TX Road Trip

July 10th

This summer our family vacation was a TX Road Trip. We started our trip early Saturday, July 10th. I think we pulled out of the driveway before 8 am which is early for loading a family of 7 into a Suburban! We made it all the way down I85 to I10 with very few (if any - I really can't remember) stops. We stopped at the Mississippi Welcome Center to tour the NASA Center there, but it was closed :( Lyndsey was not happy!!!

We continued on our Road Trip. Our next fuel stop and lunch was Baton Rouge, LA. We very seldom take I10 to Texas, so we decided this would be a good time to take the kids to the LA Capitol.

Anyone who really knows me, knows that History is not my cup of tea! BUT I really enjoyed this and learned a lot!

On the steps leading up to the Capitol, Each of the states were listed in order of their annexation. Our Alabama babies...

Our TX babies...

We went up for the "top of the tower" tour. It was really pretty looking down.

WE found the bullet hole were Former LA Governor and US Senator Huey Long was shot.

We ended our journey in Houston, Texas. We had dinner at Boston Market before retiring to our hotel for the night! We were all tired!!!!

July 11th

On Sunday morning, we woke up and slowly headed to Minute Maid Park for the Astro's Game!

We got to the park early for the kid's fun. There were slides, tatoos, batting practice and more!

We found our seats. Corynne asked, "Dad, we're so high!?! Were there no other seats available?" We decided our kids were spoiled by the small Biscuits stadium were every seat is really a pretty good seat especially the BOX Seats from a few days ago!!! Dad told her, "No there were other seats but these are the only seats were kids are free!!!!"

After the game, we went to the grave site of our first born Ryan Davis. I was so excited to go back there. It has been 6 years since we were able to go to the cemetery. It is such a beautiful, peaceful place.

We are so thankful to God for blessing us with 5 healthy children since that very hard day in January 1997! I pray that our family of 8 will all be together one day in Heaven!

We ended the day at the Wall of Water in the Galleria Area of Houston. It is so neat to just stare at the water right were the "stairs" start. You feel like you are rising up an escalator!

Dinner tonight was at Ninfa's Mexican. We are in TEXAS! The kids ordered chocolate bananas for dessert. This was not what we were expecting, but it was sooooo YUMMY!!!!

July 12th

Today is another travel day :( We are driving from Houston to San Antonio. We did enjoy sleeping late though! By the way, it is hard to sleep 5 kids and 2 adults in a hotel room! Baby Colleen got a pallet on the floor, and Lyndsey got the "special bed on the floor". It was a pallet also, but she liked to call it a "special bed"!!

Lunch at the TX Stop Sign ---DQ!

We have arrived! First stop the Alamo! OK, the kids just get to see the outside because it closed at 5pm! We were a little late :(

Next stop was the RiverWalk for dinner and a cruise.

July 13th

Time to mark something off the Bucket List for JM! JM and Tyler have reservations to play a tennis match on a GRASS court!!!

Playing on grass courts was a lot harder than hard or clay courts. They learned that the ball just does not bounce! JM had a great time, but Tyler struggled.

After tennis, we headed over to Sea World San Antonio. We were all so excited!!!!

July 14th

Another travel day...kinda! We are "moving on down the road" to Austin. We stopped by Natural Bridge Caverns and Wildlife Park on our way.

I found something else JM has never done. He has never been through a drive thru safari! It was so much fun feeding the animals from the car. Everyone got involved!!

JM even stuck his hand out and fed this aggressive character!!!

People are alway shocked when I say that Lyndsey in still 3. I guess I never noticed just how tall she is! Quite obvious in this picture standing next to her 7 year old sister who is not short!!!

July 15th

Today was our day to view the Hill Country from above! We are heading out for a Zipline Canopy Tour.

JM & I were few impressed at how this place prepared the kids to go up on the ziplines. First, they practiced on the ground and saw how things worked. This gave my little Lauren--who is not to brave--a lot of confidence!!! Ready...Set...Go!!!

JM, Tyler, Corynne, and Lauren completed Zipline course!! They are ready for more!!!

After ziplining, we went to our favorite mexican place "Chuy's". Mmmmmm!!!!

Our next stop was the capitol of TX.

Whew! What a day. We headed back to the hotel for some swimming. Dad went out with Dr. Nate while Mom washed some clothes and the kids ate some pizza! Vacations are fun!!!

July 16th

Today is another travel day, but we are planning on making a lot of stops on the way to Grapevine. First, we went to the Barton Creek Pool early this morning. It is a natural pool filled from Barton Springs. The water temperature is 68-72 degrees year around. Once everyone got over the "freezing temperature", they enjoyed playing in the water!

Just her toes in the water!

Five little chairs for my five polar bears!!!

We went back to the hotel to shower and pack up. Now we are really headed North! Until we come to Round Rock. Home of Round Rock Donuts. Did you see that episode of Man v. Food? We have got to stop and try that HUGE donut!!!! Thank goodness for iphones and wifi! You can find anything you want to find!!! That big donut was delicious!!!

We will continue North now. Waco is our next stop for Taco Bueno. It is still one of JM's favorite! The kids protested and ate Schlotsky's while sitting in Taco Bueno! Then we headed across the street to Baylor to see the bears. Of course, the bears were hiding. It was 101 degrees outside today, and we do not have on fur coats!!! We did get some new Baylor t-shirts for everyone!

I had never been to the Dr. Pepper Museum, so we went over to the museum next. It was interesting! JM concluded that the best part to still the Dr. Pepper floats at the end!!

Can you tell this is his 5th baby to tote around? She is barely hanging on!

Colleen has been such a good baby on this trip. For a baby who does not like the car, she has been very pleasant most of the time!

Lyndsey and Colleen sit face to face in their car seats. This road trip needs to come to an end really soon. Colleen is picking up some of Lyndsey's bad habits.

After a little more shopping in Waco and Hillsboro, we finally arrived at our final destination for today! The kids jumped out of the car and into the hotel pool with their cousins!

July 17th

Today Mimi came to Grapevine to watch Tyler play in a tennis tournament in Dallas. Tyler won is first match 0-0. He was so excited!

We went over to the Dallas Galleria for lunch and ice skating

Lyndsey likes "to skate with her heart so she does not fall just like Casey does". That is Casey from Disney's Ice Princess. Daddy, Casey does this...

We went back to the tennis tournament for JM and Tyler to play 2 Father/Son doubles matches. They lost both of them, but they played good. The whole point of this tournament was for Mimi to get to see Tyler play, and that was accomplished.

July 18th

Sunday has finally come. All good things must come to an end. Early this morning, JM helped us pack the car. We (the kids and I) headed back to the tennis tournament, and JM headed to the airport. I must finish TX Road Trip 2010 by myself :(

Tyler played in the Boys 12&U championship match this morning. He WON!!! He played some very good tennis this weekend! He has hardware to prove it!

After the tennis match, we went back to Grapevine to the Gaylord Texan. We had tickets for the Alice in Wonderland 3D Maze. It was beautiful, and we had a lot of fun playing all the game around the hotel!

We found the clues to decode the statement. Tyler beat the girl team, but the girl team had more fun!!!

July 19th

We made it to Grammy's house on Sunday night. Mom was extremely exhausted from the week of travel. All she did on Monday was wash clothes, iron clothes, feed the baby and take naps while Grammy entertained the other 4 kids!

Lyndsey found the Cowgirl Barbies!

Colleen is 4 months old today!

She even participated in her first tea party today!

Papa helped the girls start building their Jamestown settlement for Corynne's 5th grade school project this coming year.

There was a lot of 4 wheeler activity all day long!

movie time in Grammy's big bed...

July 20th

Grammy loaded up the kids today and took them to a movie.

There was slip-n-slide fun in the evenings!

July 21st

Wednesday afternoon, we went over to visit Mimi for a little while. The kids enjoyed baking cookies and playing.

July 22nd

Thursday was spa day! Grammy and I both got massages (at different times) and we all got manicures and pedicures. Grammy took the girls to get their mani/pedis while I got a massage. After my massage, I walked over for a mani/pedi. They had already left, so I got a really peaceful treat!!!!

July 23rd

We have to take our annual tree pictures before we leave! The kids did a great job. They came out wonderful as always.