A Ft. Worth Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we made a quick trip to Ft. Worth to spend some much overdue time with Vinny's side of the the family.  It was wonderful to see everyone...it's amazing how much all of the cousins have grown!!!

The boys on Thanksgiving

While we were there we ate SO much.  We had to eat at our Texas favorites: What-A-Burger...the absolute best fast food burger!  We also had Shipley's do-nuts.  Hands down the BEST do-nuts EVER!!!  Their hot and fresh glazed do-nuts are amazing, melt in your mouth...they also have kolachies (think pigs in a blanket only much, much better)  sausage, cheese, and jalapeno.  Shipley's has ruined all other do-nuts for me (when we lived in Houston we would eat there once a week if not more).  I don't want to think of how many do-nuts I consumed while we were there and my stomach literally just growled thinking of those do-nuts!  If the closest Shipley's wasn't 577 miles away I would totally make Vinny drive me there in the morning (yes I did just look it up!)  Vinny's brother took us to a true whole in the wall Mexican restaurant..that was delicious.  We ate Fuzzy's Tacos...weird name, but very good!  Then Saturday we went to the flea market mostly so we could get our Mexican cup of fruit with lime and chili powder. 

Besides all of the going out to eat, we had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner.  We had a TON of family at Vinny's brother's house.  We had 4 turkeys, 2 deep fried by Vinny and 2 baked and then all the traditional fixings.  We were all stuffed!  Both of Vinny's brother were there and this was the first time in like 15 years they have all been together for a holiday.  After eating we played some games, Left Right Center, Spoons, and Poker.  I even went out "Black Friday" shopping with my sister-in-law and her sister.  It was pretty fun!

We made a trip to Cabela's and this was the best Cabela's I've ever been in.  It was so awesome.  They have a ton of taxidermied animals, but they have them grouped in sections almost like a museum.  Plus they have a huge aquarium.  (Oh and across the street in a huge pasture, there was a herd of buffalo!)

Love those Texas sunsets!

Those are birds!

I have a big love/hate relationship with Texas, but while there I was reminded of a few things I love: #1 Family, of course!  and then the big beautiful sun sets (Colorado sunsets are amazingly beautiful, but very different because we have the mountain in the way and it is so very different!) and the crazy amount of birds that just sit on each intersections light posts.  It's one of those random things that I completely forgot about living in Colorado, but was a regular occurrence in Texas.  I don't know why it just fascinates me!

Summer 2013 -- Grand Adventure -- Last Stop

To break up the long drive back home we stopped in Kearny Nebraska and went to the museum over the interstate.  We kind of debated on whether to stop there or not because it was a little pricey, but it was well worth it...it was amazing.  It was a self-guided audio tour.  Even the kids slowed down and looked at everything and we learned a lot there.

They were excited talking about how they went to Yellowstone last summer!

Looking down on the highway!

There was also a little area to explore outside too.

Of course we had to feed the fish and they were going crazy!

The geographical center of the US.

Finally back in CO and we were greeted with a beautiful sunset!

We had such a great time on vacation and even though I am a slacker about putting these things on here...it was kind of nice to relive vacation a few months later on...the boys were watching me put these pics on here and were so excited and kept saying "oh I remember that!!"

Summer 2013 -- Grand Adveture -- Illinois Paradise

My cousin invited us to stay the night at his house before we headed for home.  They own some property and it is absolutely gorgeous!!  We swam in their little pond, had a fish fry, then did some fishing, and enjoyed a campfire.  AMAZING!  John and Cindy are so hospitable and we wish would could have spent more time with them.

Swimming in their little pond.

Trey was hesitant to go out to the dock, but I finally got him out there.

Everyone enjoying the water...it was nice and warm!

We got out the boat and did a little fishing.

The first one Tucker caught.

My handsome little man.

Tucker was in fishing heaven!

Trey's first catch.

Summer 2013 -- Grand Adventure -- Illinois Family

After our camping trip we drove down to Illinois to visit my dad's family.  They live by the Fox River and have a great pool to swim in.  It was nice to see everyone again and wish we could have stayed longer.

Swimming wore Tucker out!

The boys by Fox River.

Summer 2013 -- Grand Adveture -- Cherry Picking

Door County is famous for their cherries, so we had to go experience cherry picking first hand!  And I didn't mention in my camping post, but we had a visitor join us for a couple of day, our very good friend and most favorite preschool teacher, Miss Jessica.  She camped with us, hiked with us, and went cherry picking.  It was so good to see her and we had such a great time!

That's a lot of cherry pits.

So excited!

Ty was a very slow picker, but very proud of what he picked.

It's hard to be short when it comes to cherry picking.

Here's our whole group checking out the cherries.

The boys and Miss Jessica and their cherries!

Me and my boys and our bucket of cherries!

Summer 2013 -- Grand Adventure -- Door County Scenery

It was so beautiful there and so nice to be near the water.  Everything was just so green, it almost looked fake.

Rocky shore line

an island out in the bay

The view from the top of the tower (pictured below).

So green....I just loved it!

the cool rocks on our hike



This is not in Door County..this was on the way back down on the other side of the peninsula, so this is looking out at Lake Michigan.  We just stopped here for a quick bathroom break, but it was so beautiful!!!