Arkansas

Last weekend Danny and I took off work to drive up to Bismarck, Arkansas and meet my dad and Cheryl with the mules. We started our trip early Thursday morning and finally got there that afternoon. It was beautiful when we left Dallas, then once we hit the Arkansas state line the clouds rolled in and it rained on us until we drove into the drive way of the Bar Fifty Ranch.

We worked hard to get the mules in their pen, trailor unhooked, dad's camper and our tent set up. Very soon afterwards the boys were on a hunt for wood to make a fire.

As you can see below Dad and Danny's team work had us warming up to withstand the chilly temperature.



Dad and Cheryl got the steaks and green beans prepared for the fire. MMMMMMmmmmmm...... we all had full bellies afterwards!



The next morning we were up early. The tent was chilly over night... and we found out we had small leak in our blow up mattress. Over the next few nights we were up to blow it up every few hours.

Andy was excited to have some morning breakfast of oats!

We were finally off riding down the trails before noon! Follow the leader........ Dad on Buster, Cheryl on Kate, Danny on Lilly, and April on Andy!

We took a little break to make sure we were on the right trail and caught a great picture with everyone smiling and ears forward!

We all had sore bums after a couple of hours riding.

After a little snack on Dr. Pepper and peanuts near a stream we all layed down for a bit. Dad took a little nap... and even snoored a little.

After the nap we were back on the trail. Doesn't Danny look like such a cowboy! heheheheheee..



I caught a great shot of everyone as they were about to cross one of the many streams. It was my favorite part! Danny was busy every stream trying to find some fish.

That afternoon we were back at the camp. Everyone had specific tasks. I took Andy and Lilly to the watering bucket where they took their turn for a cold drink like nice mules!

Dad was busy cutting up meat for our kabobs that night.

And Cheryl was on poop duty. She was the greatest pooper scooper ever... although by the next day she turned that duty over to Danny!

This was a hilarious shot of Cheryl shaving dad's neck by the fire. We were all about to head down to the wash rooms to clean up but Dad forgot his razor. He needed a good neck shave so Cheryl was very willing to help! I'm sure the mules didn't mind her using their water bucket to clean off the razor!

The next morning we were up cooking bacon, eggs, and coffee on the fire!

Saturday we got to go to Oaklawn in Hot Springs for the horse races. Danny and I won 4 of 9 races and were happy campers!

We walked down "Bathhouse Row" to read about the history of Hot Springs. Here's a shot of the boys at the Fordyce Bathhouse.

We took a walk up behind the springs to take a few pictures of ourselves.

The water was steaming hot coming out of the ground.

One last shot of Danny and I overlooking Bathhouse Row!

High School Musical

I'm not sure about other kids.... but Izzy LOVES High School Musical. I think she has 1, 2, and 3 on dvd at both her houses. Her eyes just light up when you talk about it.

So we thought it might be fun to take her to Bass Performance Hall where they put on the musical show of High School Musical.... the Musical. It was a great performance although Izzy didn't quite understand why the same characters that are in the movie weren't on stage. She popped up a few times when the start of a new song came on to say "I remember this one"!

A short trip to Houston

Okay.... so I've gotten a little behind on my posts.

Back in early March Danny and I took a trip to Houston for my college roommates 30th birthday. Danny had never been down there outside of just work purposes so we did a little research to fit in a few things to see.

The first night we got there we decided to go to downtown Houston for dinner. While we were walking around we ran into a wine bar named La Carafe that I had read about. It is noted as the oldest bar in Houston and rumor has it Sam Houston actually slept in the doorway once. Danny and I shared a nice glass of wine there and then headed on to dinner.



The next day we made a trip down to Johnson Space Center. We went on a little motor vehicle to see their training facility. Danny was really happy to see the famous "Canada Arm"!

The most interesting part to us was going into "Blast Off Theater" to listen to a Mission Briefing Officers provide live updates on current space flights and astronaut training activities. We even got to see live video feed from the JSC's Mission Control room where they are always in contact with the astronauts orbiting on board the International Space Station.



The Space Center was filled with lots of things for the kids to see and do. Danny tried out the Mars scale where he weights 77.2 lbs! You can see his reflection in the mirror.... can you tell the "Wedding Diet" is working well!!!!!



Later that night we went to join up with Michelle for her 30th Birthday Bash. She had it at a great little place where we had a great view of downtown Houston. Here's a picture of me, Michelle, and Nathalie.



Here's Danny and I at another little wine bar.



Sunday, before we left for Dallas Danny and I headed over to the Aquarium. The whole thing was pretty small.... but ever exhibit was AWESOME!

Below Danny is brushing his thumb against a star fishes belly.



The White Tiger exhibit was amazing! There were 2 of them.... 1 pacing up and down the wall in front of us and the other was sleeping in his bed.



Once we went through the exhibits we decided to head outside and enjoy the beautiful day on the ferris wheel ride. We ran into the tiger again on our way!



Here's a shot of me in the ferris wheel overlooking Houston. It was really neat.