Home Sweet Home!

We are back from our 3 week road trip, see updates and pictures below.

I-10 East Homeward Bound

After being away from home for 3 weeks it was time to head back to MS. To make the drive more interesting than it already is we added 2 extra passengers, our nephews, Luke and Jacob. They wanted to come stay with us a few days and their right of passage was enduring a 9 hour drive with all of us, good memories. I think they will prefer to fly next time, hahaha. We have driven from MS to TX and back a few times now and I think this drive's scenery is so boring. I like to call it the Tree Tunnel drive, because on both sides of the highway is solid trees for hours, with an occasional bridge. Our passengers look like they are totally interested in the scenic drive too, don't ya think? Our aquarium made it home safely and is in our garage awaiting final touch ups. I will post more pictures once we get it set up in the house.

Operation Aquarium Rebuild Refinish a.k.a. Nanny and Grandpa's

After enjoying the country life it was time to work double time on our recently purchased used aquarium. We completely disassembled the tank and had the manufacturer reseal it. After a couple of dozen razor blades (for removing silicone from the glass), countless trips to Lowes and Home Depot, gallons of paint stripper, hours of sanding, stain, paint, and many sweaty manual labor hours later I think the finish product is slowly revealing itself. I stained the stand so I could give it a distressed look after painting. WHY don't we just buy a new one, you ask? Well, a new 150 gallon aquarium and stand will cost you about $3,000.00, we bought this one for $150.00. Ethan and Rachel had to build something too so Grandpa came up with birdhouses. I think they lasted long enough in the hot garage to cut them out, maybe we'll paint them next time.

The Ranch a.k.a. Pawpaw and Nana's

After Great Wolf lodge it was time to live the country life for a while. Drinking coffee on the front porch, riding the four wheeler, driving the tractor, playing in the mud, and shooting guns (yes, we teach them young) just to name a few of the things we did this week. Jason even shot a wild hog to put more meat in our freezer.

Great Wolf Lodge Grapevine

Wow, what a place! They definitely got the kid friendly idea perfected. Indoor waterpark, bedtime story at the clock tower, Magiquest interactive game, candy shop, and arcade. The lodge scored big points with me by having a Starbucks on location, it helped ease the pain of enduring the waterpark for 4 days. While we were there they evacuated the entire hotel down into the waterpark level and stairwells for a tornado warning, ahhh the smell of hundreds of chlorine drenched bodies squeezed together, good times. If you look close, in the first picture you can see the bucket that dumps 1,000 gallons of water every 10 minutes. Rachel got her picture taken with Wylie, after the bedtime story. Highly recommended hotel, no need to stay any longer than a couple of days. After Sea World and Great Wolf, I'm good to go with anything to do with water. Next stop, the ranch, also known as Pawpaw and Nana's.

Sea World San Antonio

We started our 3 week adventure at Sea World San Antonio. Shamu still gives me chills. We got to hand feed dolphins, which was totally awesome. Did I mention we got to hand feed dolphins. Next stop, Great Wolf Lodge Grapevine (insert your own wolf howl here).

TX Bound!

We are headed to the great Lone Star State for 3 weeks. I don't plan on updating our blog until we get back. See y'all later!