Our First Big Family Vacation

We took our first real family vacation last September. Destination: Arizona. We planned it our the Raider game in Phoenix against the Cardinals which was on the 26th. We DROVE all the way there with two 20 month old twin boys. The drive was actually fun, sort of. We stopped for a short day and half visit in El Paso. Here is our El Paso Photo Album. Visited with the parents, grandparents and check out my lil sis's volleyball game. The boys had their first encounter with popcorn there and loved it. On Saturday the 25th we packed up and headed for a much shorter drive from El Paso to Scottsdale. We made a quick stop in Tucson to see my big bro and his family. We would see them again on Sunday for the Raider game. Made it to our resort in Scottsdale with no probs and relaxed.

Sunday was a fun, long day of tailgating and the Raider game. My bro and a neighbor of his grilled up some tasty food for us then we got to see a great game with a disappointing ending as Janikowski missed a FG in the last seconds. Raiders should have won that game, but gave away too many penalties...not to mention the opening kickoff they allowed the Cards to return for a TD.

We set out to Arizona with a week and a half to spend on our trip and had only one thing planned...the Raider game. The rest of the time was just do whatever we felt like doing once we got there. On Monday we chillaxed at the pool and pretty much did nothing. It was awesome. Tuesday we were psyched to go check out the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium Holly found online. The zoo was tons of fun with the boys. Got a crazy number of pics too...there was this one really cool bird. Reminded me of one of the Skeksis from the Dark Crystal! It wasn't ugly looking like a skeksis, but it reminded of them...not sure why. Holly had a blast taking pictures of a osterich that was smiling at her. Reminiscent of the scene of Spencer and the ostrich in the opening credits of iCarly. What?? Here are our Raider Tailgate and Wildlife Zoo photo album. We left around lunch for a bite to eat. Boys got a short nap on the road and then back to the zoo to check out their aquarium. Really neat place...but it was crazy record breaking heat the weekend we were there.

The rest of the week was a lot more of nothing. Time at the pool and kiddie fountains and a morning hike at Echo Canyon Park. There were tons of people there on a weekday walking/jogging up this pretty big mountain. Good thing was there was a lot of shade for most the morning, bad thing was it was still pretty warm, but oh so pretty. This is our Final Days photo album for the trip. We had too much fun...it is gonna be tough to top it. These vids are from breakfast one of our lazy days and one from Echo Canyon Park where Jordan all of a sudden decide it would try to repel down the stairs.

Austin to El Paso in 2:39 (Highway 40)

The 4th (and 5th) In EPT

July 4th and 5th came and went. Spent the whole time with family and it is still not enough. Saturday morning it was off to Great Grandma Licha's for breakfast. Food never tastes as good as it does at Grandma's kitchen. We got a pic of her and all the great grand-kids. There was one...and only one pic that came out where Bella wasn't making a funny face. I don't know if she always does it on purpose or by accident, but she makes the most hilarious faces in front of the camera. In the photo album you will see one where it looks like Jeremy is choking the life out of her.

After eating at Grandma's, it was off to Grandpa Andy's for more food! Gotta have a 4th of July cookout. Pops grilled up plenty of BEEF! The weather wasn't bad if you stayed in the shade. It was just about as hot indoors as outdoors, but the breeze outside was fantastic. After eating too much, we headed out yet again over to Tia Esther's for, you guessed, another cookout. Man oh man, so many kids in our family who were just lil' tikes the last time I saw them and now they are mini-adults...just flat out weird to see them after all this time.

We really got to get back home more often. We really miss you guys! Miss the El Paso sunsets and mountains too. Austin is beautiful and we love it there, but I do miss the mountains. These were the last 2 sunsets of our trip.

Today we hung out with the Chisums (Poppy and Pops) and went to church at Westside. Our old family home. Miss them too. They were a huge blessing for us when we had the boys with all their prayers and support. Got to see Jim Leeah too who I haven't seen in a long. He helped me get into guitar and showed me a lot. He is playing in 2 bands now, NarroPath and The Polynomials. Nice!

After church is was off to lunch the the Chisum's wacky crew from church. Funniest bunch of ol' folks you ever did see. Delicious lunch at The Magic Pan and then back home to finally chill out. The boys were WIPED OUT and slept almost the entire afternoon. I headed out to my dad's again and took the kids to Peter Piper Pizza. Holly and the boys relaxed with the Chisums. Jordan helped Poppy out with her crossword puzzle.
And now...some final packing and sleep before the long journey back home. Hopefully we get some clouds and/or rain along the way to keep the sun from beating us down. Sleep boys...sleep...

EPT Photo Album #2

Back in the EPT

4AM Thursday morning, packing, feed the kids, pack some more...out the door about 5:45AM. 290 from our backyard to I-10 and all the way back home to El Paso, Texas. Randy rode shotgun and Holly rode between the boys in the back. The boys did amazingly well...way better than we expected. They played with the toys dangling from their car seat, yelled at Holly and slept. We had the extra stops for diaper changes and feedings, but it went pretty fast. Our first stop was less than a couple of hours into the trip on 290, Jeremy needed a diaper change. Picture 1: Our first rest stop on 290.

Picture 2: Stopped at a Sonic in Sonora for a baby feeding and a big people feeding...free Route 44 upgrade! Side note...you can't see it, but Randy is standing on a bunch of ants.

Picture 3: The flower (weed?) behind Holly, Randy and the boys looks like the flower Horton carried around.

Picture 4: Jeremy is very happy to be on a road trip with everyone. So much fun.
Picture 5: Jordan is not so happy to be on a 600 mile road trip...and he is not afraid to tell you just how he feels.
Picture 6: Stopped in Ozona for gas and another chance to stretch the legs...Mohair...does that come from a mo? If so, what is a mo? Oh ho ho, this is a mo!

Back home we got to see my Pops and the kids, Mari and the girls and then my Grandma Licha. Boys weren't to happy to finally be home (we stayed at the Chisum's place) and then hit the road again to go see their Great Grandma, but again, they did really great and were smiling for Grandma. Pitcure 7: The boys first visit with Great Grandma Licha.
On Friday we to Grandpa Andy's for lunch. Later that afternoon it was off to Great Grandma Soco's place for a visit and to introduce her to her newest great grandsons.

Plenty of road trip and family photos in this PHOTO ALBUM of the first 2 days. 4th of July pics with more of the familia coming up soon.

El Paso Visit in October

So last month we hit the road and headed back home to El Paso. This was the last trip for a while, Holly is no longer allowed to travel. We visited with Holly's Mom and Pops, my Grandma and my Pops and the kids. Everyones doing great...we miss them all. :(  Didn't get a chance to see the rest of my family. You guys all need to move to Austin soon! Until then, you always have a place to stay here.

One of the highlights of the trip was getting to watch my lil sis (Randy) playing volleyball. They lost, in fact, I think they said that was their worse game of the season, but it was still great watching them play. Got some great pics with the pics, Holly and my Grandma and Holly and her mom, pops and Mike. Here is the PHOTO ALBUM for our El Paso trip.

We've been busy and sick, so thats why its taken me a while to post. We gotta get back to working on the baby room. We've got 2 baby showers lined up the next 2 Saturdays in a row! Both came up with great invitations...

And tomorrow night is part 2 of our wacky birthing class. Please, oh please, no more birthing videos! Ewww...

On the Run...

(Click newspaper to enlarge)

Old headline...but I think I've seen this guy in Austin. We were in El Paso last Christmas. We were on our way to my aunt's house for Christmas and stopped at Circle K for some lotto tickets to hand out as gifts to the family. We were going to buy Wii's for everyone, but they were so hard to find...so we just got them $1 scratch-off tickets. It could be like giving them 100 Wii's!!

So we are at the Circle K gassing up and buying tickets. Holly managed to snap a few pics of the culprit making his getaway. Very striking fellow if I do say so myself.

(tried to make a casual getaway, but the jig was up)

(look at the guy at the door, he could have stopped the criminal, but he punked out)

If you know the whereabouts of this hunk, a hunk of burning love...feel free to challenge him to some StarCraft, Madden, Guitar Hero, Mario Kart, Mario Strikers Charged or Wii Tennis. Yeah boi!!