Thursday, July 30, 2009

Great Wolf Lodge Vacation!

The Great Wolf Lodge!
Hence, the wolves! Being the Twilight junkie that I am, I thought of Jacob Black quite a bit during this trip....;)
Modeling Pawpaw's gifts from the Ranger game he and Daddy went to while I watched the girlies.
McCaleb, Syd, and Mak playing "The Face Game" for the camera. Thank you for teaching me, Demarco!
If you didn't already know, McCaleb is my sister-in-law. How many people are able to babysit their sister-in-law?
The interactive scavenger hunt. It was called Magic Quest. The wands have sensors that are activated after you purchase them and then you find the tons of clues around the hotel. You use your wand to open them! The girls loved it!
I tried to get a picture of Marlon and the girls, but he kept looking down or away!
A view of the lodge from the upper restaurant.
The wands would activate random stuff in the hotel, too. Sydni is turning on the sparkly lights above the bar with her wand in this picture. Not annoying at all! ;)
A portion of the outdoor park from one of the three restaurants in the lodge
McCaleb and Sydni watch the animatronics show our first morning in the lodge.
Waiting on Daddy so we can go swimming!
We are so bored, so what do we do? Pose, of course!
Attempting a group pic: McCaleb, Syd, Mommy, Makki
Mak's signature pose!
So she wants to take my picture doing it!
The family, ready to swim!
Donnie and the girls, enjoying the water.
There is always time to pose when you are Sydni!

Donnie's dad, Marlon decided to treat our little family to a vacation the last weekend in June. Have you ever heard of Great Wolf Lodge? Neither had I until my sweet father-in-law announced he was taking us there! Located in Grapevine, TX, the hotel is huge and has a large indoor water park. When you have white kids (I mean, day-glow white), anything indoor is awesome! I was able to skip bathing them in sunscreen every thirty minutes and let them go wild in the water. Unfortunately, I do not have many pictures indoors, due to the fact that my klutzy butt would inevitably drop my camera into the water. The indoor park has two big individual tube slides and two family tube slides. I would recommend that you take kids who are at least 42 inches tall, because poor Makki had to sit out on a few of the slides because she is a shorty! Also indoors is a wave pool, toddler area, and a small lazy river. Outdoors there are two more individual tube slides and a huge pool with a mountain that shoots water all over the place every ten minutes. We didn't know this before we arrived, but you can also bring a cooler down to the water park, which would have saved us a ton in food expenses! Our wrist bands had a very convenient sensor that allowed us to bill food, drinks, and gifts to our room on a whim, which you can imagine how easy it was to rack up a nice bill upon check out time! All in all, it was a fun trip and I was able to visit my great friend, Kendra and attend her wedding. A great short vacay!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Old Video from June 2006

I miss the girls being this small. It's not fair how fast they grow up!

Swimming Lessons!

It may be one of the oldest pools in Lubbock, but the Sea Horse has a successful history of teaching children to swim. This is the place where Donnie learned how to swim, many moons ago, and is the same place we took Sydni last year. She took to the water like a fish, and it didn't take but twenty or so minutes for her to remember what she learned last year. Makenzi isn't supposed to start until she's four, but since she looks four, we went ahead and enrolled her this year! Mak is doing well, too, but we can tell it might take her another year of lessons to master the art of swimming! Check out our action pics below:

Sunday, July 5, 2009

4th of July 2009

Another year in White Deer for the 4th, and another year of fun and fireworks. Of course this evening would never have been possible without the dedication and service of the noble men and women fighting for our freedom. Thank you, and may God bless you and keep you in his care!

This year was special because my thoughtful cousins, Tanner and Kaycia threw a surprise 25th anniversary party for my Aunt Trecia and Uncle Chuck! The food, friends, family and fireworks added up to equal an enjoyable evening in White Deer, America. (Donnie even attempted to play "flip the cup" with the 20 somethings of the group, and was "schooled" by a few of the young bucks! Funny!!!) Check out the MANY pictures of the 4th of July festivities below:

My Meme and Sydni. Mem stopped by WD for a quick visit! We love her so much!

Sydni and Mak love the snappers!

Brenner is such a cutie!
Alyz, Kenzie Danner, Alee, Syd and Mak

We brought the bikes to ease the pain of waiting for darkness to come! Sydni whined so much about the evening "takin' FOREVER TO COME!"
How sweet are my cousins? They threw a surprise 25th anniversary celebration for my aunt and uncle.

According to my Aunt Trecia, she has been waiting 25 years to get Chuck back for the wedding cake he smashed in her face! Love it!
Makki-Doodle was ready for some CAKE!

Hayli gave in to Karson's wishes and allowed him a summer mohawk. I think it is AWESOME, and so fitting for his fiesty personality.

Aunt Layci took this great pic of Makki!
Makenzi is nursing her thumb after attempting to pinch the tip of a lit sparkler...other than Aunt Layci getting debris in her eye, that was the only injury of the evening.

Focus, Mak, Focus!

always camera-ready!
Daddy schools Mak in the art of proper sparkler handling...she didn't listen, hence, the thumb injury!
Sydni LOVES lighting fireworks and is Donnie's little buddy all night long! He is such a good Daddy!
Cousins!
The Doodle.
More of Mem! So glad we were able to see her! Love you, Mem!



Happy Birthday, America!