Watch Out Texas!

We had a full, fun 7-day trip to Texas courtesy of some $98 Southwest tickets. Seriously, I'm now a huge fan of Southwest, and would highly recommend them for their pricing, free bag checking and customer service. This trip was long overdue to visit with family and some friends. The last time we went Frazier was 6 months old and much easier to contain. Here's our fabulous trip in pictures.

Bright-eyed for our 6:05am flight out of Reagan. 

First stop in Dallas was a tour at the Dallas Cowboys Stadium. Yes, we love the Cowboys. That's what happens when you marry into a family from Texas plus it's American's team. 

Seriously, why are we here Dad? 

That TV is 7 stories tall and cost about 40 million dollars. Those numbers are not typos. 

Panoramic view of this 1 billion dollar stadium. 

The stadium was really over the top and quite beautiful. We saw many seats and sections we'll never get to sit in ($$$$), but it was still neat to see. 

The locker room of the famous Cowboys cheerleaders.

Leila was not nearly as excited as I was to pick up a pair of pom poms. It had been a good 15 years since I'd donned the cheerleader attire.

The Cowboys locker room. 

I loved the football light in this room. 

I think we look a little sleepy, but we still had a good time.

We ended the tour with a chance to play on the field. 

Beautiful kiddos.

Next stop was still in Dallas to see an old friend who was in our wedding many years back. We enjoyed a lovely visit with Ron and Jenn in their amazing home. 

The kids loved their movie room, enjoyed playing with their son, Brett, and we all slept very soundly that night after a full day of travel. 

After waking up and saying our goodbyes, we hit the road and headed to Austin. We went to the tallest spot in Austin to see the Colorado River.

Mount Bonnell was the name of the highest peak that gave us great views.

We were blessed with beautiful warm weather and sunshine while in Austin that day. 

Our darling beauties. 

Our reason for going to Austin - Anne! Anne and I worked at Ragged Mountain in Charlottesville together and were running partners all through college. She is one of my dearest friends, and we always are refreshed and full of thanks after being together. I just love her.

Anne took us around Lady Bird Lake in Austin where the kids were able to run and play. We enjoyed dinner with her and her new husband that evening, and she and I enjoyed a coffee date alone the next morning. We were supposed to run, but it was pouring rain, and we are just not that hard core anymore!

After our night in Austin, we met up with family that drove in from San Antonio and Temple. We enjoyed time at a kids museum (The Thinkery) and a restaurant with Aunt Teri, her grandkids and Geoff's cousin, Toni and her family. 

The kids loved The Thinkery.

Aunt Teri and Geoff - they are usually laughing and cracking jokes when they are together.

It was a real blessing to be with family and introduce them to Leila.

And finally our last and longest stop was in Bullard, Texas to see Melissa (Geoff's oldest sister) and family. They recently moved into a golf community, so the kids felt right at home tooling around on the golf cart with their cousins Jace and Makenzie.

Off they go!

American Ninja Leila?!

Here's Geoff taking his turn on the Ninja Warrior course at a local trampoline place. (He could have really been good at this!)

Fun cousin time.

Aunt Meesa (Melissa) giving Leila a quick golfing lesson after Sunday church. 

Snuggle time on the couch. 

We went to a really neat tiger sanctuary. I had never been to a place like this and loved every second. 

These are an amazing species of God's creation. Wow.

Kenz was on crutches at this point in the trip, so she's getting a ride from her Uncle Geoff.

I loved this lion. He gave us a roaring show while there and had all the lady lions talking back. It was SO cool.

Our sweet artist, Mary-Michael. This was at a local restaurant, and she's drawing Jesus and her with her Bible. Fills my heart.

Final stop before returning home was to see the largest model train exhibit in the country at the Dallas Children's Hospital. It was such a neat way to end the trip. 

We feel so blessed to have seen many people we love and don't get to see as often as we'd like. The kids traveled great, we had fun, we relaxed and definitely made some great memories. We are grateful for all our hosts and those that took time to be with us while we were there. Texas, we'll be back!