Quick Look Back

Okay, so these are MONTHS older than what I'd thought.  But here goes in my effort to catch up.  So sorry.  I'll try to explain them as I go.

We decided at the end of August to send Kelsey and John to Texas to stay with Shawn until he found a house for us. That way, they'd start school with the rest of their class should we not find a home in time.  Well, we stopped by Billy the Kid's grave in New Mexico.  The kids thought it was pretty cool to see lizards crawling over the gravestones.  And they didn't quite understand why the stone was in bars.  I guess that's fitting for an outlaw.

But during our brief visit, we visited the Alamo.  They don't allow pictures inside the structure so we had to settle for the ones we got of the grounds.  Pretty cool.  Actually, it was SUPER hot and we didn't quite have enough water to keep everyone's mouth wet.  But the kids enjoyed seeing the sights.

Our kids' first experience with a prickly pear cactus.  Macher tried picking a fruit and came to find that the fruit has teeny spikes all over them.  I guess by the time they make it to the grocery store, the distributors have rubbed off all of the spikes.

But John thought it was great fun to walk up and touch the cactus leaves, pointing out that if he went in between the spikes, he was okay.  Yes, that's true, but probably not a good idea since Joe and Jack don't have the greatest sense of balance and they'd inevitably poke themselves.

 Bekah had to try anything that John did.  Me, I was content to wait in the shade.  Like I said, I'm not opposed to heat, but it was oven intense this particular day.  Maybe someday I'll get used to
115 degrees.  Naw.  Redheads don't belong in the sun.
 

 We loved seeing the trees and fountains.  Some of the communities around Austin have small splash parks where the kids enjoyed cooling off.  They have shaded areas for mom and dad too!  The kids had loads of fun playing with our friends' kids.  It was hot and it was only 10:00 am.  Boy!  We have a lot to get used to in Texas summers.

We had only brought with us John and Kelsey's swimming suits, believing that the rest of the kids wouldn't need them during our brief visit.  Well, they didn't.  Clothes work just fine in splash parks.  At least I didn't have to worry so much about getting sunburned in their regular clothes.  They had a great time!