Road trip: Two days of rest

July 8-9, 2006

We got a well deserved break from the all-day driving. If only my kids would sleep in, it would've been even better.

We stayed with my Aunt Irene(mom's sister) and Uncle Bill. My Grandma Cuca was there with us, as well. We had a great visit with them. They have a cute little white dog, Asti, that my kids fell in love with. Irene is convinced we need a dog. Andrew's not.

We packed a picnic lunch and went to a park with a big playground. They had merry-go-rounds. I don't think I've seen one of those at a playground since I was a kid! I was so excited and Brandon got on. I warned him, "Hold on!" And started spinning him...fast... You can guess what happened next. He went flying off the merry-go-round and tumbled to the ground. He wasn't hurt much, but refused to get back on the rest of the time. (Smart boy!)

Then we went to the Ft Worth Zoo. It is a great sized zoo. The one in Tucson, AZ is really tiny and the one in NC is almost TOO big. We had a great time walking around. We got quite a workout and I think we more than made up for the two days of sitting all day. They had a special dinosaur exhibit spread throughout the zoo and little passports that you could stamp with each species. Brandon loved that. The coolest part of the zoo was that we got to hear the lion roar. Have you ever heard that in real life? I hadn't. It was amazing. It is such a deep sound. You could almost FEEL it. Kind of like when a car drives by you with loud music and a lot of bass. It was humbling and exciting. (Brandon and I liked that the best.) Whitney told me her favorite was the alligator.

After the zoo, we went on a little train ride through part of Ft. Worth. It was near a little canal thingy and we got to see turtles, ducks, pigeons, and egrets. Very cool.

On Sunday we went to church. I always enjoy attending church out of town and seeing how other wards run. And it reminds me what a small world it is. The family in front of us had just moved to TX from NC. And the ward clerk talked to me out in the hall and he had served his mission in Greensboro. Crazy.

We had a nice dinner to celebrate Grandma Cuca's 75th birthday(a few days late). I was glad we could be with her for that.

After dinner we went for a little sail on the lake near their home. It was great. The kids did really well. Whitney got a chance to steer the boat--what a big girl! Brandon got restless about half way through and decided to play down in the cabin. Irene and Bill tried to warn him it would be hot down there, but he didn't care. He would yell things to us from the cabin like, "Ready to turn, mateys?" or "Do you see land, mateys?" all said in a bad British accent. Pretty funny kid.

Happy birthday, Grandma!

Me and the kids are ready for the train.

Whitney and Uncle Bill by the T-rex
It growled at them right as I took the picture
and Whitney wanted out of his way!

Whitney taking her turn steering the ship.
We didn't even get off course.
Hopefully teaching her to drive a car
in 13 years will be just as easy. :)