Turkey Time

Our annual "take a photo while we're together so I can have something for a Christmas card" shot

Thanksgiving dinner was at Daniel's again this year.  Mom and Dad stayed with us so we got in the morning prep work at our house.

Then hustled over to Daniel and Elle's in time to catch some of the parade.

A shot to prove Rachel has tiny feet.  Even Molly is overtaking her.

Digging through Black Friday ads...even though we don't really go shopping on Black Friday anymore

Instead we head to Illinois on Friday and Rachel gets her puppy snuggles in with Milo.

And off to Effingham for dinner and a movie

Included in this trip - Makenna and I tackled the challenge of her room.  I'll not post the before, but I've got to hand it to her.  She worked hard and the end result was worth it.  Even Charlotte the cat thought it was great!

Another year of shoeboxes

November brings with it a week full of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes.  This year was no exception and we rolled through a tiring but fun week.  This is my "Sunday Crew".  Every year Rachel, Hayden, and Max lay claim to the Sunday volunteer slots.  They've made quite a team

Young and "not as young" all chip in to help. 

Even got help from a service dog this year!

Then after a long week it's time to load up

And EVERYONE gets in on this action

A full truck...reward for a job well done!

Candy run 2018

This year Rachel scoured Pinterest and decided on being an M&M for Halloween.  After a craft store run this is the costume we put together.  

Time for the trek around the Painter's neighborhood with 4 kids & 6 adults!  This year's roster included fisherman (as is often the case) and 2 girls in tutu's 

A successful night full of fun and an overabundance of candy!

The all-important post trick or treating sort

Fall Break Mega Road Trip - Part 6

It was time to head back toward home.  We made a pit stop in Longview, Texas, and spent some time visiting with Kevin Brumley's parents. 

We snagged this fun geocache on the grounds of the Brumley's hometown church

On the way we altered our route to drive through a corner of Louisiana so I could check it off my list of states I had been in.  Took a photo at the sign to make it official.

And to further make it official we logged a geocache at this little off the road place.

We stopped at Garvin Woodlawn Gardens in Hot Springs as well.  This was a beautiful garden and park that included a stunning glass chapel in the woods

 We spent time exploring the gardens and grounds.

Time to go home.  Final totals:

9 days

8 states

25 geocaches logged in 6 new states

and a ton of photos and fun memories

Fall Break Mega Road Trip - Part 5

This stop of our trip was one that Rachel was looking forward to the most because it included the beach.  We spent a couple days in Galveston.

Geocaching - because "why not?"

The weather wasn't all that warm, but Rachel would not be deterred from her ocean fun

The next day was a little warmer so we spent the morning walking around looking at the homes in the historical district.  The detailing was so elaborate.  Rachel was ready to buy one and move here permanently.

The afternoon proved to be better weather so we pulled Stevie out on the beach and soaked in the fun for several hours.

Rachel had no reservations about diving right in

Dusty...not so much

But eventually, he was convinced

Fall Break Mega Road Trip - Part 4

Today's stop was Magnolia in Waco.  We had watched Chip & Joanne Gains and Fixer Upper for years.  This was the stop that was making all of my friends jealous.  The fact that it was wet and cold put a bit of a damper on the experience.  We also got there right before the fall festival was to begin, so things were still being set up for that.  Just as well, it was set to get a lot more crowded soon.  It was fun to look at, but I'm not really a shopper so we didn't spend a ton of time here.  Just enough to say we had seen it.

We found other interesting shops in Waco and spent a little time geocaching and then headed toward Houston.  Besides this type of silliness is more our speed anyway

On the way to Houston, I may a detour that I had been keeping secret.  Just a few miles away I pulled off the road onto a driveway and announced that we were at Chuck Norris' ranch.  There were some workers painting the fencing and when we stopped they proceeded to wave us on in.  I got out and quickly explained we just wanted to take a quick photo.  In hindsight maybe we should have just kept on going up the driveway.  We could always plead ignorance and say we were waved in!  But we settled for a fun photo opt for the Chuck Norris uber-fan!

We also scored some bottles of C Force water, spring water bottled on the ranch.  We're waiting to see if it unleashes any massive boot-kicking abilities in Dusty! 

Fall Break Mega Road Trip - Part 3

Oklahoma City - Waco

After our time exploring all things Pioneer Woman we pointed to car toward Oklahoma City.  Our first stop was at the Oklahoma City Memorial.

This stop also served as a sober history lesson for Rachel since these events took place almost a decade before she was born.

Then we turned from the solemn to the ridiculous.  We headed toward a house in Oklahoma City that was the site of an elaborate geocache.  The owners had converted a shed into an elaborate puzzle.  It felt a little creepy going down the alley to the back entrance and using a combination provided in the cache description to unlock the gate.  It didn't help matters when the neighbor's dog began barking viciously on the other side of the metal wall.  Rachel was ready to call it quits, but we pressed on.  Once we finally got into the building we had to figure out how to access the cache.  It was hidden in the base of this creepy looking chair.

 After quite a while we managed to figure it out.  I'm sure if the owners were watching on camera they were getting quite a laugh out of our antics.

The next day we headed toward Dallas to the George W. Bush Presidential Library.  An interesting stop that included a full size replica of the Oval office  

Beams from the World Trade Center

As well as a lot of other interesting memorabilia

We ended the day in Waco and Rachel discovered the joy that is In-&-Out Burger!