Monday, April 20, 2015

Texas Part 4

On our last full day in Texas we went to Monahans Sandhills State Park.

(But first, here's our Texas-shaped waffle that Emily and I shared at breakfast...compliments of the hotel's breakfast bar.)



Monahans Sandhills State Park is made up of huge sand dunes.  They rent out sleds/disks to slide down the hills on.  At first the kids were a little timid, but then they didn't want to leave.



My dad and Megan up at the top, Emily getting ready to slide down, Tyler retrieving the sled and Darrell on his way up the hill.



Emily



Megan



Tyler



Darrell



These oil wells were all over western Texas.  This one was at the Sandhills, but it wasn't working.



A look at some of the other hills, although it's hard to see the height of them from the top of the hill.





Emily, Darrell and my mom and dad



Having fun, once the "scariness" wore off.









Tyler playing in the sand.





The Easter baskets doubled as sand castle molds.  (It had rained at some earlier point so the sand was perfect for building.)






On our way to check out other sand dunes.



We walked over to another part of the sand dunes and found this steep "bowl."  It was a lot of fun.





Megan



Tyler



Tyler and Emily






Even my mom gave it a try!





Tyler giving Darrell a push.





We had so much fun!



We ate lunch at a place called Huddle House.  I had an omelet and grits (just to try something southern-ish).



Then we went to Malborhea to swim in their hot springs.  There are fish swimming inside the pool.



 I only had my phone camera, so these pictures aren't the best, but here are some of the fish.





It was a little cool and overcast, but it was still fun to swim with the fishies!

Megan and Emily



Tyler



The next day we flew home.  Eating lunch at the airport.



Tyler still had to do reading during spring break for his reading calendar so it was fun to read to Grandma and Daddy too.  Here he is reading about Biscuit the dog to Darrell while we waited to board.



We had a layover in Denver. After walking the length of the super long United terminal, the kids colored and played on the tablets.



We had such a great time in Texas.  It was great to see my parents and to see and do so many fun things.  The kids talk about Texas a lot and Emily even said to me, "If you don't take me back to Texas, I won't be your kid!"  (Silly girl.)







Texas Part 3

We were in Texas for General Conference and Easter.  We were able to watch the Sunday sessions at my parents' house.  The kids did really great listening and watching the first hour (each of the two sessions is 2 hours long).



Then they did coloring, stamps, Legos, etc.



Megan



Emily and Darrell



Tyler



We had a delicious Easter dinner:  ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls, corn, jello and Pillsbury turn overs for dessert. 





After dinner we went for a walk.   Megan, Emily and Tyler by a huge cactus plant.



We even spied this little guy who was camouflaged perfectly with the dirt and rocks.





Megan, Darrell and Emily on the walk.



Megan doing a picture find books with Grandma.





Tyler playing basketball.





My parents' landlords have a dog named Ruger.  Darrell and Megan especially loved that dog.  Emily wasn't quite so sure.




Here's the rental vehicle.  It was so nice to have all of the room of the Suburban as we traveled everywhere.



My parents' house.  Their landlords' house is to the right.





Some of the cactus plants on the property.



That evening we went to an elementary school so the kids could play on the playground.

Getting ready for a slide race.



Emily, Tyler, Megan



Even the adults tried out the rock wall at the school.

My mom



Darrell and Debbie selfie



My dad



Emily and Megan on the swings



Darrell and Tyler playing soccer.