Texas Part 4

I planned a deep sea fishing trip for my boys.  They have dreamed about going for years.  I always discouraged them because I thought it would be too costly.  Well, I did some internet research and found that it wasn't as expensive as I thought.  I found a 4 hour charter boat that would leave from Galveston for under $50 per person.  I had no desire to go so I asked my brother and brother-in-law to go with them.  Their two cousins wanted to go, as well.  Halfway through our trip I shared the secret with them.  They couldn't believe it.  

Everyone caught something but most of them had to be tossed back.  Bradley got to keep his bonnet head shark and one of the kids got to keep a trout.  

The boys have more pictures on their phones.  I say I'll download them to the computer, one day, but we all know that won't happen.  

Brad's little girl is so adorable.  She was so shy and it took her a while to warm up to Katie.  

Here we are eating our Shark and Trout tacos.  The kids were very adventurous and tried them.  I think only 1 or 2 liked them.  

Even Kyle tried them!  

!!!!!!

The last thing we did was take the kids to an indoor trampoline arena.  

Saying goodbye was rough.  Rough!  There were more than a couple of us, in tears.

We had a miracle, come along, for our drive home.  While in the process of looking at vans to buy, Katrine's neighbor sent a message around the ward.  They were needing someone to drive their van back to Utah and would pay the gas.  It was perfect timing.  We were able to postpone purchasing a vehicle until we were comfortably home. 

We stopped at Whataburger for lunch.  Caleb read the logo as Whatabooger.  

We pushed hard, the first day, and made it to Dalhart, TX.  

I had just finished one of the best books I've ever read, about Dalhart and the surrounding area.  It is titled, "The Worst Hard Time".  It is a true story compiled from first hand accounts of those that lived through the dust bowl.  I was able to spend the time driving, to teach my kids about what I had learned and about the experiences they had to go through.  It was so hard to see these peaceful, green farms and know that only 60 years ago, it was an enormous sand box of starvation and death.  

I would've loved to stop at this farm and see if anyone I knew from the book lived there.  The kids didn't like that idea so we pressed on to Colorado.  

We stopped in a small mountain town, in Colorado, for a picnic lunch and kept pressing on.  We made it home to Utah that night.  We were so happy to see our home but we will always have our great memories from Texas.

Texas Trip Part 3

Texas has a fantastic  store called Academy.  It is a discount store for sporting goods.  We took the opportunity to buy the kids' school shoes.  Then, we went to Ross and got some great school clothes.

I surprised my sister with a baby shower.  I worked with her husband and a close friend.  Here, we had a station where everyone could paint some wood blocks for the new baby boy to play with. 

We had a fun time visiting.  Josh stayed around for half of the shower.  It wasn't that big of a mystery, as to why.  A beautiful and sweet neighbor came to the shower with her mom.  We spent a lot of energy trying to convince Josh that she'd be happy to give him his number, if he would just ask for it.  He couldn't muster up the confidence but, a week after we left Texas, Katrine told her about Josh's nervousness and she was happy to give Josh her number. 

There were lots of blocks left over for the kids to paint.  They would work on their blocks every morning for 3 days.

We went to an Astros game with the Miners.  Our Uncle Brent was in town while he moved from the Bahamas to Arizona.  He and Grandma Carlson got to join us at the game.

That day, Kyle told me his strep throat, from a couple weeks ago, had returned.  So, on the way home from the game, we stopped at the ER.  It is the only place that would accept our Utah insurance.  It was a late night and we didn't get home until after midnight.  

Jason said he would leave the door open for us, when we got back.  However, it was locked.  We walked around the back and it was locked too.  I tried calling their phones but there was no response.  We were standing outside pondering our options when we thought we heard the door knob. We listened but didn't hear anything more.  I wriggled the door knob and it  wriggled back.  I whispered through the door that it was Kyle and me.  There was no response.  Was it the cat?  What was it?  The knob kept moving and finally the door opened.  Caleb appeared from behind the door.  What?  What was he doing downstairs in the middle of the night?  No complaining, from us.  We were happy to be in the house without having to bang on the door.  

We got to go to Top Golf.  It was pretty humid but we still had fun.

I'm so proud of this girl.  She had a hard time making contact with the ball and got quite frustrated.   After a while, she got teary and didn't want to play, anymore.  I tried to comfort her and explain how hard golf is and that she will improve.  After a few rounds, she got back in and kept trying.  What an example.  

Bedtime stories are heaven on earth when you have your cousins around you.  

I got to teach my sister and my sister-in-law how to can peaches and chicken.  The first canner we borrowed had a leaky seal so we had to scrounge up another.  Kitchen time with women will always be special.

Texas Road Trip Part 2

The day after the accident, we went to NASA.  My phone wasn't charged, the night before, so I didn't get the chance to take many pictures.  We went on a tram ride to see the astronaut training facility.  We saw robots (This was Blake's favorite and he still talks about seeing the picture of the robot with his legs bent.) and space shuttles.  We even saw a woman training while being suspended by a bunch of ropes and cords.

The next day, we went to one of the HOA pools.  The kids had a blast swimming with their cousins.  It was surprising to feel pool water that was so warm.

We had a delicious dinner with Gma and Gpa at their community club house.  

Grandma Carlson brought out her scrapbooks from each of our Carlson reunions.  The kids had fun seeing each other as little kids and babies.

We drove to Galveston to meet up with Jason & Katrine, and Brad & Carrie.  Galveston beach was more kid friendly than the Pacific Ocean.  We've only been on California beaches.  Here, the water stays shallow for yards and yards.  Also, the water is so warm.

We stopped a La King's Confectionery shop, before we left 

Galveston.  The kids were bug-eyed at all of the options.

Katie was so excited to see her cousin, Haylee.  Haylee used to live in Orem and we have missed them, so much.  They moved to the Houston area, last year.  It was fun to see the cousins reconnect.

Some kindly friends of Jason and Katrine lent our family some bikes.  We went on a beautiful ride along side a river.  Personally, it was a much needed moment of peace after such a tumultuous start to our trip.

We stopped at a park and let the kids play, for a while.  The kids got to see their first fire ant nest.

These moments make the best memories.  I don't understand the rules to this game but they couldn't stop laughing.

Texas Road Trip Part 1

We started an epic road trip to Texas.  Jeff couldn't join us so I drove the kids and myself.  Thank heavens for a 17 year old son who could take a turn at the wheel.  

Here we are just outside of Monticello.

We took a small detour and visited the Four Corners Monument.  It was very hot and the sun was super bright but, we survived a long line to get our pictures.

We stayed the first night in Albuquerque.  Here we are at the second hotel, in Waco.  We enjoyed our complimentary breakfast and the obligatory Texas-shaped waffle.

We stayed with Jeff's parents for the first few nights.  Our cousins, the Andersons, were there too.  It was wonderful for these cousins to see eachother.  

We went to the Brazos Bend State Park for our first adventure.  We were excited to see the promised alligators.  At first, we only saw spiders, herons, and a few birds.  

Blake found an interesting Texas species.  An asp caterpillar.  He was climbing on a picnic table and started stressing about something bothering him.  He pointed to his leg and then to the ground.  I saw this little fuzzy guy and thought it was a seed or some part of a plant.  After I nudged it with my foot, it moved.  I turned my attention to Blake because he was starting to get more and more upset.  

I noticed a welt that was the same shape as the caterpillar starting to raise up on his skin.  He was, at that point, very distressed.  It was miserably hot and humid so I walked a long way back to the van, hoping he'd be more comfortable.  In the van, he was wriggling and writhing in his seat and was grabbing his groin.  I decided to drive to the visitor's center.  I directed the others to take a picture of the creature so we could show the rangers what got him. 

The rangers were sure it was an asp caterpillar and showed me a web page of symptoms.  They tried to distract him by letting him touch baby alligators.  The poor guy was so miserable.  

They couldn't give me any medical advice so, I decided to call 911.  

The caterpillar's venomous spines will cause extreme local pain.  Some adults describe it as bad as a broken bone.  It will cause the lymph  nodes in the groin to swell and become painful.  This, by itself, isn't dangerous.  An allergic reaction is, however.  Because Blake's leg was swelling and was bright red, they decided to send medics.  He got a Benedryl shot and a ride to the ER in an ambulance.  

He was knocked out by the Benedryl but would still wake up and writhe around.  In the ER, they said that grown men come in, with these stings, and are screaming in pain.  

He was released after they were sure he wasn't going to react, any more.

We went to a delicious chicken tender lunch but Blake was still too miserable.  I told the kids we needed to get in the van and take him home, where he could rest.  We started on our way to Gma and Gpa's house.  I was keeping my eye on Blake as he suffered, in the back of the van and didn't see the 4 way stop.  I hit a small black car.  It was very loud and painful.  Kyle was screaming in fright and the van smelled terrible from the airbag explosion.  After making sure we were all ok, we jumped out of the van and onto the side of the road.  The air bags had deployed and split the skin on my shin.  Katie had a sore thumb from bracing herself.  Josh called 911 while I went to the other car to see if they were ok.  Surprisingly, they weren't hurt at all and were worried about us.  

Sherri and Linda were a few minutes behind us and came upon the scene.  They ran to our rescue.  Grandma held poor Blake.  Sherri got the younger kids in her air conditioned van and helped them calm down.  I told the truth the officers and wasn't even issued a citation.  I can only think that he was rewarding me for being honest or he felt so bad for me that I just got out of the ER with my little guy.  

Here are the miracles we experienced:

1.  Joshua, who always sits in the front seat, can't explain why he chose to sit in the middle.  The passenger seat was where the impact was and who knows what injuries he would've sustained.  

2.  Katherine, who always wears her seat belt, (I don't drive until all the kids are buckled in) didn't have hers on.  Her buckle was under Blake's car seat and she didn't want to disturb him.   This is what she said when I asked her how she wasn't injured.  "I heard the accident so I held my hands out and stopped my body with the two middle seats."  I believe that angels whispered in her ear to spread her legs apart and brace herself with her hands.  I also know that the force of a 40 mph accident is too much for her to brace herself.  She should've flown to the front of the van and maybe even into the windshield.

3.  I didn't get a ticket.

4. The other car, who was very small, should've suffered much more damage from a large minivan filled with 6 people.  

5.  Maybe, this small accident stopped us from getting in a worse accident, later.  We all learned how to be more aware while operating a vehicle.  How much responsibility it is to drive.  How important it is to always have car insurance.  And, lastly, how much we love each other and need to appreciate each other more.