Another Trip to Lubbock!

Wow - I just loaded 41 pictures.  Blogger really should figure out a way to do that faster :-(

So we took a super fun vacation to Lubbock last week!  Several people have thought it's a little funny when I tell them I took a vacation and went to Lubbock, but if you knew my sister-in-law, her family and my mother-in-law, you would totally understand why this is a great vacation!  The kids all had a total blast and mommy and daddy got some great bonding time with our family.  It's a win/win for everyone!

We stayed at the Chez Henri and had fluffy beds, comfortable rooms, a swimming pool at our disposal, food, drinks...everything you could ever ask for!  Thanks to the owners of the Chez Henri, it was wonderful!

Plus, my mother-in-law (THANK YOU MEME) is going to come babysit the kids later in August for John & me to take a trip to San Francisco!  It was time for her to study-up on the kiddos.

To be precise, John actually drove the entire way to Lubbock, BY HIMSELF with the kids!!  He tells me they were well-behaved for the trip.  I stayed in the metroplex for a very fun weekend filled with scrapbooking and flew out to meet them on Sunday night.

Before I got there, here's Katherine posing with the Henry's dog, Abby.  She's a great dog and put up with everything Katherine threw at her (literally and figuratively).

Here is David and his cousin Josh horsing around on the couch.  See the height difference?  Josh has surpassed his mommy in height, but he's still got about a half inch to go on his Aunt Cindy!!
Katherine's recent obsession is shoes.  I'm not sure where she learns this stuff.  If she finds socks and/or shoes laying around, she'll plop down on the floor and start putting them on her feet.  Here, she's putting on her cousin Lauren's socks with her flip-flops.
Keep in mind, Katherine won't wear her own flip-flops, she screams when I put that thing between her toes, but she'll put on Lauren's!

And here's David and Lauren watching something on TV.  Isn't it hilarious how they're sitting?
David being the ham that he is...
Katherine's hidden talent...drawing!  Notice her tongue.
This week, she had another obsession - Lauren's babies.  Now, Lauren has PLENTY of babies to go around and like the great cousin she is, she was willing to share with Katherine.  Katherine pranced those dolls around all over the place!  When she found this stroller, she acted like she couldn't live without it!  It was hysterical to watch her mother those babies.
Here's Josh playing on one computer...
Chris playing on another computer...
And David and Lauren having a mini-photo shoot in front of the fort they made.

Aren't they just adorable?
Katherine talking on the phone.
She'll put it up to her ear and say, "Hello.  Yes.  No.  Hello.  Hello.  Hello."
Look at those pigtails!!!
One night, Meme had a picnic with her company.  All the families were invited and we were so blessed to be able to go!  Katherine of course got all cutie!  Check out her pigtails!
At the party...what a pretty smile!
Lauren going down a bounce house slide at the party.  Looks fun, no?
David going down the bounce house slide.
Chris going down the bounce house slide.
Mmmmmm, Katherine got some homemade ice cream!
AND a rice krispy treat with chocolate chips!  She's not spoiled, just well taken care of.
Ahhh, how sweet, she's dancing with her daddy!!!
We tried to get a picture of me with the kids, but David was NOT in the mood to stop and pose for some silly pictures.  We got one semi-decent one, but it's not as good as this one...look at that look on his face!!  He's so mad!
Katherine got her turn in the bounce house when her cousin was the only other person in there.  I think she enjoyed it!
Meme and Katherine...so sweet.
Giving her daddy some sweet kisses.

I told John the other day that he better get ready with his mean looks and intimidation.  This girl is going to be beautiful.  Of course, I'm not biased at all...

And here's the whole family!!  Meme, her two kids, their spouses and all the kids.  The party was at the American Windmill Power Center in Lubbock.  They had tons of windmills all over the place - from very very old to very new.  It was quite interesting and of course, the sunsets in Lubbock are second to none, so we got some good picture time! 
This is Katherine sitting at the end of a blade of a windmill.  This is a blade from one of those new, HUGE windmills that are all over the place in west Texas.  It's amazing how big those things really are.
And here she is about 3/4 of the way to the end.  She's walking on it.
Ahhh, how pretty!
My sister-in-law and I went shopping together and ended up loving the exact same bag!  Since we live 300 miles apart, we decided it was fine to have the same one.  It was only weird for the few days I was there...we got some funny looks!
For the record, I am taller than her.  She must have been on a hill.

We also took the kids to a very fun park in Lubbock.  This park is across the street from the hospital where I was born.  The way I remember this area is just an open grassy area, but now, it's a very fun park!

Here is Katherine on a teeter totter.
And Aunt Amie and the kids feeding the fish.
And the ducks.
As our parting family picture for this evening, another work of art by Katherine.
While we were at the windmill place, I took a couple of pictures of the windmills and the sunset.  If you've never seen it, the sunsets are truly beautiful in Lubbock.  There aren't any hills or trees in the way, so you can actually see the sun go behind the earth!
And here's a picture of an old windmill and one of those new huge ones.  Pretty cool!
So I'll include a Davidism and a Katherineism.

I take Katherine out to get the mail just about every day when I get home from work.  We've had different routines as she's grown, but we do usually go out in the yard together.  On Sunday, my dad (Paw-Paw) came over to see the kids and bring us back the dog.  Katherine is really warming up to him and was getting good at saying "Paw-Paw".  On Monday, when we went to get the mail, our neighbor was outside working in his yard.  Our neighbor is mostly gray-haired and Katherine pointed at him and said, "Paw-Paw!"  It made me laugh not only because it was adorable, but because when David was her age, he did the SAME thing only to a man walking around in Target!  Since Monday, every single day, Katherine will point at that house and say "PAW-PAW!!"  Now that's just funny.

Before we went to Lubbock, we wanted David to be able to swim since the Chez Henri has a pool.  So we took him to the Aquatic Center and he actually swam just a tiny bit!  The next week, John took him again and not only did he swim, but he did the lily pads, the diving board AND the big slide!  He was so excited about the big slide, but he's a little bit too short for it.  They let him go 3 times, but then apparently a life guard nazi got up there and told him he couldn't go again.  Tonight, he went to the measuring sticky thing on his wall to check (again) to see if he's tall enough yet!  Keep in mind, he needs over 2 inches, but hey, we're a whole MONTH after his birthday, so surely he's tall enough by now, right??