Next time, let's fly

We've been on vacation.   Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, back to Texas.  2,000 miles more or less.  10 days.  And we made it back home with everyone we left with.

How to keep 5 boys and 2 dogs happy while hitting the road? lots of pit stops.

Lake Eufala, yep it looks like muddy water and it is muddy water.

Riley tries the exfoliating sand scrub; he is just baby soft now. 

We were blessed to meet up with family that we haven't met before.   We liked them, hope they liked us - invited them to come south and stay for awhile. 

Another key to keeping spirits high - point out interesting cloud formations:

Run, run as fast as you can!

Reassure EQ that we won't be sucked into a tornado while getting gas at the Flying J; the flying is not a literal term in this instance. 

Haul the captive children out to Chelsea, OK; to see the first house Man and I  bought.  Number One was a baby in this house on 55 acres.  It was much farther out than either of us remembered it being.

We were pleased to see that the local Daylight Donuts is still up and running, even without Man's patronage, and the Diner is still serving up breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Of course the grand finale was arriving at Aunt K and Uncle D's Casa di Amore. and agua....

Battle of the boats.

?

How many pool toys does it take?

Spunk, aka "Waterboy"

Me at 43...

My marathon running sis in law all red white and blue fitness - I'm inspired!

The unsinkable Uncle D.

Powerful thirst destroyer.  It says so right on the can. 

Aunt K runs marathons, see the hot pic above.  She invited Tom to run with her in the annual Firecracker 10K.  Tom said "yes", he says yes to everything.  I knew he had no clue what a marathon was.  We looked at pics of the Boston Marathon; "wow, lots of people" he said.  Not so many at the Firecracker run, but I'd say at least 500. 

He rocked!  Totally awesome.  Me and Man were so proud.  I admit I had no clue about marathons....now I have a bit of a clue.  He ran 10k in 1 hour and 12 minutes; he took second place in his age group of 9-14 year old boys. 

When he finished the race I asked him if he would do it again next year...he said "no, too hard!".  Then they announced the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place runners, he got a medal and his picture taken.  Now he plans to run again next year! ahh, the sweet clouding over of success.

 Our 10 days had many more adventures; I'll add them in the coming days.

It is good to be  home.