June Travels #1

Towards the end of June the kids and I took a road trip to the Dallas area. Both my brother, and sister and brother-in-law had purchased their very first homes at the beginning of April. With Aaris's surgery we were not able to see them until now. We first went and spent a couple of days at my brother's house. We had fun with our old family tradition of "pizza and movie Friday night". Then on Saturday we went and swam at his community pool and it really is the day that Aaris started truly swimming strongly all on her own. We also fed ducks at the pond in his community, had food from his grill, and just had a wonderful time. Oh, and I can't forget that he has two brand new kittens and the kids just had a blast playing and petting them. Then, we headed to my sister and brother-in-law's house for a couple of days. We got spoiled with homemade meals every night and the most delicious homemade decorated sugar cookies ever. One day we went to a train museum in Plano where they live. The kids had a blast. They liked the motorized train set and getting to get on a true authentic train as well. The next day we went to the Dallas Aquarium run by the zoo. It wasn't very big, but oh my goodness the kids were so excited and just had the best time. Aaris still remembers the sting rays we swam with 2 years ago on our family cruise, so she was ecstatic to see them, but the shark was their favorite. Right outside the Aquarium they had the biggest lily pond I had ever seen and some beautiful bridged pathways over the pond the kids liked walking on. While with Aunt Hattie and Uncle Mark, we also went to their community park which is the most gorgeous park I have ever been to. We played games with the kids in their backyard and even got to go swimming at Mark's parents' house. The kids had never jumped off a diving board before. Titus couldn't get enough. Aaris just wanted to use it as a way of getting deeper in the water to swim. I always joke now that Aaris will be my swim racer, and Titus will be my diver. I love my brother and sister dearly and treasure any time that I get to spend with them.