Vacay Part 3, or Six Flags and Jim!

After dying and going to heaven in South Padre, we shook the sand off, loaded up the car, and drove for what seemed like forever back to Dallas. And we couldn't leave Dallas without going to Six Flags again, could we?
Margot wasn't feeling well, so Brandon stayed back in the hotel with her, and the rest of us headed to the park. This time around, it was freezing, and there were no lines! Portia was a bit braver too, and rode pretty much all the rides she was big enough for! She had a blast!

By noon, we were all hungry and cold, and the kids were done. We left the park and went to lunch. Afterwards, the kids and dads hung out at the hotel, and Jeannine and I got to go play till our hearts content at Six Flags. We rode everything that we could! We stayed until the park closed and we were frozen solid! But it was so fun!

The next morning, we loaded up and drove to Tulsa, dropped the kiddos off with babysitters and went to go see Jim Gaffigan in concert. He's a great comedian, very funny! He does a lot of food jokes, so you know I love him!

And with that, our vacation ended. We are home now, and I'm dreaming about the beach! I can't wait to go back!

Vacay Part 2, or South Padre!

Lotsa pictures coming up guys, lotsa pictures!
You ready? Here we go!

From San Antonio, we drove about 6 hours to South Padre Island, aka My New Favorite Place Ever. It was gorgeous!

We rented a little condo right on the beach. 2 bathrooms, 2 bedrooms, a huge living room and kitchen, and a sweeeet balcony overlooking the water.

The view form our balcony.

I'm a little excited, can you tell?

We arrived Sunday night, and stayed until Thurday morning. And we spent every moment we could on the beach! Here are a few beach shots!

mmmmmm apples!

After about 6 minutes, I had the worst sunburn ever. I spent a lot of my time sitting under the umbrella, all covered up. 

One morning, we woke up to jellyfish! This is actually a Portugese Man'O'War.

I love the ocean. I wish I could go back already! We had a blast, just soaking up the sun, or in my case, frying like a lobster.
Let the peeling commence!

Vacay Part 1, or Six Flags x2!

Well folks, we have officially been home from our vacation for 3 days, and I'm still trying to get the sand out of our stuff! Not that I'm complaining, we had a blast! 
Oh, you wanna hear about it?
Well, here you go!


Last Thursday morning, we met up with my Jeannine-sister and her family, and drove down to Dallas. We checked into our hotel about noon, and quickly headed off to Six Flags!  
It was interesting, as we had 6 kids with us, but they did pretty good! It was about 1000 degrees, and there were about 4 billion people there, so the lines for all the rides were ridiculous. Portia was big enough to ride all the kiddie rides, but she was too scared. She rode a few rides, the log flume and the airplane one. You know, you sit in a little airplaine and it spins you around like you're really flying. She was really happy while we were on it, but as soon as the ride ended, she was miserable again. 
We took the kids back to the hotel after a few hours, and Jeannine and I stayed with them while the dads went back to Six Flags to play. Then around bedtime, the dads relieved us and Jeannine and I went and rode a few rides. It was pretty awesome! 
There are no pictures of this day, because every time I paused anywhere, the crazy masses of people started shoving the stroller. No joke, at one point, a woman actually pushed my stroller for me in an attempt to get me to walk faster. I was not amused.
The next morning, we all packed up and drove down to San Antonio. We checked into another hotel, and headed off to the other Six Flags. Oh yeah. You wish you were us.

It wasn't as crazy this time around, there seemed to be just as many people, but no one was freaking out. That makes a huge difference. Portia and Margot got to ride one ride, the train.

Classic.

After that, things all went downhill. The girls were DONE. They were so tired and hot and cranky, and so furious at the world because of it.

Here's Portia holding Daddy's hand, because she was getting real dramatic.

Aaaaaaand Margot.

So we bid farewell to Jeannine and her kids, and headed back to the hotel early. They stayed at the park till it closed and had a blast! We were thrilled to go watch cartoons.

This is before we even got out of the parking lot of the park.

We ate dinner, and went to bed, excited for a day of driving to come! 

our holidays

It's been awhile since I've been able to post; the holidays were busy for us! What's that? You wanna hear all about it? Why, I thought you'd never ask!

Rewind about a month, to about the second week of December. Can you see it? The stores were still blasting Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, camera-armed Santa Stations dotted every mall in the country, and the Rawlinsons were gearing up for our holiday travels!

First, we drove to Tulsa, to visit our parents. We stopped at my parents' house first, for the Annual O'Dell Grandkids Christmas Party. For those of you who aren't aware, there are 11 grandkids on my side of the family. As you can imagine, all of us getting together for Christmas is a little difficult. So, my mom and little sister came up with a plan. Every year, everyone joins together for one evening for some awesome kid-centered holiday fun! We decorate cookies, open gifts, look at Christmas lights, we go all out.
This year, we went bowling! The kids loved it! We then drove to Rhema to see the lights.

Carrie and I at the bowling alley. Something exciting must have been happening. Probably a strike.

 Me, Carrie, and Daisy, and the back of Margot's chubby little head.

My cute parents. 

There aren't many pictures of my kids, as they were too excited to stand still. Fun times!

Next, we headed to Brandon's parents house for a week. We celebrated Christmas early, and the girls made out like kings! They got Little People, Barbies, new jammies and outfits, and tons more. They were in heaven! This was the first Christmas that Margot was old enough to really know what was going on, so she was really excited.

Next, we drove 15 hours to LaGrange, IN to visit my extended family. It was a surprise, only my Aunt Peg knew we were coming, and she kept a really good secret! It was so much fun to visit everyone, especially since I haven't seen most of my cousins in years! Plus, my girls got to meet a whole new group of kids their age to play with! Woohoo! 

Portia, decorating cookies.

Tuckered out. Brandon and my dad.

My grandpa. I like him.

My beautiful grandmother.

Next, we drove back to my Daisy-sister's house. She and her husband have been married for 15 years, and to celebrate, flew to Paris and London for 9 days. We watched their kids and house-sat while they were away. They had a blast, and got to do this:

which was very important.

After that, we drove back to Tulsa, where we relaxed for a few days, then drove to my Jeannine-sister's house for a night, where we relaxed some more!

At this point, we had been away from home for a month, so away we went! 

It was so fun and exciting to travel all over, but boy is it good to be home!

pb&mc

I love peanut butter.
I love peanut butter ice cream, peanut butter candy, peanut butter toast, peanut butter cookies, peanut butter sandwiches, heck, I even like peanut butter by itself on a spoon.
I love peanut butter and honey sandwiches, and of course, pb&j, but my all-time favorite peanut butter sandwich is peanut butter and marshmallow cream. It's delicious!
I remember the first time I ever had a peanut butter and marshmallow cream sandwich; I must have been 7 or 8, and I was at my Grandma's house in Indiana. My cousin Nathan was there too (where our hoards of siblings were, I have no clue, but it was just us), and Grandma made us lunch. You guessed it, pb&mc. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. It was creamy and almost too sweet, got all over my face, and made me so happy!
I still make myself a pb&mc sandwich every once in a while, and I am happily reminded of afternoons playing in my Grandma's den, watching Ernest Holidays, and my extended family who I miss so much!

Ernest P. Worrell

My Grandma's den

aaaaand Nathan.

 Grandma's deck, me and some cousins as wee ones.

This was taken at a family reunion a few years ago, all the cousins that were there. Yes, my family is cooler than yours.

Portia's 1st Christmas

Just a little highlight reel from the holidays! We spent our time visiting family in Tulsa!

Tub time with cousin Luke.

Christmas morning!

(Yes, she is eating a lemon.)