6 Flags - Fiesta Texas

After living in Texas for a year and a half, we decided it was time to hit Fiesta Texas. Some of the rides were closed for the season, but it was a little taste anyway. We may do season passes this year here instead of Sea World. It was actually a pretty warm night, so we stayed from 5pm until around 10. Nate and Rachel both invited a friend to come along and they were off on their own most of the night, while Mom and Dad hung out with Marshel and Kellee.

We rode the Teacups, the Ferris Wheel, the Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion, the swings, drove the cars. Marshel went twice on The Big Spin (true to its name) and loved that ride. We also enjoyed sledding down the man-made snow hill. A highlight of the night was meeting Bugs Bunny and Shaggy (from Scooby Doo).

Sea World New Years Eve

On New Years Eve, we headed off to Sea World. The weather was perfect, a little cool, but sunny and beautiful. It was the last day on our annual pass, so we wanted to have one last 2008 hurrah!

The kids loved feeding the dolphins and petting them. Kellee was the only one who didn't want anything to do with it. She wouldn't touch the dead fish or reach out to touch the dolphins, but they were really cool to watch and she didn't want to leave. A few of the dolphins got pretty close as they jumped up to find the fish.

Checking out the sharks, sting rays and other fish is fun too. We spent a lot of time watching the eels slink along behind fish or hide in cracks and try to bite at the passing fish.

Polar Express in 3D - Imagine the actual movie condensed into 20 minutes, but in 3-D. That was it! It was okay, the kids seemed to like it.

America's Incredible Pizza Company

With all the big kids gone off for Christmas break with their other parents, Mom and Dad took Kellee and Marshel to "America's Incredible Pizza Company". What a great place. All you can eat pizza, pasta, salad, dessert, ice cream and soda, plus games and rides. It was a lot of fun. We ate before we went in and then had dessert after we played. The kids loved the rides and we all had fun on the Go-Karts, where Dad and Marshel won 1st place. They got a lot of tickets to buy little toys and candy with. We had a good day.

Michael's visit home

Michael was only home for 6 days of Christmas break, but we loved every minute of it. We didn't want him to leave. He looked so nice in his uniform and had an obvious maturity that he hadn't had before he joined the military. It was fun having an adult child to hang out with and carry on conversations with. Marshel and Kellee were especially sad when he left.

A few days after Michael returned to Pensacola, he called to say he was going to come home again for about a week before he left for Japan. We were very excited to see him again. Mom picked him up at the airport around midnight and none of the kids knew he was home until the next day when they got home from school. Michael spent the week visiting his old teachers at Taft High School, getting his clothes dry cleaned, sharpening up his hair cut, and just hanging out with the family.

He left for Japan after a short visit with us. He is trying to immerse himself in the culture again and loves hanging out with the people. He even joined a group and went bowling with a bunch of Japanese people. He's really excited for his life as a Navy man to begin, but we really miss him here at home already. Kellee cries sometimes because she wants him to come home. Apparently we can't mention anything about his ship or job, because it's a security issue, so I will try to keep everyone up to date as much as possible.

Nate and Rachel on their way to Salt Lake City

Mom and Mike took Nate and Rachel to the airport. The weather across the country was terrible and all of the flights were either delayed or cancelled. So, we just hung out for a few hours. We ate at McDonalds and then did some people watching. We were playing this game of picking out people we saw and matching them with famous people we thought they looked like. We were laughing so hard. Some of the people we saw: Kenny Chesney; Macie Gray; Oprah Winfrey; Olive Oyl; Johnny Depp; Eminem (wanna be); and others less known, but just as funny, like the mean fat kid on Pee Wee's Big Adventure; Ice Skater Dude; and even some family members which will remain unnamed.

Trying to get these kids to be serious for a picture was like trying to make them behave in church.

As a follow-up, Rachel and Nate's flight left an hour late. We were guaranteed that all the connections would be fine. When I received a phone call from Nate that they had landed at 9:30 in Denver and that they had only 10 minutes to get to their gate for their connecting flight, I was a little worried. It was really fun when they called again and said Frontier Airlines wasn't letting the 13 people (including them) to board the plane. After about 15 frantic minutes, the airline decided it was better to put them on the plane than to put them up for the night. So, Nate and Rachel made it to Salt Lake around midnight.

For those of you who remember last Christmas, Nate, Rachel and Mike spent the night in Dallas airport after missing their connection. We thought this was going to be a repeat. Oh the adventures my kids have!

Family Christmas Gift Exchange

Since the older kids wouldn't be with us at Christmastime, we held our Family Gift Exchange a couple of days early. All of the older kids received cash and gift cards. Kellee received a Cinderella outfit (shoes, dress and tiara); Marshel received 2 remote control police cars; they together got some new bath toys. Michael also brought everyone a gift: candy for the older kids; magic marker coloring books for the little ones.

All of the kids received blankets made with love by me, Mom. The girls all received crocheted afghans (which took a couple of months to finish). The boys received flannel and cotton blankets (Mike - Navy; Nate - Air Force; Marshel - FireFighter). Those were all quickly made the night before.

Making Trash...the annual tradition!

We had our annual Trash making activity. It was an adventure to be sure. There were a few technical difficulties. First, we added too much cool whip to the first batch, so they were a runny mess. The second batch was white chocolate (white trash) and it just doesn't heat up the same, so those got hard really quick.

Finally, success as we worked out all the kinks. Kellee loved the red and white candy sprinkles so much. She used her whole hand to pick them up, after licking her hand that is, so she was covered. We had a great time and enjoyed the clean-up the best, I think. I hope the kids will always carry on this tradition with their own families. It's a fun time for all, no matter the age.