While in Texas we had a very busy schedule trying to do as much as possible. While we were there Greg was able to celebrate his birthday with all his kids present and enjoy a good old Grimes cake, my favorite childhood bakery. We spent a few days up in San Antonio with Papa and Granny doing the river walk, the Alamo, and Sea World. I was able to meet up with some friends from Hawaii that I hadn’t seen in over 14 years and hadn’t seen Kalani since she was 9 months old. We spent time on the river walk and Sea World with Mark, Donita, Chris, and Savannah Anderson. It sure was god to see some old friends and catch up on the past few years. The river walk was beautiful and Greg and I talked about getting a hotel right on it and coming with out the kids sometime. Sea world was a blast and the kids loved getting to see all the animals. I think Leanna has decided for now that she wants to work with marine animals. They all wanted to sit in the splash zone, but I opted to keep my camera dry and stay back a little. The Alamo was neat to finally see after living in Texas most of my childhood. The kids may have been bored a little bit with the history part of it, but they enjoyed the scenery. We ate a huge Chinese buffet one night and all the kids were happy because it had a chocolate fondue fountain. Can you say sugar rush?
We also went to Schlitterbahn water park down in Galveston, where everyone seemed to come home sporting a shiny red look. Yes, we were burnt a little! The water slides were fun, but the rapids in the lazy river were even better. Trying to keep up with 7 kids wanting to all do their own thing was exciting to say the least. We also spent a day down at NASA, or the Johnson Space Center. We took a tour around to all the buildings and saw just how many people it takes to operate a huge endeavor like space flight. Some of us more energetic ones went to the San Jacinto monument and Texas battleship, while a few of us stayed home to recoup. I have seen the battle ship years ago at an elementary field trip, so I sent the ones that I knew would appreciate it. Kalani, Tyson, Leanna, and A’nika went along to make sure Greg and Papa didn’t get into any trouble.
While in Texas I was able to get together with all my family at my sisters house and let everyone meet A’nika, Tyson, and Leanna for the first time. The day I married their dad they inherited 8 cousins and finally got to meet them all. We celebrated my mom and dad’s 46th wedding anniversary and I was with my dad for the first time in many years on Father’s day. It was also a very special Father’s day for Greg to have his kids, all 7 of them, with him and give him cards and presents to show how much they love him. He is an awesome daddy and I am so glad my girls have him in their lives.
After returning from Texas we spent the next several weeks getting ready for our move. We went out with the Cardwells to the Cheesecake Factory and came home packing on a few pounds. The food was awesome and the dessert was even better. I have to say the Dulce de Leche caramel cheesecake was my favorite! We went to Carowinds up in Charlotte, which is a theme park like Six Flags, but closer to home. We rode as many rides as we could and all ended up pretty soaked, some more than others, by the end of the day. We took the kiddos back to Michigan at the beginning of August and had to say our very hard good byes. We miss them so much, but hold them close in our hearts. It was a wonderful summer with all seven of my kids together for most of it. Amazingly, they all do get along pretty good and love to spend time together as a family. We enjoyed doing family devotions with them all and prayer time at night to see what everyone was thankful for or wanted to pray about.
We had a wonderful summer until it had to come to an end when we were packed out on the 14th of August and had to say some very hard good byes to wonderful friends and neighbors. My girls will all miss playing with the boys next door and with little Lauren. Thanks to Stef for making get out of my funk and care about myself again, plus pushing me to cycling class each week. More sad good byes to Tom and Kathy, and I guess Kathy and I won’t get to whoop up on the guys anymore at cards. We will miss South Carolina, but look forward to the next chapter in our book together as a family. As long as we are together as a family is all that matters!!!!!!!
Hope you enjoy the slide of our vacation picutres!
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