Dallas, Texas

This morning Dave ran (yes literally ran) to Home Depot and got supplies to hang the new flat screen TV.  After his return we worked on it till 2 p.m. and finally got it hung.  Good Job Dave!  After we left the camp ground we drove through Dallas.  We went by the by spot where President JFK was assassinated.  We saw the window on the 6Th floor where Lee Harvey Oswald sat and fired that fatal shot.  We also saw the 2 X's on the ground which mark the 2 spots where JFK was hit.  JFK was shot 7 years before I was born, but I could still feel a swell in my throat when I drove on the same road that ended the life of  our 35 Th President.  It was such a devastating thing to happen to such a great man.

We are now staying at Lake Bob Sandlin State Park

.  We drove in at night so could not see the whole campground, but it looks really great.  

Thought of the day:  Patience is definitely a gift from God, but you have to ask for it 

to get it.   It's much harder to use than to lose, and once it is lost it is hard to find. Patience is also easier to use if you have practiced it.  You would think that in a small space things would be easier to find but patience is much harder!  I guess what I am trying to say is that I have asked for God to grant me the gift of Patience because I keep seeming to lose mine. 

Six Flags over Texas, Arlington

We went to Six Flags and had a great day!  We are getting full use of our season passes.  The whole day only cost $8 (one funnel cake and one ice cream in honor of Sterling's birthday last week) we ate lunch in the RV and brought in our own drinks and snacks. This Six Flags was a lot fun.  There are a lot of big coasters.   The only downfall was that it was very busy due to a lot of graduating kids celebrating the end of the school year.  We decided to stay in Dallas another night. 

Tip of the Day:  If you take your kids clothes and roll them up in outfits (shirt, shorts, underwear and socks) they take up a lot less space and the kids outfits will actually match!  

Austin, Texas

Today we decided to go downtown Austin.  First we visited the Austin Children's Discovery Museum (which was free due to our family membership to the Exploratorium)  I love Children's museums because it's the one museum I don't have to keep saying, "don't touch that!  Quiet!  No running!  Keep away from the exhibits."  At this museum the kids are encouraged to touch and play with everything!  The kids loved it!  The funny thing was I think Dave had more fun then the boys.  Every time I turned the corner he was at another exhibit building, solving and playing.  After the museum we went to the University of Texas and bought Sterling a football (he is collecting them).  We then decided we had to find a cheap place to get diesel.  Everywhere we had driven by was between $4.25 to $4.49  a gallon.  So I looked on gasbuddy.com and found a place for $3.99!  We thought it must be a mistake (we had found other mis-prices in the past),  so we called and to our surprise they confirmed the price.  Well, when we arrived we realized that our RV was too tall to fit.  We don't give up that easily!  I guided Dave forward and the workers weren't too happy with us, but we were determined to save money on gas (see pic).  After gas we headed to Dallas!  Everyone may be surprised, but I drove the Big Rig from Austin to Dallas.  I was pretty freaked out at first going through town, but relaxed a little on the freeway (until the construction wall was directly on my right and a huge truck was pressing on my left...AUGH!).  You probably don't think I have any experience driving a big rig but I have actually driven one of our big moving trucks before and had a very good experience doing so :).   Even with my little experience driving the big RV it is definitely intimidating.  Well, we made it to Dallas alive and we are staying in Treetops RV Village in Arlington.

New Braunfels and Gruene, Texas

Last night their was a huge thunder and lightning storm.  I love storms and it was even louder in the RV.  This morning we bought some rafts (at Walmart) and headed to Landa Park to float down the Comal River.  This is the thing to do in this little German town.  On the river there are chutes for your intertube to go through.  It's kinda like water slides along the river.  It was a lot of fun.  We floated for an hour and a half and then walked back up to the part with the chute and did it 4 or 5 more times.  I took pictures but with a waterproof non-digital camera so I can't post them.  After we finished being drowned rats we got back in the RV and headed to Gruene.  This was such a quaint European looking town.  We really liked it!  We went to the famous Gristmill River Restaurant which is located in the ruins of the 129 year old cotton gin on the banks of the Guadalupe River.  It is a very unique and beautiful restaurant with it's many decks nestled in the trees overlooking the river.   We sat outside on one of the decks and we were really enjoying the view, but unfortunately some other wildlife was enjoying it too.  First, Peyton let me know of a lurking cat nearby.  Everyone that knows me well knows that I am afraid of cats, kittens or anything that resembles a cat or kitten (My biggest nightmare would be stuck in a room, house or country alone with multiple cats).  The sad thing is the kids know how bad my fear is and are always on the lookout for the vicious, four legged beasts.  Well, that's not what made us move from the deck, it was another little pest "the bee."  It is funny how such a small little insect can cause so much fear in my normally tough children.  The bee liked their soda and decided to take a seat on the lid.  The bee would sit and the boys would get up and flee.  After a few times of this repeated, commotion we decided to move inside.  The view from the huge wood shutters was just as impressive.   After dinner we were leaving the restaurant and saw the biggest truck ever.  The question is why?  But this is Texas and they say everything is BIG in TEXAS.  We left Gruene and drove to Austin and are in a campground.  There is a huge tornado watch in the neighboring communities.  We will let you know if we see any effects of the tornado in the morn.

Additional pics

The one hard thing in the blog is posting pics.  They are hard to drop in and if I put to many they start deleting themselves.  So I wanted to post a few more from yesterday.  

The Alamo, River Walk and Mi Tierra

Today we headed to downtown San Antonio.  After about an hour of figuring out where to park a 40 ft beast we took the city bus (we parked forever away) to historic Market Square.  This is the the center of Mexican Culture.  I had read about a famous Tex-Mex restaurant in my book "1,000 Place to See Before You Die in the United States and Canada" called Mi Tierra.  So I was very much looking forward to going there for lunch.  It didn't disappoint and we all enjoyed the atmosphere and our great food.  We then walked to the River Walk.  It was so beautiful.  I really enjoyed it.  From the street you would never know that such an amazing river city lay below you.  I reminded me of what Italy would be like.  Waterways lined with restaurants, shops and hotels.  Water taxis taking you up and down the river.  One water taxi we saw served dinner as you floated and enjoyed the atmosphere.  As we walked I along the river lined with trees I saw so much wildlife mixed in with the pedestrians.  There were the baby chicks, the one red-eyed duck, the new born humming bird, and the duck in the waterfall that looked as if it was paid to pose for a picture.   If it wasn't so hot and sticky in San Antonio I would move there just so that I could enjoy that walk on a daily basis.

We took the River Walk to the Alamo.  We had the kids make a pamphlet with questions about the Alamo before we left the motorhome.  When they arrived they were anxious to find the answers to the questions they had written.  Here is the basic Alamo history for those of you who do not "remember the Alamo".

The Alamo was built in the 18th century as a Mission by the Spanish Empire called "Mission San Antonio de Valero."  It was used for 75 years to educate Native Americans and convert them to Christianity.  It was abandoned and then used as a fortress for many military actions in the 19th century.  The most famous of these was the 1836 Battle of the Alamo.  Texas was in a 10 year struggle for independence from Mexico.  The Texian and Tejano volunteers had won a few battles in the area against the Mexican troops.  This did not make General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna very happy and he decided to to show the Texans he was the boss.  So he led over 6,000 Mexican troops from Mexico City to the Alamo.

Inside the walls were a mere 160 men (there were also woman and children seeking safety behind the thick stone walls).  One of those men was "the King of the Wild Frontier,"  Davey Crockett. Santa Anna and his troops attacked for 13 days but the defenders held there ground.  One of the reasons they were able to hold the Mexican soldiers back from storming the walls was because the difference in weapons.  The Mexicans had muskets which did not shot as far as the Texan's rifles.  So they could shot the Mexican soldiers before they reached the wall.  The defenders also had cannons which the Mexican soldiers didn't have.  During the 13 days William B Travis, commander of the Alamo (also one of the youngest men at 26 years old) wrote many letters in search of backup from US troops and local volunteers.  However, only one town, Gonzalas, on the eighth day sent 32 to help bring the total defenders up to 200.

  Travis is remembered for drawling a line in the sand and saying, "those prepared to give their lives for freedoms cause, come over to me."  Only one man did not cross the line.  On the 13th night all got quiet and the defenders let down their guard.  That's when Santa Anna's men scaled the wall and one of the first men to die was William Travis.  By morning all the men were killed (except one

 slave, Travis's slave,  the mexicans didn't believe in slaves so they released him).  The Woman and children were allowed to live.   The reason the Alamo is so respected today was these defender's willingness to die for their beliefs and their country.

Anyway, the Alamo was a

 great history lesson for the boys and us as well.  After the Alamo the boys went in a mirror maze.  They had a blast bumping into the walls and trying to beat the maze record.  Which both Tanner and Sterling did.  Tanner's record 0f 26 seconds slaughtered the previous record and Sterling's record of 57 seconds with 3D glasses on also killed the 3D record.  They went in the maze so many times they could practically do it with their eyes closed.

After the maze we headed back to the RV, had to find gas (which was very expensive $4.26 cents per gallon) and then drove to New Braunfels.  We are staying the night at Walmart... again!  

Day 2, San Antonio

Today was chore day!  We did 9 loads of laundry (fortunately all at the same time), and did a lot of organizing the motorhome. We also packed up more stuff to send home.  We have decided the less stuff we have the less stress we have.  With that said, we still need to eliminate a ton more stuff.  Besides organizing, the kids did a bunch of homeschool, swam, rode their rip sticks and built a Lego castle.  

Since I don't have much to write about I thought I would take this time to answer some of your comment questions.  First, Kathy said I should keep track of cool quotes.  Well, Kathy you must have forgotten that my memory left with each child I gave birth too.  I'm having a good day if I remember what I did that day.  So I agree that quotes would be cool, but by the time I blog I can't remember anything anyone said.  Kerry suggested that we put the squirrel on the blowhole to see if it would float.  I'm surprised that the kids didn't put the squirrel there because they tried flying everything else they found within a mile perimeter.  Pop wants to know if I'm go

ing to learn to drive the "big rig?"  The answer is Yes.  I have driven it, but not a lot.  I'm going to start driving it more and make Dave make lunches (that way I can speed up on the turns so he will fly all over the place).  My dad said that he thought there was great trout fishing in Bottomless Lake.  Well, we actually talked to the ranger about that.  They tried to stock the lake with trout but there was so much algae in the lake that all the fish

 they stocked were floating belly up the next day.  Hi Carter, you wanted to see a picture of the clown alien.  I don't have a pic of the clown one but I will post all the alien pics I took.  Betsy wanted to know how life on the road is and if everyone has their own place to go when they need to.  Life on the road is interesting all the time.  You have to work hard to keep your 

patience, and when you are frustrated you have

to thank God and remember that he is teaching us

 so much during this great experience.  Finally, many of you have asked about my Roswell theory.  Well, there are too many people who saw the unidentified object crash into the farmland near Roswell for there not to have been an object.  So I believe there was a crash, but I believe it was a government test plane that they didn't want the public to know about.  So it was a huge government cover up.  If I was the president and I had some top secret plane that could help the US  I would have covered the whole thing up as well.  If anyone got hold of a piece of the plane all the hard work and advancement on technology that helps the US to be a world force would be instantly

copied.  

Tip of the day:  You can meet a lot of nice people in a laundry mat.  All people have is time when they are waiting for their laundry, so they love to chat.  We met a few Texans who had a great deal of tips for our trip.  Best tip was where to find the best Tex-Mex food.  I'll let you know tomorrow if it was any good.  Well that's it in a nut shell.  Love you all!

San Antonio, Texas and Mother's Day

First, I want to wish my mom and Dave's mom a very Happy Mother's Day!  We love you both so much and we so appreciate you both.  We honestly are so blessed to have such great mothers!  We also want to wish all our friends and family a great 
Mothers Day!  Thanks for all the nice texts and posts!

Well. today we drove from Carlsbad, New Mexico into San Antonio, Texas.  Dave wanted to go straight to Dallas and I wanted to go to San Antonio.  Last night we decided we would go with Dave and go to Dallas, but being Mother's Day Dave surprised me and drove to San Antonio. When we arrived we decided to go to the 

Six Flags here in San Antonio.  It is only open on the weekends and we have a season pass.  Our goal is to visit all the Six Flags Theme Parks, and we figured we may not get back to this part of the country.  So this Mother's Day was an adrenalin rush.  This Six Flags kinda had a German Theme which might seem weird for 

the middle of Texas, but actually there is are a few towns nearby that have a very strong German influence.  There wasn't as many high speed roller coasters as Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia but the kids still had

a blast.  My favorite ride was the Scooby Doo Mystery House where you get a laser gun and you try and zap the ghosts.  The last ride of the day we went on the Rapids twice

and we all got soaked (I added a pic of us all wet).  It was worth it!  We really laughed hard trying to make the boat turn so that we wern't the unlucky one to go directly under the water fall.

 Tomorrow we hope to

 get laundry and some organizing done! Yeah!

Carlsbad Caverns

We tried to get a early start this morning , but it never seems to work.  We did manage to head out at a decent time.  We drove straight to Carlsbad, New Mexico.  We only stopped to chat with a nice police officer who had pulled us over for speeding.  Luckily we did not get a ticket!  When we got to Carlsbad we headed straight to Walmart!  It had been a few days since we had been to a Walmart and we missed it dearly.  We bought a ton of grocery's and then made it to Carlsbad National Park.  We went in the Natural Entrance (if you don't want to walk you can go down the 75 floor, 774 ft elevator).  We are glad we walked, it was stunning!  First, you drop down into the cave entrance where the bats fly out at night.  You can smell the bat guano (poop).  The 86 degree temp quickly drops to 56 degrees as you descend into the cave.  You continue 1.5 miles down steep damp trails until you reach the Big Room (which is the size of 5 football fields).  The whole 750 ft decent is amazing.  Once in the Big Room you can see fascinating cave formations with names like Rock of Ages, Mirror Lake, Bottomless Pit and Painted Grotto.  The Carlsbad Cavern has over 114 miles of passages making it the 5th longest cave in the world.  

The kids once again got their Junior Ranger badges, making them a Junior Ranger 5 times over so far!  We ate a BBQ chicken dinner in the RV and walked back down to see the bats fly.  Right now their are

 a couple thousand bats. However, at the end of July they have counted 1.8 million!  The ranger said that so many bats fl

y out of the cave that you can't even see the the cave (It is just black with bats).  

Tip of the day: Don't forget sunscreen!  Yesterday my old age got to 

me and I really thought I had sun-screened Peyton (I started to but he had sand all over him so I told him to rinse off.  I sun-screened the other boys and Pey snuck off and somehow I got distracted and forgot him).  What a huge mistake!!!  He is in so much pain today and I feel horrible!  I definitely learned my lesson (so did Peyton who now doesn't hate sunscreen). Next time I will be sure that the boys are double sun screened.

New update:  Sterling was playing catch with Dave and we think he dislocated his pinkie.  It looked tweaked so Dave decided he would pull it back into place.  I used distraction and Dave Pulled.  Sterling went through the roof :(  He is soooo tough and I know that hurt sooo bad.  We splinted it and are praying it is ok.

Also we are so happy to get all your comments!  New people are signing on and commenting every day!  Thank you so much!  We miss you all so much and hearing from you 

all makes us feel great!  If you have any suggestions of where we should go next please let us know!  We are heading East from Carlsbad towards Dallas.