So what IS a natatorium?

Sunday, February 19:

Family fun day again! Yay!

Today we went to the Rodenbaugh Natatorium. Is was completely awesome. :) A natatorium, as it was described on the website, is basically an indoor swimming pool. But this was way more than that! I wish I could have taken my camera in there, but I was afraid it would get ruined...

Anyway, this place had two huge swimming pools. One had several lanes for lap swimming, and a large diving board area. The other half of the building was taken up by another large swimming pool, a kiddie pool area with a huge play structure/slide thing that had squirty things and fountains all over and around it, a lazy river, and a huge twisty water slide! We all had a blast! Oh, and in the middle of all that fun stuff was the largest hot tub I have ever seen--very relaxing! :) That was a great way to just relax and have some plain old good fun with the kids!

Milestones and Hot Air Balloons

February 16:

Well, today was a wonderful day! First off, BRENNER READ HIS FIRST BOOK! His little face was so full of excitement and joy as he sounded out words and realized he could do it! YAY, BRENNER! He has been wanting this for a long time, and I am so happy for him! I'll try to post pics of him reading soon... :)

Next, we went exploring. We found a place called Erwin Park--a huge place full of open fields and hiking/biking trails and creeks and ponds, tons of picnic and bonfire options, and a few swing sets scattered around for good measure. As we were hiking around and searching for the perfect walking sticks, the kids saw a truck drive by with a hot air balloon basket in the back. They all ran down the trail to see where it would go, and we got to watch the whole process! Fun! We had just read a story about hot air balloons, so their interest was already piqued. Here are some pics from our experience there:

Can you spot the hot air balloon way off in the distance in that last photo? :)

Our First TX Lesson

Just a side note...

In all the adventure so far, the first thing we have learned about Texas is that Texas REALLY likes Texas! It's everywhere! My kids learned to recognize the state flag the first day we were here, and other reminders of this great state are literally everywhere you go. Sort-of amusing at times, actually... :)

Family Fun Day

Sunday, February 12:

We have decided to declare Sundays as Family Fun and Exploration Days while we're traveling! There are many sights to see, and the kids and I will experience some things during the week, such as playgrounds and the library and such. But we want Daddy to be able to see the best sight with us!

Our first Sunday was actually not that exciting since we had to do laundry and figure out water leaks and heating issues in the RV, but we did go out to breakfast AND dinner, which is a rarity, so that was fun. :) For breakfast we headed to Spoons Cafe in the historic downtown district of McKinney. It was good times and a unique atmosphere. For dinner, we all wanted Thai food. I'm really very excited that all members of our family love Thai food! That is truly great! :) After our day of eating out, we finally made it to Super Target to get some groceries so we wouldn't go broke on food!

We have so far enjoyed our cozy family worships in the evenings, and are having fun on our new adventure! Looking forward to continuing to organize and adjust to the RV, and exploring our new town! :)

On the road pics...

This picture was supposed to be a picture of the RV driving past the Welcome to Texas sign, but I think I snapped the pic a second too soon. Oh well. :)

Meeting New Friends

Our first Sabbath in Texas...

Well, I better start at the beginning... We ran out of propane in the night, or so we thought, and we FROZE! Found another water leak--this is number 3 now, but who's counting, and still have no hot water, so we took showers in the bathhouse of the RV park.

We went to Richardson SDA Church to check it out and ended up staying all day! Had potluck, ran and got a heater for the RV because it was supposed to 20 degrees that night (!), went back to the church so Aile and Brenner could join a new Adventurers club, ran back to the RV to turn on the new heater to give it time to heat up the place before bedtime, and went back to the church for a Valentines banquet! Wow! What a day! The banquet was very fun, and Aile was grateful to make a couple new friends. We were thankful for good food, nice people, and some adult time while the kids played! Yay! And now back to the RV...

So when we turned on the new heater, it was 49 degrees in the RV. When we came back 4 hours later, tired and looking for warm beds, it was even colder! 48 this time! We wore 2 or 3 layers plus 4 blankets to sleep, but we made it! We will figure out this RV yet!

First Day in Texas

Found an RV store to get supplies--toilet paper and sewer hose!-- and I took the kids to a park in Plano while Sean got the mandatory chicken pox vaccine for this job. (I thought that was an odd requirement for a 40 year old!) We also found a much closer RV park with lots of amenities, so we moved!