For Spring Break, we took a road trip from our Austin all the way to Austin TX to see Uncle Zach, Aunt Katrina and their two beautiful girls. (We drove because the airfare was out of our budget). We had an awesome time there and an awesome time road tripping.
I made a trip tracker by the hour to help the boys see how much we have traveled and how much longer we have to go. This actually helped all of us focus on the progress we were making instead of getting bogged down with a long trip. We left Friday late afternoon on March 10 and drove for 5 hours and stayed in a hotel in Kansas. Then we drove most of Saturday until we were at the Zavorals house! We stayed there until March 17 and got back home late on March 18.
In the car, I read the boys our first fiction chapter book together. It was Because of Winn Dixie, and they LOVED it, especially Tanner.
Jeremy found a neat diner in the middle in Mulvane Kansas for us to enjoy for a break off the raod. There was a cute train shop next door, and outside of the town, we found a replica of the golden gate bridge!
A man built this bridge in his back yard to show people what the real golden gate looks like on a smaller scale. We have some cute videos of the family walking across the bridge, it was pretty rickety!
In Dallas, we were able to meet up with one of my college besties, Melissa Burns. Jeremy, Melissa and I were all in the same freshman church group (ward) together, so it was really neat to catch up and have our kids meet one another! I found it hard to keep some memories straight while we were chatting. So unreal that 15 years have gone by since we were first in school together.
Melissa and I served in the presidency of the relief society, and our rooms were two or three doors down from each other. We would come home late after being out on different dates with guys and share the highlights of what we did and what we thought of each guy. And often the conversations would turn to the things we wanted in our future husbands and what we wanted for our future families. So it was especially fun to get a glimpse of each other living those dreams!
I think if we could tell our college selves how tiring motherhood would be, we would have just laughed it off and stayed up a couple more hours talking about guys, haha.
We made it to Zakina’s house late Saturday night. On Sunday, the clocks jumped an hour forward with daylight savings, so we were pretty groggy. When our baby cousin came home from church, the boys could not get enough of her! They followed her everywhere like little magnets and giggled at pretty much everything she did.
Playing memory. We also made up a game called “The Fixing Game,” where I was the home owner that had lots of broken things, and each kid had a specialty trade where they would come and fix my plumbing or electricity or carpentry in my kitchen. It was really fun, but I admit the game left me dreaming about having such great service like theirs in real life!
Playing a cute fishy game.
Jeremy really wanted to bring our bikes with us on the trip. I’m so glad he insisted on it, because we had a lot of fun with them! We went on several bike rides around the beautiful neighborhood!
Feeding the ducks.
Riding back to the house
This time on our trip was my spring break, and I didn’t realize how tired and exhausted I was from teaching until I had time to just chill. Jeremy worked remotely a few of the days that we were there.
Yummy Texas BBQ
Love this one of Dallin, Jeremy and me!
All 4 cousins together with their eyes open and all looking in the same general direction!!
Awesome playground!
Jeremy took the littles for a bike ride around the block. Dallin and his cousin are only 2 months apart in age! What cute little buddies.
My happy baby neice! I got some alone time with her while Katrina ran errands a couple times. It was so fun.
Tanner liked playing with the hooks or something that was on the table at this restaurant.
It was an amazing taco place! Our cousin Jon Davidson (momz’s cousin) was in the area on a business trip, and reached out to us. Then he treated us to dinner!! He’s super friendly and always looking for ways to connect with extended family wherever he goes. A very cool role model for me and Jeremy.
Dallin and his favorite playmate got in their suits for a bath together. They were really cute trying to make words together.
Day trip to downtown. Zach had to work, but the rest of the clan came!
Free nature center was a great place.
At the nature center, there was a huge sand area with “dinosaur bones” to dig up. This was the main reason we went, and the kids loved digging away.
We just chilled and visited in the shade. Jeremy dug for a few minutes with the kids and showed Tanner how to use the magnifying glass to burn things.
So naturally, Tanner taught some other kids how to burn stuff with a magnifying glass, too.
The week that we were in Austin was a big festival. This little yoga house had a free event in connection with the fest, so we went to check it out. They had a drum circle and cookie decorating. It was an interesting little segway before seeing the spray paint walls.
One of my favorite pictures from the trip!
I could have stayed and drummed with the kids for a long time, but no one else in our group was very interested, so we left to walk a few blocks away to see the graffiti walls.
Graffitti Park at Castle Hills was really cool!
Tanner is immitating the art.
The longer they stood there in the art, the wierder these kids got.
This is most artistic posing. Deep, very deep meaning here. 😉
View from top of Graffiti Park.
The kids got some free frizbees that day, so when we got home, they were excited to play with them.
My husband is such a neat daddy and uncle! It was fun watching him take turns throwing and catching each kid’s frizbee, with each kid separately.
Tanner loved playing with his cousin. These two got along so well, about 85% of the time they were coming up with all kids of imagination games to do or playing board games together. The funny part is that when Tanner and cousin weren’t getting along, they were pretty upset with each other, haha. Dallin would join in here and there, but mostly liked doing his own thing.
One day during the trip, my very good friend Tiffany and her son came to spend a morning with us! Our boys were so excited because they missed each other very much since Tiffany’s family moved. We had a fun morning at the “cool” park. I am so grateful they were able to meet up with us.
It was St Patrick’s Day while we were in Texas. Katrina had some fun craft things for us that we did throughout the week!
Aunt Trina even showed the boys how to make sugar cookies from scratch! This was a big deal since we don’t bake much in our home, and I think in the last 2-3 years, the boys have never made sugar cookies–at least not with me! They were pretty enamored by the whole process.
The kids played a roughty game of football with uncle Zach while the cookies baked. Zach was able to spend a lot of time with us despite doing all his responsibilities at work. It was a really neat treat!
Time to decorate!
Another really cool park!
Tanner was not happy that we were going to a different park than what he expected. I was relieved when he was able to find some things to do that he liked.
This roller walker thing was awesome.
Then we got to eat at another yummy restaurant. Jeremy kept the baby entertained.
Tanner loved playing with the baby, too! We got some cute videos of him following her around the house.
Zach showed Tanner his electric guitar. Of course, T loved it.
Happy St Patrick’s Day!
I told the boys I would pretend to be a leprachaun while they were sleeping. The leprachaun peed green in the toilet and left a trail of shamrocks down the big staircase that led to a treasure: Lucky Charms cereal. The boys thought it was gross and silly. We all wore green!
Later, we went to a big indoor play place called Mt. Playmore. Super fun. I tried to be on the lookout for Tanner with sensory overload, and let him take breaks when he clearly was overstimulated. Before his diagnosis, I would get frustrated with him for not playing with everyone else and being a “grouchy pants.” But now I understand better why he needs time to re-group. I also made sure to find quiet areas in the play place where he and I could hear ourselves talking and where we could feel removed from everything else. As a result, both of us had a great time!
I like having nieces!
Wow, these cousins are adorable.
Before we knew it, our week was up, and it was time to go home. We said our goodbyes and were on the road home. In the car, we finished reading Winn-Dixie, filled in the trip tracker by the hour (only this time did it backwards and with a crayon), and we suffered from some serious cousin withdrawals for about two weeks.
Thank you, Zach, Katrina and nieces for letting us spend a whole week with you at your house!! We had such an awesome time eating out, visiting, becoming Rosanne fans, exploring parks, bike riding, getting beat by Zach in Boggle, eating Katrina’s delicious enchiladas, watching movies, playing with our kids and touring some fun places in Austin. I’m already excited for our next visit!!
