Watch Out Texas, Here We Come, Part 1

Yesterday was a much-anticipated day for our family.  My sister got engaged in September and quickly set the date for February 15th.  We booked our tickets shortly after and then have had our sights set on Texas in February ever since.  The boys were so excited to get to fly on airplanes, see friends and especially to see Gramma, Grampa, Uncle Phil and Aunt Abbie at the big event.  I have to say that packing for a family of 5 to fly and be gone for 8 days with a temperature span of 32 - 80 degrees is not an easy feat, but we pulled it off (although Doug tweeted at one point that he now can understand why the parents in Home Alone accidentally left their son, Kevin, at home amidst the rush of heading out on vacation!).  Thankfully we didn't forget anyone or anything major (at least not that I've discovered yet).  We left exactly on time and had an easy check-in experience.  Look at the cute travelers all sticking together.

We didn't get there super early, but we did have a few spare minutes to watch the planes come and go from the gates.  All 3 boys loved it, but Penn was ecstatic making every noise in his wheelhouse as the planes backed up or taxied or took off.  It was so entertaining to watch and listen to (I think everyone waiting at the gate was a big fan actually).  

The boys did great on the 3 hour plane ride to Houston (at one point Penn even took a 45 minute nap, thanks Daddy!).  

Here's Penn and Tav (my travel mates).  Penn looks like he totally gets it that Tav has the cool iPad and he's looking at the same book for the 20th time.

And then in this picture it's as if Tav is saying, "no really, look how great it is" and Penn is thinking, "yeah right."

In Houston we just waited on the plane to make our quick jump to Dallas' Love Field.  The boys were the only kids waiting out, so they got some special attention from the crew.  Notice they all got Southwest wings and little activity books.  We LOVE Southwest!!

The boys did great on the little jump to Dallas.  Then we grabbed all our gear (and we have a lot, 2 suitcases, 2 duffles, 2 car seat bags, 5 carry-ons and a double stroller...no joke.  My sister's wedding is taking place in Austin, but we took this opportunity to take a longer family vacation (most guests aren't arriving until later in the week), so we decided to first fly to Dallas/Fort Worth to see our dear friends, Dave and Kristen, and their daughter, Olive.  Kristen picked us up at the airport.  It was a long drive home because of rush hour traffic and the boys were super tired and getting pretty hungry.  They made it, but it was a long, queasy drive with lots of stop and go's and after a long day on planes.  When we all arrived at Kristen's lovely home, we all felt sooo much better.  The boys went right to playing and checking out the house and their sleeping accommodations.  Penn was immediately comfortable and was so excited to see all the toys just right for his age (Olive is only a few months older than he is).  We quickly got things set up, the boys fed and then down for the night.  Phew!  What a day, but everything went really smoothly, we were proud of our great little travelers and excited to be destinated and start our vacation!  The time change and probably the long, odd day before caused an early wake-up for Koen, which then led him to annoyingly wake up Tavin.  We suffered through keeping them quiet until an acceptable wake-up time and then all started our day.  Oh well, hopefully that was our big transition morning and future mornings on this trip will be more relaxing and restful for all of us!  Thankfully Penn slept awesome and didn't make a peep until 8am, so he was on board with the vacation plan at least.  =)  After getting over our grumpy spirits from the early start, we settled into having some fun.  Kristen let the boys fill up the "bounce house" toy in the playroom and we got some early energy out that way.  They needed it.  The big boys were moving too fast to get any pics, but Penn and Olive were a little easier to catch a glimpse of .

We decided to continue in the bounce-out-all-the-cooped-up-energy theme and took Kristen up on one of her rainy day solutions (did I mention it is in the 30's and icing here?!...hopefully eventually we will feel warm weather again).  Anyways, we took the boys to this fantastic idea of a place, "Flight Deck: A Trampoline Park."  Um, yes.  Best thing we've ever enjoyed with all 3 boys.  They all enjoyed it in their own ways.  It's amazing how bouncing can appeal to all age groups.  Doug and I had a blast too.  I'm thinking maybe we should open one in an old warehouse in the Strip District back home. =)  Penn was a maniac just dancing around from trampoline to trampoline clapping to the music (a fun mix of family-friendly 90's pop and country and occasional annoying kids songs).  

Kristen is expecting baby girl #2 in April, so she wasn't able to bounce around, but Olive kept her busy as she took full advantage of the park as well (in the pink below).

Can you tell I got to spend a lot of time bouncing with my happy Penn Rye?  There are just a few extra pics of him.

The big boys (including Doug) loved the foam pit.  They came up with all sorts of games to do in there.  It made for some fantastic photo backgrounds. 

One of Penn's favorite games was to lay on his back and then let me bounce him like crazy.  He giggled like mad.  Koen came to join him when he saw the camera was out. 

Penn's turn.  Yeah, we didn't move much, but it was relaxing. =)

And a few videos...  This first one ends dramatically as Koen comes up saying Tav is crying his head off (which he was), but don't worry, he recovered quickly.

This second one has a little more action of the big boys (sorry, having trouble uploading, try later).  

As you can see we all loved this outing.  Perhaps one of the biggest hits in family history since all 3 boys and parents could each enjoy it in their own way.  Thanks so much, Kristen, for the tip and the treat!  It was just what we needed after sitting all day yesterday!  This should also help the boys transition to this time zone and sleep hard tonight!  Speaking of sleeping, I got the boys home for lunch quickly after the fun as they were beat.  Doug and Koen then took off for a very special Daddy date...Koen's first movie theater experience.  Here's the picture I received before the movie started.  Pretty excited!

I just got a report from Doug that they saw, "Frozen."  And he said it was amazing (and they laughed a lot).  I can't wait to hear Koen tell me about it.  Well, that's it for now.  Stay tuned this week as I'm sure it will be a picture-overloaded trip and I'll have plenty more fun adventures to report.