Our trip to Texas!

We went on a long overdue trip to Texas at the beginning of December.  I was sooo excited to take the boys there and show them where I grew up.  I was also super excited to spend some quality time with my fam!  The boys were not only looking forward to going to Texas, they were very excited about their first airplane trip!  

Our bags are packed and ready to go!

Vann wanted to wear his Santa hat in the airport ha!

Vann and little Ash

Ash, Chayce and I sat on one side... 

Chris and Vann sat on the other side.

Our plane was supposed to take off at 8:30pm, but we got delayed about 2 hours.  

This little cutie did so good for being up so late.  We didn't land till after midnight and none of the boys slept at all on the plane.  They were too excited! 

We did all kinds of fun things while we were there.  I did not take near enough pictures...kinda mad at myself for that.  Here are the pics I did take...

Making gingerbread houses

Stopped by Target because I forgot to pack Chris underwear...oops!  We ran into my cousin...how crazy is that?!

One night we took the kids to Six Flags to ride some rides and see all of the pretty lights they had up for Christmas.  Vann and Chayce rode on their first real roller coaster!   Totally brought back memories from when I was a kid.  After the last big drop Chaycers was like, yeah I'm not doing that again ha!  Vann loved it and went on a bigger one with Sam.  He would've done more, but the lines were all pretty long.  What's great is that we all got season passes so, we can get in free at the Six Flags here in Illinois!  I will for sure be taking them to ride more rides once it gets nice out.  

Sam and Vann in line for one of the roller coasters.

The boys each got a light saber type of sword.  And yep they did fit in our suitcases and are still being played with :)

They had this pretty Christmas tree made out of Christmas trees!

We went to this ginormous hotel that had huge ice sculptures.  Karen, Tommy, and their daughter, Meghan, went with us.  I haven't seen her since she was like 6 years old!  Need to plan for more time with her and their son, Jordan, next time we go visit. 

It was 9 degrees in there so we all had to wear parkas.  

There's Frosty!

Vann going down an ice slide!  Chris went down the slide too...so wish I would've gotten a picture of that!

Little Ash all bundled up!

And my Chaycers :)

The nativity scene in ice...super cool!

My sisters, Chaycers and I :)

Sam, Karen and the boys

We took the boys to an indoor trampoline park a couple of times.  They loved it!!

Sam's dog, Molly, snuggling with Chayce :)

Love this!

Zach, Sam's son, and Vann...He came home from college a day before we left...so happy I got to spend a little time with him!

Ash insisted on pulling the suitcase!

My silly boy in the airplane on the way home.  Would you believe we got delayed 3 hours on the way home?!  Crazy.  The older two boys slept on the plane this time, but little Ash did not.  He fell asleep in my arms like 5 seconds 'after' we landed.  But he did great on the plane so, it was all good.  

We also went indoor sky diving...super duper cool!!  Vann loved it and did amazing!  He flew 4 times.  Chaycers did it one time and thought that was enough haha!  But I'm so happy he tried it.  Even Chris, Grandpa and I all flew...it's really fun! 

What else did we do?  The boys played at a park that's two blocks from Sam's house.  It was much warmer out there than it was up here so, we took advantage of that and were outside as much as possible.  My sister Karen spent the night at Sam's with us one night so, we all got to catch up a bit which I loved.  Honestly, my most favorite thing was bonding with my sisters.  The way they instantly loved my kids was just the best!  

I went to visit my best friend from grade school, Lea.  Soooo good to see her and meet one of her kiddos, the other one was in school.  Next time I need to plan more time to hang out with her...miss her like crazy!  

The boys got a lot of bonding time with Grandpa.  Little Ash just loves him!  He still asks 'Where's Grandpa?!'  I love it!  

It was an amazing trip!!  I didn't even know how much I needed that time with all of them, but I so did.  I can assure you it will not be another 15 years before we go back...I hope to make it a yearly thing!  

Okie doke, I'm off to get these kids busy doing school work.  I hope you have a super great day!!