The BIG, unforgettable first day of school

This story is so long overdue and is quite the funny one...

We have been so excited for the first day of school.  Zack was starting kindergarten and Ashley was all set with her "cool 2nd grade clothes."  Zack was a little nervous, but very excited at the same time.  Josh and I were anxious to make sure everything would go smoothly for Zack on his first day so that he would transition fine.  Well...

The first sign of trouble: Ashley tells me her alarm clock has been acting funny and sometimes doesn't work.  I told her not to worry because I would have mine set as well.  Famous last words.

Big day arrives.  I roll over in bed, and look at the clock.  Immediate crazy panic sets in, it is 7:37!!!!!!!  School starts promptly at 8:00.  For those that know my panic attacks, I can have the tendency to act like a chicken with its head cut off.  So, yes, I jumped out of bed, starting yelling to the kids upstairs they needed to get up.  Josh immediately was my calming influence, telling me that was no way to start Zack's first day of school.  Of course he was right!  So, I ran to get ready while he woke up the kids.  After I was quickly ready, I ran upstairs to kids getting dressed, brushing teeth, and Josh making poptarts.  We all jumped in the car (luckily lunches and backpacks were ready to go), threw Natalie in her seat with her PJs on, and sped off to school as fast as we could in a 20 mph zone.  Josh drove right up to the entrance, and I jumped out with the kiddos to walk Zack to his class.  We actually got to school at 8:03.  I still have no idea how that happened :)

Looking back now, I can only laugh at what happened.  I think maybe, in a small way, it was better for Zack to not dwell on the impending moment of separation and be sad about it.  I didn't get to do the big breakfast I had planned, but we did it the next morning.  We also got our first day of school pictures after school!  We bought Ashley a new alarm clock that evening and I now have my iphone permanently set with 2 alarms to go off every morning.  Definitely a day we will NEVER forget. 

 

Frisco "Best in Show"

Last Spring, Josh won "Best in Show" at the Frisco art festival.  As part of his prize, he got to display a dozen pieces at the Frisco town hall for the month of September.  They had a very nice catered reception where they honored Josh and another artist who got "Juror's choice."  It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed meeting those there that night. 

 

 

Surprise date!

I have the best husband ever!  He and 2 other husbands had planned a surprise date for 3 months!  On that night, we were told to dress formal and we were picked up by one of the couples.  We all three drove down to Fort Worth together and went to a wonderful Lebanese restaurant.  We then finally found out the big surprise....RIVERDANCE tickets!!!  I had wanted to see them for so long and just a week earlier, I was lamenting to myself how they were here in town and I would probably never get to see them.   But, I have the best husband ever of course who knew how loooooonnnnnnggggg I have been wanting to see them.  The show was fabulous of course!  We took a picture of the three of us afterwards.  We had such a great time and good memories with good friends. 

Thanksgiving

I always love Thanksgiving. We had my parents come up from Lubbock along with my sister Jenny and Mema. We had a fun week going to Six Flags, making delicious Thanksgiving dinner, watching movies, hanging out, and going to a football game!

Ashley and Zack opened their "Heritage spa", complete with a menu of services ranging from 15 cents to 60 cents. Everyone really enjoyed this special treat. The kids were super excited with their aunt Jenny's tip of $1.00. Part of Natalie's specialty is walking on your back and then jumping off of it as hard as she can. Gives an extra "oomph" to her massage.

As always, Natalie goes through a "Grumpy" time when she's tired, usually around 5-6 pm. I wish she still napped, but she definitely doesn't.

Aunt Jenny tried to help and convinced her she should be happy and have a happy picture.

Another highlight of the week was going to the Texas Tech game at the Cowboys stadium. It was our first time inside and we were very impressed. The stadium is really large, and the screens are amazing. What a fun game...

Six Flags, Holiday in the Park, was a blast for the kids. They loved riding rides with their grandparents and Jenny.
Natalie was so tired at the end of our day, she cuddled up to Josh's arm and promptly fell asleep in the car. She's quite the daddy's girl.

King for a Day

On Josh's birthday, the kids had a blast! We went to a party store to get a balloon and streamers, and the kids asked what kind of party Dad was going to have....spiderman, batman, etc. I said that usually adults don't have a theme to their party like that. They were really confused and adamant that he needed a theme too! So, we found a king crown and decided he would be the King. I gave each child a streamer with instructions to decorate how they wished (they actually did a great job) and then they took all the blankets they could find to lay down like a red carpet. They each had little teeny horns and when they blew their horns, dad was allowed to come out and see the surprise. We crowned him, said "You majesty" many times, had birthday cake, and gave him a royal massage. The 4 of us rotated between rubbing his head, his back, his calfs, and his feet. We used his mini massager birthday present and the kids thought that was fabulous to use. Josh said he got a pretty good massage! The kids were sure to "follow his every command" the rest of the day.

End of our Alaskan trip #15

Last post for this trip! We finished up our trip with yummy food at a Salmon Bake in Fairbanks, joining up with an old friend, Hans, at a restaurant (he was in Fairbanks for business but lives in Hawaii), eating ice cream at Hot Licks,

enjoying cousin/aunt time,

and taking an awesome Paddle Riverboat ride in Fairbanks. The riverboat experience included watching a seaplane land right next to us, seeing a sled dog camp and presentation, and getting off to explore a Chena Indian Village. I really enjoyed the village...

Natalie is thinking, "Is that a real moose?" (It wasn't, but I think EVERYONE did a doubletake when they saw him).

My favorite part was going over to the sled dog area in the village. The dogs were fascinated by our little kids and they whole group of 8 or so ran over to them and kept trying to interact with the kids. Even when we moved, the dogs kept following us around the kennel area. Everyone in the crowd thought it was hilarious the dogs were so enamored with our young kids. Their trainer said they loved younger children because they were their size, their speech was higher, and their movements more unpredictable. The kids loved it.

It finally came time for us to leave. We were a little worried about getting out, because smoke from several forest fires made the whole area very hazy. We were a little bummed by the smoke because we couldn't go on some hikes we had wanted to, and one night, you felt like you were breathing only smoke! The smoke had even permeated into the movie theater and grocery store.

Luckily, after a 2 hr delay and our flight's 3rd attempt to land in Fairbanks so we could get on it, we were finally able to leave. We had to make our own fun in the airport while we were waiting:

Our red eye flight from Anchorage to DFW was one of the worst...Natalie screamed and cried for the first hour and a half and we got death stares from a couple in front of us (Josh and they had a not so nice chat in which they said that maybe throwing our child off the plane might be a good idea! Luckily, the stewardness backed us up and Natalie FINALLY fell asleep). The other 2 and I only got a minimal amount of sleep with Josh not sleeping at all. Needless to say, we were all completely wiped out when we got home and were grateful to walk into our door after being gone a month!

Alaska was such an amazing trip and I definitely recommend it to all. Definitely save up...it cost a lot more than we lot it would! I'm so glad we got to go, thanks for sharing our trip with us through our blog. Now I think I need a vacation just Josh and I...

Anchorage/Katmai bears #13

We all stayed in Anchorage for a couple of days after the cruise. We sadly had to say goodbye to Todd who Zack had a great time with...

One of the days in Anchorage, Cheri & Chris, and Josh & myself went on an airplane and then a seaplane to Katmai to see some bears. It was definitely worth the trip as we saw 16 different sightings of bears. There were important rules to follow to make sure the bears didn't become accustomed to humans or human food. We enjoyed the high planked areas that allowed us to be very close when observing the bears. We were so appreciative of aunts, uncles, and grandparents who helped watch our kids!

Be sure to check out Josh's picture of this bear.

Our quick dinner afterwards:

Ketchikan #9

Our first stop was Ketchikan, Alaska. Our day was definitely jacket-weather. We loved walking around checking out the shops and scenery. The mountains were amazing!
We found Santa in the Christmas shop! Of course everyone was so excited...

Heather and Todd were parents for the day to Grace and Kyle while Cheri, Chris, mom, dad, and Jenny went down a mountain zipline.

We then went to see the Lumberjack Show. It was funny, entertaining, and amazing to watch. The lumberjacks picked Ashley out in the crowd twice to win something. The second time it was a little chair they had carved from a chainsaw. We had Zack go down with her to sit on the chair. It made their day!

Kidzone pictures. They had lots of toys, video games, painting, movies, and cool activities going on all the time! Natalie could also go, but had to go with an adult.
For dessert that evening, the kids' eyes popped out when they saw the yummy creation before them. They all wanted pictures :)