Palo Duro Canyon - Day 2

Day 2- We had a relaxing morning and then loaded up the car to geocaching in the state park. The line to get in that Monday morning around 10:30AM was the longest experienced all week but the kids had blast geocaching and us adults got to see the first true edge of the main part of the canyon, the 2nd largest in the US to the Grand Canyon. 

Of course, we couldn't be trampling through trees and brush without running into some cactus!

We headed the half mile to the Palo Duro Stables where we ate our packed lunch, and embarked on a gorgeous 2 hour ride from the top rim into the actual canyon. This ride was a definite highlight of the trip... yes the ride and horses were amazing but it was the 4 generations of owners and the stories behind how they actually live on the 250 acres inside of the actual canyon that made it so memorable. The story Jessy shared of his father and grandfather an how they had purchased the 400 acres for around .97 cents an acre was a true testament for the love they have for this land. Getting a glimpse of how the 4 of them live, along with their 3 year old daughter, in the extremely primitive and dilapidated "pioneer" town at the base of the canyon, proves how devoted they are to this land and business their family has been known for, for decades. I can't recommend Palo Duro Riding stables more.

Soon after we got home, Addison, started feeling extremely sick to her stomach and the dreaded stomach bug that had slammed into our house nearly 2 weeks ago with Carter and then Delaney, had in fact seemed to hit Addison. She stayed in bed from late Monday afternoon until Wednesday morning. Poor girl.... but she loved all the TV she got to watch on vacation!

One if the highlights from today was seeing the pack of 30 plus audads come to the house and eat the corn we had put out for the ML earlier in the day. We even got several of them to eat out of our hand. (upload pics from Blake's phone.)

We got steaks for this evening and grilled them outdoors.

Kelly, Blake and I took the kids exploring in he immediate smaller portion of the canyon that backed up to the house.

We couldn't' believe this was the view from our backyard!

Since Kelly was there, there also was a puzzle at all times. This is how you would find the 4 of us and Carter except you could hear Andy and I celebrate out-loud anytime we found a piece... I know, we are such amateurs.

Palo Duro Canyon - Day 1

Day 1 - Surprisingly, we left San Antonio on-time, if not early at 6:40AM on Sunday morning, which is completely shocking since we woke up to Daylight Savings and having lost an hour of sleep. Our bodies thought it was 3:40AM when our alarms went off at 4:40AM. I guess Blake and I were just excited for the trip and we finished packing everything and getting the house ready for us to leave. We had packed the car the night before and luckily the kids slept and were very quiet for the first 2-3 hours, of the trip. 

The kids were amazing in the car on their longest road trip yet. It was 7 hours & 29 minutes of actual drive time and we stopped 2X (once in San Angelo and once in Lubbock.) So total it was a little over 9 hours in the car. They only used the iPad for less than 2 hours to watch their brand new movie, Moana, and otherwise, I had packed a ton of random games, dry erase boards, coloring and sticker books, tic-tac-toe, puzzles, car BINGO, magazines, the books they are reading, etc... and they stayed busy. I printed off a map of our route and all the little towns we were going through, so they could just check them off so we didn't even have any "how much longer's!?"

We planed a stop 3 hours away in San Angelo at Donatopia (donut shop seen on Daytripper) but were sad to find it closed due to "plumbing issues" at 9:40AM. So we found a other nearby donut shop where we visited with locals and then headed out to find the famous Blood Red Lake - the O.C. Reservoir. We had mixed emotions to find out that there no longer was a red lake since he drought of 2011/2012 was over! Oh well.. we were 0/2 of San Angelo things to do but in high spirits, so we headed North towards Lubbock. 

Exactly 3 hours later, we met up with the Boercek's and my girlfirend Nicki, who just recently moved to Lubbock at Spanky's and sampled their famous homemaker fried cheese! 

90 minutes later, we arrived at our home away from home - that literally sat in the edge of the Palo Duro Canyon and less than 1.5 miles to the Palo Duro State Park entrance. We could not have gotten a more ideal location.

The guys ran the 12 miles into the town of Canyon to the grocery store while the kids and moms explored the house, property and Palo Duro Canyon edge.

After a fajita dinner, the 4 of us sat outside on the porch catching up, looking at the full moon, listening to music and the sounds of nature and tentatively planning our week.

It wasn't until nearly 10:30 PM, that Blake and I remembered it was our anniversary since waking up that morning, so we documented it with a 4 year old in our lap, which perfectly documents this great chapter in life.

Happy Birthday: Delaney is 4!

Delaney's 4th birthday started a couple of weeks before her actual big day with a paper chain that she loves ripping one off each day. The night before, we all worked on her "Celebration of Life" poster for her school celebration. Her traditional special birthday breakfast desire was cinnamon rolls with chocolate chips inside. Then, after she went to school, it was last minute prep for her big birthday dinner surprise.... that involved another paper countdown chain. Your daddy and I went up to your school for your Celebration of Life ceremony where you showed all your friends when you were born, 1,2 and 3 years old. Before we knew it, it was the afternoon and picking you up early to meet family and Megan and Asher at IHOP (your preferred dinner spot.)  Right after we ate, you received a call from Princess Elsa at Disney World! She left you a special message telling you that YaYa and Mommy and you were going on an airplane to Disney World to celebrate your 4th birthday. It was such a fun and memorable moment. But that wasn't it... you decided you really did want to get your ears pierced, so we finished the night at Claire's where you surprised me by following through with it!

It was such a big, long, fun and memorable day celebrating everything Delaney!