First Plane Ride for Jackson

So, we drove to Denver on Wednesday night to catch a flight to Houston on Thursday morning - many thanks to the Barber B & B and Shuttle Service who graciously had very comfortable accomodations for us when we arrived at midnight and also cheerfully got up with us and headed out to DIA around 7 am. (they also took care of Brook and took the van to be detailed!!! You can't pay for service like that!!!)

It was Jack's first airplane ride (Meg did point out that he had a ride in an airplane on the way from Costa Rica ;)) and he did wonderfully! No fussing and minimal squirming.

You can see that the girls and Dave made themselves comfortable. :)

Mullinax's Motorcycles

The Mullinax family brought their trailer full of toys!!! I was so impressed with Sierra pulling the trailer up the mountain with the suburban! So on Sunday when the weather cleared up, we got the dirt bikes and the 4 wheeler out. What fun!!!! Nathan and Anna ready to go for a ride!
I think that's Luke on the lil '50' and Nathan and Anna and then Matthew --- all ready for a ride.

When the dogs took off into the field, Sierra jumped on the '50' an dtook after them! :)

Meg wants her turn! After watching Luke and Carter buzz around on the '50,' Meg decided she was ready for a try. Dave gives her a quick lesson in where the gas is and where the brakes are...

She rode pretty conservative at first ...

And then she began to try her wings a bit...

And then she was just plain having fun!!! So much so that Ella had to give it a try...

Dave rode with her because she isn't able to even balance a bicycle yet!!!

Meg and Ashton

Go Tara!!!! :)

Missi and Meg are off on the 4-wheeler! As much as I tease Dave about getting one, I do think it would be pretty fun!

Circle Park

You probably can't see the snowy peak behind Ella --- our one gas tank went out over night so Dave had to get outside to switch the tanks so our furnace would run. When he went out, he said it was frozen!!! And there, just behind Ella is a snowy peak! Everyone stayed warm in the camper thanks to the furnace and good sleeping bags and a down comforter! :) Meg and Ella have become awesome helpers with Jack. They helped feed him regularly. At one point at Fremont Lakes, they were all in the camper napping and when I went back to check on them, Ella and Meg were changing his diaper. Meg had one leg, Ella had the other. Meg was changing and cleaning up a dirty diaper... pretty funny sight! They're good sisters!

Circle Park with the Mullinax and McComb families

Carter and Ella spent some of the rainy day on Saturday inside of our camper doing puzzles while Jack napped on his lil' cloud of down comforter! :)

Dono and Dave hanging out in the McComb's camper -- we played cards and chatted and hung out inside the campers on Saturday as it rained and rained - and it was cold rain!!!

We finally got wise and put up the Mullinax's tent -- so after some time huddling around the fire, we set the kids up with a movie and then set up the game "Demon" on the table outside. I think that Nathan was probably the ultimate winner. None of the rest of us -well, better speak for myself... I couldn't keep up!

Didn't even notice all of the thumb, arm and finger suckers lined up when I took this picture... they all look pretty cozy, hm?

Demon... while Jack hung out in the saucer...

ZESTO'S

CRUNCH CONE BABY!!!!

The Houts' (Glen and Sharon) and Sweetie and Papa
enjoy their yummy treats

And what's Fremont without a visit to Zesto's!!??!! This is the only place in the world that I know of that makes a Crunch Cone. Yum. I remember enjoying them as a kid and love that I get to share this yummy treat with my kids!

The Beach at Fremont Lakes

The girls and Sweetie and I had a chance to enjoy the beach at one of the lakes. It was nice and relaxing and the girls found many little critters to play with -- more reason for me to stay out of the water!!! ;)

Highlights from Fremont Lake per Diane

Check out my Mom's blog for some more highlights and pictures of the reunion ---
cheating again!!!
http://dmb46.blogspot.com/2009/08/nebraska-family-reunion-august-2009.html

And to finish the story on the accident they had coming back to Denver... The gal that rammed into them was arrested for DUI, Aggravated Vehicular Assault, and Child Abuse. She didn't have a license or insurance and admitted to having 5 shots of Southern Comfort (yes, 180 proof) just before the accident.
Unfortunately, her two year old son was in the car with her - he ended up with a broken leg and who knows what kind of emotional wounds.... poor little guy.
With that information, I am just even more thankful to God for protecting the girls and Mom and Dad. It could have been so much worse and I am reminded to trust Him with my loved ones. Cover them in prayer and trust Him.
And more kudos to Papa for driving the 'choochoo' safely!

Fremont Lakes

Dave and the girls enjoyed a few canoe rides while we were at Fremont Lakes. Meg liked to paddle out to the deep part and jump in!!! She loves to be in the water!

Atkinson, Nebraska

Not much in Atkinson but it was a good "half-way" stop across the northern part of Nebraska. We weathered the intense storm overnight and enjoyed the puddles that it created ... And we were very thankful that we didn't get to experience golfball or softball sized hail and/or tornadoes....

Yikes.

Gotta love a pair of girls and a frog!!!

Wildlife in Hot Springs area

Twins!!! We saw this little family right in the town of Hot Springs...

And these big fellas were out in Custer State Park - very strange to me that people need to be reminded not to approach them....
And these three handsome fellas were just lounging around the campsite! Aren't they all handsome??? They are approachable by the way -- and huggable too!

Wind Cave

Here is Ranger Bob (don't remember his real name...) and the "natural" entrance to the Wind Cave. Yeah right.

I was very glad that they had a nicer, more convenient and much bigger entrance... I wasn't crazy about this whole tourist attraction anyway... but I got over it and trekked down the many winding stairs --- until we were like 140 feet underground. Our guide kept reminding us of how far under we were... didn't like that...

Need I say more...?

Just short of a dozen...

So what do you get when you put 11 grandbabies on the table and tell them all to smile -- nothing without a fruit snack bribe!!!!
I think between the 3 or 4 cameras that were snapping away, we got a few good ones.

The oldest, Krystal, with the youngest, Jack

And I think this one is cute with them lined up oldest to youngest --- especially loved how Savannah helped Jack stand up at the end of the line!!! :)


Thought this one kind of summed it up... I think we have 2 or 3 out of the 11 at least looking toward the camera...

Overall, they were all cooperative - especially the big kids!!!