Houston

We flew to Houston on July 7th and stayed with Craig's brother and his family for a little over a week. Considering that Jeni (our sister-in-law) is in the throes of morning sickness (which, in her case, should really be called all-day sickness), I thought it was awfully nice of them to welcome us into their home! I won't go into all the details of the stuff we did because that would take too long, but I will show you lots of pictures!

The kids were really excited to ride a plane. They did this last December, too, but I don't think it made as much of an impression at the time...

One of the places we went was the Houston Children's Museum. It's a lot of fun, but if I had more money than I knew what to do with, I would rent the place out so we weren't trying to elbow other people's kids out of the way the entire time! As it was, everyone had a great time and Donna and I managed to keep our growling-at-other-kids to a minimum. Remarkable self-restraint for a Mama and Grandma Bear!

Bentley was really excited to wear the hard hat provided in a construction zone.
I think it's a good look for him.


Kendra wanted to wear a hard hat, too, but her head was a little too small for it.

Kamryn demonstrates the awesome gloves the construction workers could wear.

Kendra (after giving up on the hat) is anxious to at least help out with the building.

The kids enjoyed playing with the puppet theater, also.

I painted a sunshine on Kendra's face.

Here Grandpa is helping everyone make Chinese yo-yos. (That's Maya, looking up at the camera)

Kamryn models clothing from Singapore (or was it somewhere else? Now I can't remember...).

Maya takes a motorcycle ride with Grandpa while Lindsy waits patiently.
(She could have taught some lessons on manners to the other kids there!)

We took a lunch break at Chuy's (YUM YUM YUM) and most of us ate so much we were ready to go home and nap it off. Except Bentley. He, Daddy, and Grandma and Grandpa headed back to the museum where they could play with the water toys outside and get really wet.

I love this picture of Maya. She's just a couple months older than Bentley and she is just like a little nymph. She cracked me up the entire time we were there!

All the cousins together!

It's really hard to get everyone to hold still long enough for a picture...

Those are the best of the pictures I have. We also went to the beach, which I loved. A water park (Schlitterbahn, for those of you familiar with the Houston/Galveston area), which I also loved, but it wore me out trying to keep track of my kids the entire time. It was interesting to learn which slides scared which kid, though! And, perhaps best of all, we played a lot of Beatles Rock Band. I loved every minute of it.

We also ate a lot. Between restaurant stops (fabulous BBQ in addition to Chuy's), and a day-o-grilling, Jason also managed to make crepes and chocolate-peanut-butter cake for my birthday (normally this would have been more in Jeni's domain, but Jason very kindly filled in for her while she was sick). It was all Fabulous. I may never have a figure again. But I sure enjoyed myself!

Thanks, Jason and Jeni!!