after that we were on the trail at dawn and were the first ones on many trails.

Caroline's first trip to Mexico. This is not what you expect for the mighty Texas Mexico border. We followed the law and never touched land on the other side, but we did do a lot of rock chunking from the center of the river.

Caroline and Amy in the last mile of the trip. Caroline was the " scout, speedboat or cheetah" most of the week to encourage her to keep going. Amy was the " anchor or grandma" for most of the trip. At some point along this trail Caroline took off her jacket and tied it on my backpack telling me, " Mom, now you have a cheetah skin on your back. You can go faster. Easy for her to say when we are carrying all her stuff!