Making Money and Dr Pepper

This morning, our first stop was The Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Fort Worth.


I only was able to take one picture because cameras and phones were not allowed inside the secured area. We went through security and took a shuttle bus to the visitor's center. At the center, we watched a movie on how they engrave the plates and print the money. Then, we had the walking tour. It was very interesting. All paper, no matter if it is printed or not, is accounted for. Matt purchased a t-shirt and a pack of huge money. Ben also bought paper money. Sarah bought shredded money.

Then we headed south to Austin.

On the way, for a break, we stopped at the Dr Pepper Museum. There they had the history of soda pop and the marketing of Dr Pepper. They had a little bit of how they made the soda, but not really. We went to the soda fountain and had some treats. Kids had ice cream and Matt and I had a Dr Pepper Sundae. It was very unique and very yummy that I purchased a bottle of the Dr Pepper syrup.




We arrived in Austin around 6pm and promptly went to dinner. We drove up to a restaurant that hangs on a cliff over Lake Travis called Oasis. Here are some pictures of the dinner and view. It is huge restaurant. I believe I overheard that the seating capacity of this place was 3000 or so...


Here are the kids with their cousin Michael.

Fort Worth Stockyard & Sailing

Today started out very stormy. As we drove through Dallas to Fort Worth, the skies were very dark and it did rain on us.

When we arrived in Fort Worth, the sun was out and it was very hot. We watched the daily cattle drive of Texas Longhorn cattle go down the street and then hit a few of the shops. We also went to lunch at Riscky's BBQ. In Texas, our version of BBQ is called "grilling." BBQ in Texas is where the meat is smoked for 7-8 hours! Talk about planning ahead! We tried Texan BBQ and fried okra. Both were interesting, but Matt and I agree, we like Santa Maria Style BBQ much, much better.

After lunch we drove up to Lewisville Lake where Matt's cousin Mark has a sailboat. Here are some pictures of the boat and the galley down below.



We boarded and Ben took the helm.

The girls enjoyed having their feet dangle over the side as we sailed.

Recognize the movie???

We sailed out a few miles and Mark was concerned about the coming storm. We promptly turned around and headed back to the marina.

Good thing, too! The storm hit us and the wind was going about 60MPH and the rain was amazing!

It lasted about 45 minutes and then sky lit up again with a beautiful sunset and a rainbow!


Once the storm passed, the kids got into the little boat and were jumping into the lake, swimming, rowing the boat around, and having a great time!

Yee Haw! We're in Texas!!

Hello from Texas!!

Here are a couple of shots of the kids relaxing before getting on the airplane in Burbank. It was a great flight, only 2.5 hours! We arrived in Dallas/Fort Worth around 5:30pm (Texas Time) and then got to our hotel around 7pm. Since it felt like 5pm to us, we had Sonic for dinner and then the kids headed to the pool.




Tuesday, we spent the morning with Matt's Aunt Mary Jane and then we headed to downtown Dallas. We visited the 6th Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza. It was a memorial and everything about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. It was interesting, but there wasn't anything new that we haven't seen on the History Channel.


We did get to see a mock-up of the original "shooter's nest" where Lee Harvey Oswald stood to shoot his rifle on the 6th floor of the Texas School Book Depository.


Here is the view of the building from the outside. The window is the second row down from the top on the far right.







Here is a picture of Sarah near the wood fence on the grassy knoll.


Here is Matt and Brandon standing on the manhole cover that the "Cigarette-Smoking Man" from used to shoot Kennedy in an episode of the X-Files.


Here is a shot of us driving down Elm Street just as the President's Limo goes under the bridge.


After walking around Dealey Plaza, we stumbled upon a water feature, which the kids welcomed with open arms! Ah, nice and cool! and, of course, wet!

Ben's Vacation with Papa

Ben spent a week with Papa doing all sorts of stuff. They went on many miles of bike rides around town and even saw two movies!

On Tuesday, Ben took a trip down the river in a canoe. Papa was in a kayak, and Ben was in a canoe with one of Papa's friends. Papa said Ben did really well in the canoe and it took about 5 hours.





On Friday, Ben went fishing. He learned how to cast and bait his hook. He caught 4 fish and together they brought home 10 trout! Way to go, Ben!!!

Anaheim Train Show

On Saturday, we took the kids to the Anaheim Train Show. It was amazing. It looked to be about a football field size of anything train. There were vendors, a kids play area with the Brio tracks, and there were a lot of clubs that had their setups on display.

Here is the LEGO display. This is just one of five huge tables.
Here Ben and Brandon are checking out one of the vendor booths.

Brandon really liked looking at the trains.
Emily and Brandon fell in love with "Dizzyland." It was a cute little replica of a certain amusement park...
There were also vendors that sold accessories... this one made waterfalls... Here is Sarah in front of the display. Very impressive!

One of the really COOL displays was this active volcano. It erupted every 15 minutes. So we had to hang around until the next explosion... Enjoy!

Getting Tossed into the Pool

Papa and Uncle Brian toss Ben into the pool...

Fireworks and Water Play

We went to see the grandparents and, of course, light off a ton of fireworks!
But first we went to the local water park. It has all these spouts of water that jet every so often. The kids had fun. Ben tried sitting/laying on many of them to keep them from going. It was fun to watch.









And here is just one of the many fireworks we set off in the street. This year Ben had more fun lighting a little "camp fire" than watching the show!



This year I got a picture of all four kids holding sparklers. This is the first year the little ones actually stayed up late enough for fireworks.





Here is my camera experiment. I had Matt write with sparklers while playing with the "firework" feature of the camera... It came out pretty good!


Happy 4th of July!