Pictures from the vacation

Good night

Goodness Gracious. What a freaking week.

TGIF

What a rude awakening work was yesterday. And is today. I walked right back into fires, just like I suspected I would. All I can say is I'm glad it's Friday. The weekend couldn't have come at a better time :)

Everyone is slowly adjusting back to home life. Gracie, the slowest.

My back is one big knot.

Vacation, day 6

We're beat. A vacation for a family of five is no joke.

As predicted, we left Austin this morning at 5. Arrived at the Cearley house a little before 9. No one has really slept since. We're hoping the night will be a very restful one for everyone in the house.

It was a great vacation. Talk about re-energizing. All in all, I do feel rejuvinated.

Now, if the boys would just sleep through the night.

Vacation, day 5

We left our cozy little house right across the street from Schlitterbaun this morning. It was a production and a half getting out of the house, but so is the case with 5 adults and 3 kids under 3. En route back to my mom and Kyle's house in Austin, the Cearleys stopped by Michelle's new school in San Marcos. The new San Marcos high school looks like a community college campus. Unlike the SMHS that I graduated from, it's huge and actually looks nice. Michelle has her own dance studio and office. She's already done so much work there and school is 1.5 months away from starting. I'm so proud of her. She's going to do an awesome job.

Back in Austin, we stopped by Rudy's for some of its famous BBQ. Ugh. Our bellies are full, full, full. Just like any vacation, we feel like we've eaten enough for a year.

We'll do laundry and rest this afternoon. Tonight is all about chillin. Tomorrow, I'm betting that we leave Austin by 5:30 AM given how the last couple of mornings have gone.

We are looking forward to home.

Vacation, day 4 cont...

Bless you Mother Nature. Thanks to you, Gracie had one of the funnest days of her life. She didn't even know what to do with the waterpark. All the slides and pools were overload. But in a good way. She did so many things. She even rode a big slide. The Cearleys hopped in a big innertube and slid down a big yellow slide. Now, we are all beat. Max is bawling. This long day is about to come to a close.

Vacation, day 4

There is a strong possibility of showers and storms today. All day. Mother Nature, if you could just help us out for this one day, we would gladly accept and tolerate the unbearably hot summer weather or thunderstorms (on another day) or the ice or whatever else you have in store for Dallas. But this one day, this day we have been looking forward to for over a month, this day that we have built up in Gracie's mind - it would be devastating to this little girl for the rains to come on THIS day. So please, for all that's good, can you help us out?

PS - Clear Springs was awesome last night!

Vacation, day 3

We slept until 8:30 this morning, leisurely got going and then went for breakfast at Kirby Lane. We have both decided that we don't like what Austin is becoming. It is way too commercialized, congested and it doesn't seem to be filled with the mix of funky people anymore. There were 2 Porsches in the parking lot of Kirby Lane. I have never even seen a luxury car in that parking lot, much less 2 Porsches. The downtown is now a city, complete with high rises and fancy buildings. It's just not the Austin we loved. It makes us rethink our plan of getting here.

The best part about all this is that our vacation has really just begun. We have lots of stuff to still do. Schlitterbaun is waiting for us tomorrow. Gracie won't know what hit her.

Michelle just arrived. Mark, too. Kyle gets home around 2 PM, then it will be off to New Braunsfels.

Vacation, day 2

There are things that come along every once in awhile that re-energize you, especially when you've reached parenthood. Last night was one of those 'things.' It was our first night without any kids which allowed us get a full night of uninterrupted sleep. That, in and of itself, was enough to re-energize us. But the reason we were sans kids was because of Josh Smith's wedding. We both go way back with Josh (Stephanie longer than me) - from our film production days in Austin. All of our film production friends were in town, too. Amy Raymond, Amy Carr, Tom Copeland and of course, the Stovalls. Stephanie and Roxy danced the night away while I laughed like crazy in the back of the room with Miker. I hit the wall at 10 PM, but no one wanted to retire yet so I stuck it out until 12:30 AM. The last time I was up at 12:30 AM was when Stephanie was in the hospital and we thought we were having babies. Miker and Roxy were still up at 1:30 with the notion of going out on the town. I don't know whether or not that happened.

Vacation, day 1

Vacation is on.

Day 1 - left the Cearley house at 6:15 AM. Arrived at the Key house at 10:15 AM. Just chillin ever since.

The July 4 celebration tonight includes steaks and stuff on the grill. Mark is going to come by. The fireworks scared Gracie last year so I don't know how much or even if we'll see fireworks tonight.

It really doesn't matter. The mantra = relax.