Gators, Snakes, and a bite

This post is for Holly...my most avid blog reader:) After our road trip we started realizing all the natural wonders that other states have. Although we love living in Texas we had a hard time thinking of something natural that is really cool here besides bluebonnets:) Then we went to Beaumont to visit grandma and grandpa... Grandma took us to Gator Country. We're not talkin' Sea World-fancy-pants-wetsuits-save-the-whales-attitude here. These boys were the real deal. They love the animals of course but they also serve some deep south gator gumbo at their restaurant. The owner comes out starting the educational show late because he had to quickly fix a fence ( you know, the ones that seperate us from the 200 gators there) wearing a brimed hat and a T-shirt that said "Quick hands or No hands". His 15 year-old assistant later told us he'd only been working there 3 months. I was shocked since i just watched him step into the swamp barefooted, pet, and feed the 13 foot Alligator, "Big Al". He told me, as if to reassure me, "Me and my dad used to catch gators all the time. I road on one when i was just 5 years old". The show was very interesting and entertaining. We got to pet everything from young gators, crocs, and my least favorite...the 125 lb banana python (which they found in a Houston apt.) After Hurricane Ike last year they helped save over 75 alligators. They have been nominated as Animal Heros of the Year by Animal Planet and are currently working on signing a contract with A&E or TLC for their own TV show....now i really gotta get cable.

The best part was that my child who is affraid of air, actually loved it! Kolby was so brave pet everything and he held the gator (who was born with a defective jaw...he can't clamp down---stop thinking I'm a crazy mother...) for our family pic and giggled when it squirmed around. Olivia of course could not wait patiently in line with the rest of us and marched herself to the front of the line, sat on the bench, held her arms out, smiled, and handed the gator back.

Suprisingly after handling all these creatures Olivia came home with some strange bites from a spider of all things (i think).

So there you have it. Texas has Gator Country, gator gumbo and some of the nastiest bugs known to man. We knew there was a reason we loved it here.

Circus

The day after we returned home from our road trip we met up with our long lost Lawton clan to head to the circus. Having a cautious child has taught me to prepare Kolby for new things so I thought I'd show him a clip off Youtube of the circus to get him excited and not so nervous. We were watching a clip of the tiger trainer when suddenly i saw at the bottom of the screen..."trainer gets attacked by tigers...". I quickly closed the window and said, "um the circus is just like Dumbo". All my worries were blown away once we actually got there and the kiddos gulped down their snow cones from gpa. Kolby laughed his head off at the clowns and loved the motorcycles and animals. Olivia loved it all except when i tried to pry her fingers from her snow cone.

Road Trip '09

The length of this post is symbolic of the long hours we spent in the car.... both are suprisingly not too painful:)

1st leg- Houston to Idaho Falls (that's right we left at 3pm sunday & arrived at 4pm Mon)

Where we got to see this adorable guy...and ben and erin. Loved the hot fudge sundays, the Yo Gabba gabba party and the fact that ty and olivia had a little slumber party:)

2nd stop- IF to Seattle It was so great to finally get to hug (very gently) my dad. He freaked me out quite a bit with how many things he was doing and esp. when he tried to lift the kids. For a trip that was intended to just take it easy and help out we ended up having a really fun time. We all went to see Ice Age (3-D), played pickle-ball while my dad played with the kids, got obsessed with Wii, had a fabulous 4th of July complete with a hike to Snow Lake with my uncle and the community fireworks at night(kolby actually was brave this year...as long as papa was covering his ears).

3rd stop- Seattle to Beaverton, OR

Here we got to see where my dad mostly lives his life. Nike is one of his customers so he travels to their headquarters in OR mon-thurs and spends the weekends in Seattle with my mom. We had a blast in the hotel suite, on an afternoon excursion to Canon beach, and Daniel was druling on the Nike campus.

4th stop- OR to Brigham City, Utah for one glorious hour where we ate a burger and fries with my BFF Lindsey!

5th stop- UT to Preston, Idaho

Here we got to visit Daniel's sister Jeannine and fam. Too bad my niece took most of the pics and I am lame and only got these two. Daniel and I went to Jeannine's yoga class in the morning, got hooked on Wii Fit (let's just say i rock...i love beating daniel!), went swimming in the hot springs, drove out to their property to have yummy foil dinners and smores!

6th Stop- Strawberry, Arizona where we stayed with my grandparents. Olivia fell in love with their dog "Goldie", daniel and I fell in love with the awesome hike my grandpa took us on (my grandparents volunteer there as tour guides), and well my grandma just kinda fell. She torn her knee actually so she was in severe pain the whole time but being the trooper that she is she sucked it up and even danced a little with the kids. I'm so glad we got to visit them!!!!

Last stop- Safford, Arizona

Where we got to visit Daniel's sis Jen and her family. The kiddos had a blast playing on the tramp, pool, roasting marshmallows, watching Cars on a blow-up screen outdoors, and Olivia loved playing princess with her cousins. The coolest part of the visit was the amazing hike in New Mexico. The water was freezing and I gotta say i loved my crocs! The kids were amazing little hikers!