*12*

So today we are feeling quite old. Isabelle turns 12 today. She has become a beautiful little lady. It seems like just yesterday we were back at McChord Airforce base in Tacoma, oowing and awing over our new pride and joy. Here we are 12 years later! She is such a big help for us and a wonderful big sister to her little brothers. She is still mad at us for not having a sister for her, but we're not sure if sometimes (mood swings) that would be healthy for those of us that live with her. We love her and wish her a very, very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Texas - o - Texas

Nov 13 we headed north to visit our FOTR friends the Watkins near Fort Worth. They were staying with Vicky’s parents for a bit. The Watkins have a bus and her parents have one too (so you know they are cool!). Neither of their buses were at her parents so there was plenty of parking. They have a trampoline & swing set, which the kids loved. They have 2 little chickens and the cutest chicken coop! They also just found this pretty bird (can’t remember what kind??) but it is sooo funny. It only likes Vicky’s dad, everyone else it bites. They have a private fenced area where our dogs could run around. The kids had a great time playing with their kids. Vicky’s mom cooked for us…yummy! And we all enjoyed hot showers and I did laundry….till I killed the dryer….yikes! I feel really bad about that! They are such a nice welcoming family, we really got the royal treatment!

Organic Tribe in front of our bus

Jewels, Vicki and Joey

Lincoln and Jewel

Victor and his bird

The Chickens

Conner and Jake

Winston rockn

We took the kids to the Mint, where they make cash (or notes as they called it) on Friday.

Fort Worth Engraving and Printing

Entrance at Engraving and Printing

Entrance of Engraving and Printing

Saturday was cold so we mostly stayed inside and just enjoyed chatting. That night we took Isabelle to the Twilight pre-movie party at Borders, which was pretty lame-o. But we did enjoy hanging out at the bookstore checking out lots of books and listening to some good music. This guy was playing and was really good…kind of sounded like the Decemberist. Conner stayed and slept over at the Watkins. He had a great time with their boys! We stayed at a Lowe’s that night so we would be close to town. Sunday morning we headed over to the Stockyard. There is a little western town with brick streets and guys on horses and longhorn cattle that go right down the middle of the street. Winston even got to sit on a longhorn! We watched some cowboy mounted balloon shooting, and checked out lots of little western shops. Sunday afternoon we went back to the Watkins…as if they hadn’t had enough of us. Monday we hit the road again. Thanks Vicky & Joey for everything!!!

The kids at the Stock Yards

Winston, Isabelle and Lincoln

Bryce and the best cookbook ever that we found

Watching the longhorns going down the town

Winston and Isabelle with Jake the Longhorn

Steve and kids

Isabelle, Winston and Steve

Steve and kids

Lincoln and Winston

Bryce and Isabelle

Bryce and kids at Stock Yards

Isabelle got a Twilight bookmark at Borders pre-party

Austin Rocks!

We rolled into Austin on Halloween and our friends the Xtreme Family invited us over for dinner and trick or treating. This was our first time meeting the Extreme family in person. They used to be a FOTR and have a SWEET bus that they converted. What a nice family! Cindy is an AMAZING hostess & cook!! She even made marshmallows in the shape of bones. She had her place all decked out with great Halloween decorations too. Their kids are teens, but were so nice and easy going with our younger ones checking out all their cool stuff/ toys. We met the Weed family that night too. They have 3 boys close in age to our boys so the kids had a great time playing and trick or treating!

We took the Dillo (city bus) to the Extreme Fams house

Trick or Treating

Lincoln and Bryce at the Halloween party

Steve watching this lady play her propain tank drum (sounds real peaceful)

Winston, I mean Batman OOPS!

To much candy does this......

We spent the following 2wks in Austin. We found a cool park right down town to boondock at. We could walk all over downtown. We really like Austin! It's a big city, but doesn't feel like it. They have a beautiful lake and a great walking/ bike trail that goes around it. It seems to be a very green & healthy city. Lots of people out running, walking, biking and kayaking! We loved watching the turtles. Our dogs were thrilled about the HUGE off leash dog park and enjoyed swimming in the lake too! We went swimming at Barton Springs and visited the Nature Center. The kids LOVED the Children's Museum and we enjoyed the YMCA! We played at the playground on the roof of the huge Whole Foods, had free Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and free nachos at Chuy's for happy hr! Steve saw Lance Armstrong at Chuy's one of the nights we were there. We checked out SOCO's 1st Thursday and got to hang out with the Barenaked Family. Isabelle really had a great time with Sunny & hopes to meet up again!

Asher and Winston

Winston and Asher

Isabelle and the Acorn she found

Turtle

Steve and the dogs on Tara and Kevins pimp ride!

Austin Childrens museum

The amount of birds in the city was crazy

Views of Austin

Walking bridge in Austin

Walking to Whole Foods (Their headquarters)

Beautiful Austin at dusk

Lincoln rockn at the childrens museum

Lincoln at CM

Little Jack Black Winston (Rock on)

Lincoln and Winston at CM

Lincoln and Isabelle making things at CM

Bryce and Conner creating project at CM

Lincoln and Winston at CM

Bryce excited about her creation at CM

Isabelle creating art at CM

Walking to downtown Austin

Gamebay time in the bus

Downtown Austin

Swimming with the Weed family at Barton Springs

Downtown Austin

Entrance at Nature Center

Isabelle and Sunny at NC

Conner and Brennon at NC

Sloan and Weed boys

Kids digging at the Dino dig at NC

Isabelle and Sunny uncovering Dino bones at NC

Conner uncovering bones at NC

Dogs swimming in the Lake

Coco decided he wanted to climb the tree with Conner

Boondocked at the Baseball fields in Austin

Sloan and Weed Fams

We did most of the above with the Weed family....we just couldn't get enough of them! They drove us down 6th St and around town in their HUGE truck. Steve & I sat on the back with our dogs...it was crazy fun! We had lots of movie nights at their place, fun at the play ground, a couple date nights, and more! I really enjoyed hanging with Tara and the kids really hit it off! Even their baby Asher started calling me mom...LOL! We will miss them & look forward to crossing paths again!