texas trip

Right before we moved, we took a much-needed vacation. We stopped in Killeen to see Heather & Ephraim just in time to celebrate Ephraim's birthday. We got to meet little Ezra and enjoyed some amazing BBQ spots. Heather and the boys joined us in San Antonio and we visited the zoo, the Japanese sunken gardens, and spent a couple days in Padre Island at the beach. It was so nice to visit with family there and Calvin enjoyed playing with cousins. Here's a bunch of pictures to make up for my recent lapse:

Ezra and the birthday boy

Max graciously demonstrated his famous statue of liberty trick (and many others)

We all played out in the sprinklers

Me, Max and a rare look at an unhappy Ezra (he's usually so mild-mannered)

Butterfly photo shoot at the zoo...

Savannah

Calvin (what's with the ballerina arms?)

Max!

John, Kelly and the kiddos took us to the zoo

Cousins at the sunken gardens

We also went swimming at Grandma & Grandpa Roberts' pool...Here's Rod with Ezra

Karen let us take her Yukon to the coast so we could all drive together.
Heather was a trooper in the backseat with three little boys.

The beach! This was Calvin's first experience with the ocean and he loved it.

Boys playing in the sand

Ezra and Heather enjoying some shade

Calvin and Daddy flying a kite

More sand castle building

We had a wonderful time and are so glad we decided to still go. Who knows when we'll have another chance for a trip? We drove home straight through (23 hours and the low point of the trip) and got back on Wednesday at 4 in the morning. We packed Wednesday & Thursday, loaded the truck Friday, and Russell left Saturday morning. Thanks so much to our brother-in-law Mike for driving our stuff and my husband down to AZ (we used his truck and trailer and it was a tight squeeze). Calvin and I cleaned and checked out of our apt (with lots of help from amazing friends - Judy and Jean) and left Tuesday morning. Thanks to my mom for braving the drive with us! She stayed and helped unpack until Friday afternoon and was such a big help. So many things fell into place for us this past month. While on vacation, we were able to buy all of Russell's books (all 7 pages!!), figure out financial aid and apply for a scholarship, find a house to rent (with my sis-in-law Katy's help - actually she did it all!), sell our contract, find new health insurance, and arrange the moving stuff, to name a few. We are so blessed with supportive family and friends and the opportunity to see so many that we love.