Family Stay-cation 2012 : Part I

Now that it is time to start planning our family vacation for next year, I guess I will tell about the one we had this year. Lol!!!

First of all, I am going to gripe a little bit. I apologize....

The price of everything these days is RIDICULOUS!!! When you have a family as large as ours and don't make a million dollars a year, it makes it difficult to do anything fun with the kids. We don't ever eat out and when we do, it's McDonald's. I refuse to pay $50 to go see a movie...I could buy it when it came out on DVD or even Redbox it. The only time I go out to a movie, it's a date with my hubby and even then, it's because we got a gift card. Not that the Amarillo Zoo is even worth considering, but they actually charge people to get in now!!! I'm sorry, but I refuse to pay money to go see a goat!!

Ok, I think I am done....moving on.

With the price of a hotel room we would need for six people and gas for a mini van, we decided to stay closer to home...like across the highway. Let me explain. Last year, we went to Oklahoma City for the weekend and all the kids talked about the rest of the year was the hotel we stayed in.

Really?!

They thought that was the coolest thing we had ever done. Just a pool and a pull out sofabed absolutely made the trip worth it for them. They actually fought over the sofabed.

Since the room for our stay-cation would still cost a good chunk of money, we wanted to figure out a cheap way to extend our vacation just a little bit longer. Our solution was camping....like, tent camping....like, something I haven't done since I was in middle school, something Kyle has NEVER done and with kids who are scared of bugs....sign me up! If nothing else, it will be entertaining. My only concern was cooking and the weather. My cooking skills have significantly improved....in my kitchen. What in the world do I cook in the middle of no where with a grill? Hamburgers and hotdogs, I know. But what for breakfast? So, I call some weird Texas Wildlife Park hotline thingy to make a reservation. One of their questions was, "would you like an electric and water site?" YES!! I'm not sure why you would need electricity, but if they offered it, I'll take it! Turns out, those sites are for pop-up trailers and campers...oh, well. To make the most of it, we took our ELECTRIC skillet :) and made breakfast burritos the next morning.

Just for the record, it did rain. But it wasn't severe and it cooled it off a LOT! Blessing in disguise. The overall camping experience wasn't that bad. I would like to go longer next time, and maybe even with friends, but this was a good start for us.

I warn you now, I am a picture taker....and I took a LOT of pictures...

....you have been warned....

I am proud to announce that Kyle and I put the tent up all by ourselves! Yes, I know....we are awesome!! (and yes, I helped)

About the time we were finished, my family showed up. Perfect timing if I do say so myself.

Time to cook!!!

My brother refuses to take a good pic!!

And then, of course, as soon as the burgers were done, it started to rain. So in the tent we ALL went to eat. Sorry for sweaty, shiny faces, but it was hot in there...

Sexy, I know :)

My dad

Me and my brother

Connie and Jenn were here too, I swear!! Somehow they managed to outsmart the photographer and strategically slip away when a picture was to be taken...

As soon as we were finished with our burgers, the rain stopped. We couldn't get out of that tent fast enough, it was soooo hot!

And then it was time for dessert.....S'MORES!!!!

And apparently our non-camping skills shined 100%...check out our little balls of marshmallow fire. We were all looking at it thinking, "this doesn't seem right".

Uncle Paul helping Braxton cook his marshmallow

But, of course, we ate them anyway.

We played a few little games here and there...

They love their Uncle Paul, but their sure missed their Aunt Hali :(

Found a eenie teenie weenie frog...how? I'm not sure. It was so small!

And before my family left us, they took a family pic for me :)

Our first family camping pic....take a good look because we did NOT look so nice the next morning.

My family left, so we went on a little walking trail that was close by. The sun was going down, so we didn't want to get too far away from the campsite.

With Kenzie leading us, I was a little nervous

WE SAW A DEER!!!! Like, for real for real!!! And I didn't zoom this pic at all. It really was standing this close to us! Soooo cute!

We went back to camp soon after, but on the way, we found that underground house. Do you remember that house? It was pretty cool to look inside with it staged like it was still being lived in. It totally creeped the kids out. Lol!! We also saw tons of fireflies. I haven't seen those in forever! It was so neat and the kids instantly thought of The Princess and the Frog. 

"Don't make me light my butt!!!!" Lol!!

Then we settled down and eventually went to bed. The next morning, we got up, went to the bathroom and made breakfast. It was yummy. Good job Kyle :) After we ate, we packed up the tent and drove to a place where we could go hiking. We found these rocks that I remembered climbing as a kid.

And then from there, we found a place to climb. The kids loved it!!

I did not crop myself out to prove that I did participate :)

After that, we headed back to the van and drove up to the trading post for some ice cream. Super yummy!
Our camping adventure was finally complete!

On to the hotel!!!

A Star is Born

If my memory serves me right.....and at my age it better.....this was Kenzie's seventh year to do ballet!! If I hadn't been at every single recital, I wouldn't believe it!! 

She LOVES dancing! It's almost apart of her identity at this point. I know I am her mom, but she is sooo talented. She really is! I don't feel like she is dancing at the level she is capable of this go round, but she was able to master what she already knew, which will be a true blessing later.

This year, her dress rehearsal and recital were all on the same day. It may have taken up a whole Saturday, but I only had to do her hair and makeup once, and I would gladly do that any day. 

And, of course, she was the most beautiful one out there ;)

See for yourself...

I LOVE this picture of her!!

Anyway, she won an award this year for being a "helper" to a little girls' class. She went to an extra class with little girls every week to learn their routines and help their teacher. I think that class was close to Madison's age group...three and four year old's. And on recital day, she danced with them. So that made five dances for her to perform and some crazy costume changes!

I am going to attempt to upload a video again, but it didn't go well for my last post....

Ok, the video worked, but it still isn't a dancing one. In this one, Kenzie receives an award before the recital begins for all of her hard work as a helper. So proud of her!!

With the help of the dress rehearsal, we quickly figured out that she would definitely need help changing in and out of her costumes. So, of course I wanted to be the one to help her. I made my notes of what I needed when, when she went here and who should would dance with there....It was NUTS!! And I loved every minute of it. The absolute madness behind the scenes was so exciting. Costumes flying everywhere, all kinds of ballet shoes, accessories, hairspray....Oh, the hairspray!! That was madness in itself. Lol!!
Chaos is not normally my forte, but it didn't seem to bother me that night. I don't know why. Normally, I would have been popping my crazy pills fifteen minutes in. Lol!! But it felt different...like I was apart of something.....something great. And I loved it! But what I loved the most, was that I got to share that memory with Kenzie. She will always remember this recital as, "the one she won her first trophy at", "the won where she danced with the little girls for the first time", "the one where her mom ran around like a crazy person with a piece of paper and a bag of ballet clothes"!! Lol!!! And she will always remember that I was the one there with her.

Now that the year has ended, she is already talking about what class she will sign up for next year. Lol!!
And, of course, I have a few pics of my beautiful ballerina to end out another great year...

Her friends...and I thought Kenzie had on a lot of makeup :)

Waiting to get her recital pics taken

Kenzie and Rainy

Her Mimi and Papa

This is the teacher she helped with

These two girls are the stars of the show...little ballet besties

 I am sure you noticed our family picture was one short. This was Bailee's first year to miss Kenzie's recital. I guess this is something we will have to get used to, but I don't imagine it will get any easier with time. I hate that she had to miss, but Kenzie still had fun and did another great job.

I LOVE watching her learn and grow in her passion for dancing, but I am glad to call it a year.
Amarillo Little Theater 2012- another great success!

The Littlest Ballerina

It has been a crazy couple of weeks!! 

I don't think I have been on here since....May!!

Kyle has been a computer hog for a month now, but I guess I will I will forgive him since he is taking three on-line classes...but only this once! Lol!

Ok....so I need to go back several weeks.....and it looks like Kenzie and Madison's ballet recitals are next on the blogging list.

Madison had her's first on a Thursday night, which I am not a fan of. Nothing like getting off of work to run home, rush around a 3 year old with hair and makeup and then expect her to be calm and relaxed for her performance. Just sayin'.
Anyway, she did really great. Putting her hair up is always my least favorite part, and her's. Holding still for that long with all of the bobby pins and hair spray could probably be considered child abuse, but she took it like a champ.

Me and my little ballerina

She looked so beautiful!! And she was so cute doing her dances. She knew exactly what she was doing. I was so proud of her.
Give me a sec...I am going to attempt to upload a video...

This is the video of the opening performance to the recital, which she was in. She is the one on the very end that wouldn't wave. Lol!! I wanted to upload the two videos of her dances, but Blogger is being dumb right now. Anyway, I will try to upload again some other time. But I promise you, it was super freakin; cute! ;)
And of course now, it's picture time...

Coloring a picture waiting to go onstage

Madison and her friend (? name)

This was actually taken at rehearsal, not recital

These next few are my favorites, so I played with them a bit on a photoshop website...which I LOVE!!! If you are interested, let me know. The site is free and super cool :)

Her favorite part of recital is the flowers

Mimi and Papa with little missy

Madison and her favorite daddy

Facial expressions not at their best, but we were ALL together and that's what matters :)

Ballet is always so much fun. The girls love it doing it and I love watching them. The progress they make throughout the year is exciting to see. I'm sure I look like a whack job sitting there grinning ear to ear like a crazy person, but I am just sooo proud of them and how hard they have worked!!
But as much as I enjoy all of this, by the time recital and summer gets here, I am ready for a break!

Amarillo Little Theater Ballet 2012......HUGE success!!
Here's to another year!!