4th of July 2011

This is our 3rd summer in a row to get to be at Hot Springs Village for the 4th of July. It is a wonder spot to be to watch spectacular fireworks, enjoy fun swimming, allow John to continue his tradition of the BIGGEST splash at the pool contest, and to enjoy time with extended family making great memories. This year was especially fun because 4th of July followed our family reunion so we had LOTS of family to hang out with. Not everyone came to the lake for the fireworks, and they missed out because one again, it was a beautiful show! We got to dance with a huge group of people and see John's Uncle Jim and Aunt MaryLynn truly "cut a rug" together on the dance floor! The kids enjoyed doing the "YMCA" and "The Cupid Shuffle". The kids were excited about eating a funnel cake too. Last year some random kid took a bite of their funnel cake....they still talk about that! Fun times!

Adams Family Reunion 2011 HSV, Arkansas

This is The Adams Family on Good Behavior:

This is what we are REALLY like:

After being gone to New Mexico for 10 days, we came home had our van broken in to with my wallet STOLEN and the important cords for all of our electronics plus our stereo, we washed our clothes, repacked and took off for our family reunion in Arkansas with John's maternal side of the family. They are a fun group of people and between all of the cousins we have LOTS of children, so there were lots of "cousin friends" to play with. John's Uncle Bobby and Aunt Rosie have some good friends that run a Christian camp not far from Hot Springs Village.
They were kind enough to offer their facility for the family to use. It was such a perfect location. There was a petting zoo, zip line, homemade merry-go-round, tractor rides and canoeing. And it was all in the beautiful setting of the wooded Arkansas hills! We sure enjoyed visiting with everyone and getting to see everyone's children. I look forward to our next time together and hopefully we will have more opportunities to visit and not have to chase young children for the afternoon! A great time was had by all!

Ruidoso with The Fabulous Five

Last Spring, my wonderful friend and ex-neighbor called me up and asked if I wanted to go to her parents' vacation home in Ruidoso, New Mexico with her and and her two kids. We have known the Nix family for about 10 years and although we live miles apart, we keep in touch. There was no re-thinking this, as my Momma always said my middle name is "Go". I anxiously discussed it with John and told him about all of the great things we could do. He then let me know that he would not have enough vacation time to join us on the trip. We looked at different scenarios and there just wasn't a good plan for him to be able to go along with us, so I loaded up our big white van and headed to Lubbock for a night and then onto to Brownfield to meet up with Tamera and her children. She is a brave friend to be inviting me with FIVE kids to go along with her on a vacation that would last more than a week!!! Tamera has two children, they are 13 and 11....It has been a while since she has had a 4 year-old and a one-year-old in the house! But that is one thing that I love about Tamera (or Ms. Tamera as my kids call her), she is very laid back and keeps the kids hopping with activity and she LOVES young children and doesn't seem to get annoyed by their childishness or whining or...just being a little kid! We had SO much fun. I had never driven to West Texas before. It was so sad to see how the drought had affected the land and as we got into New Mexico we even saw evidences of wildfires: scorched mountainsides and barren fields and forests. It was quite sobering. We stopped in Olney, Texas to see my Aunt and we ate at a local cafe. The locals stared at us...I mean, I was a site to see being by myself with 5 children in a small cafe, and it was obvious that I was a stranger. It was like a scene from a scary movie! We enjoyed our hotel stay in Lubbock and the kids REALLY enjoyed swimming after a long day in the car. My friend, Gracie loaned me her GPS so it was fun navigating in a new place with the electronic voice telling us where to go! (little did I know that would be the only trip that I would get to use the GPS since someone broke into my van the day after we returned and store the GPS all, cords, my stereo and my wallet...as I digress...sorry) We enjoyed a week of visiting museums, scooter rides, Smokey the Bear, White Sands Sledding, trampoline jumping, swimming in the pool with freezing temps, sweating at night from an unseasonable heat wave, going to a Hoe-Down, watching a little girl beauty pageant, seeing a movie, shopping in town, visiting a haunted hotel, picking cherries and I could go on and on. Tamera has been coming here for long time and she knows all of the fun things to do. We celebrated Father's Day, without either of our husbands present, at the country club. It was such a great trip and I felt rather guilty that John missed out on all of our fun. Savannah's favorite part was going to White Sands, Whitney's favorite part was the theater that we toured, Reagan' favorite thing was the Smokey the Bear Museum, Blayne's favorite part was getting to ride in Ms. Tamera's trunk around the neighborhood of the vacation home and jumping on the trampoline with Noah, and Bryan's favorite part was feeding deer right off the back porch!