This past week we went to
Lake Texoma for a end of the summer
family vacation!
Ritchie's parents have a timeshare that lets
you trade anywhere in the world for,
so we decided to trade theirs
{their actual timeshare is in Branson, MO}
for one on Lake Texoma
{which is about an hour north of Dallas :)}
Thank you Thank you to his parents
for generously sharing with us!
We had an absolute blast!!
The view of our resort from the lake :)
It was SO nice, our villa had over 1500 square feet!
2 bedrooms, one a full master suite complete with a
GIANT jacuzzi bath tub
{Mommy's favorite spot!}
full kitchen, living area, dining room,
plus 2 HUGE balconies!
Sweet Molly Kay's first vacation!
Cutest niece EVER!
{Molly- 3 mos, Abby- 2 1/2}
Emma LOVES her cousin!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Saturday we got up, cooked a yummy breakfast
got ready and headed out to Dallas for a little shopping!
Our fist stop, IKEA!!
{our first experience there}
We were AMAZED at all of the fabulous
finds and deals!
{not to mention the drop-your-kids-off-for-free-kids-zone!}
We waited in line to drop the girls off to play
but Emma was not in the mood to be away
from Mommy, so we decided to take them in with us...
{much to Mommy's disappointment, how many stores
have free babysitting while you shop?}
We found lots of good deals, not to mention the
fun ideas for furniture when
we get our new house!
If you haven't been to an IKEA yet, GO!
It's most definitely worth it :)
Next, we crossed the street and shopped at
one of my favorite malls, Stonebriar!
Have I mentioned that I have a slight Pottery Barn Kids
shopping addiction...
Well, I do, I usually have to settle for
online PBK shopping, not this time,
shopping in person is WAY better!
I LOVE PBK!
After shopping we ate lunch at
California Pizza Kitchen
{Cheesecake Factory had over an hour wait
...at 3:00 in the afternoon...crazy!}
Then we shopped some more before heading
over to the Outlets at Allen!
{I found better deals at the regular Gap than the Gap outlet :/}
The kids were beyond WORN out so after
a couple of stores
{out in the 105* weather}
Ritchie and I decided to head back to our resort
{My Mom, sister, Josh and Molly stayed a bit longer
before heading back}
We drove back, cooked a late Taco dinner
and all crashed!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sunday morning we got up and threw on our
swimsuits and headed to the lake!
There was a great beach close
by that the kids LOVED!
Ethan LOVED the sand and water!
Abby and Daddy hanging out
My beautiful Mom!
Daddy & Emma built a sand castle :)
...complete with it's own moat!
Mommy, Ethan & Abby enjoying the water :)
Jill, Molly and Josh
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a morning swim we got cleaned up
and headed to meet the newest addition to our
family,
Miss Cora Adi Moore
7/29/11
Congrats to Jason & Amanda,
isn't she adorable? :)
my Aunt Pam's 1st grandbaby!
Cousins...
{Ethan-14 mos, Molly-3 mos, Cora-2 days!}
LOVE that Ethan is holding Molly here...
{Emma-4 yrs, Ethan-14 mos, Molly-3 mos, Abigail-2 1/2, Cora-2 days}
Grown up cousins!
The crew...
{Sasha, Jason, Cora, Abby, Emma, Jen, Ethan, Jill, Molly}
We thoroughly enjoyed getting to spend time with
our "Dallas Family" :)
Looking forward to seeing them again soon!
~~~~~~~~~~~
Ethan and his 'make-shift' bedroom
{aka the walk-in closet}
Perfect! He was close enough for Mommy
to hear him but secluded enough so everyone
else could stay up past 8!
...please, dont worry, he was perfectly
happy sleeping/napping in his own little room where
it was dark and quiet away from the
loudness of his sisters!
Emma and Abigail on their comfy pull out bed!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Monday morning we were up at the crack of dawn
to drive over to the Big Mineral Marina
{about a 45 minute drive, even tho it was just across the lake from our resort}
What a beautiful morning with a beautiful view!
my 2 little Divas
They LOVE each other!
{melt Mommy's heart :)}
My little Man LOVED the beach!
Ethan's favorite time of day...snack time!
...SO glad we brought Ethan's portable highchair!
Perfect for containing our little crawler!
The girls fished a bit...
no bites, but lots of fun!
Hanging out, floating in the lake!
"The Captain" himself!
The sun wore Miss Molly out!
E A E :)
Mommy and Ethan!
Daddy took the girls on a Treasure Hunt!
They LOVED it!
{CANNOT get enough of his sweet kisses!}
...helping Daddy drive the boat!
my beautiful Emma Grace
...and here are a few 'In Black and Whites'...
he LOVES to eat :)
...he's thinking 'mud? hmm, i wonder if it tastes good'
{he thought about it, then decided against it!}
{one of my favorites from our trip...I'm going to do Ethan's
new room in a Nautical theme, this is a definite framer!}
Look at those precious baby curls!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After an amazing lazy morning on the lake we
went back to our resort for naps,
Then got ready and headed to dinner at one
of our favorite places in Dallas....
YUM! is all I can say!
After dinner we went back to our resort
and went swimming at the pool!
Ethan's favorite thing to do was
crawl in and out of the pool
{...sniff, that was Emma's 1st swimsuit, isn't she adorable!}
Abby found goggles and learned to swim under water!
Her new favorite thing...
"MOMMY! watch me, watch me! I swim under water!
...in her adorable little voice! Over and over and over!
She was SO excited and proud of herself!
Emma and Daddy practicing her "Water Ballet"!
We had so much fun swimming on Monday night
that we got up on Tuesday morning before we had to
leave and swam again for a bit!
...more water ballet!
Abby finally got up the courage to try it
and, as you can guess, she wont be doing
it again any time soon...she belly flopped :(
After swimming Daddy gave the kids a
GIANT bubble bath!
...bubbles were EVERYWHERE!
We loaded everything up and went into Dallas for
a few more stops before we headed back to Amarillo!
We came upon a
And we will never be the same...it was AMAZING!
Definitely a new place on our list
to go to when we're back in big D!
We had a fun filled family vacation that
we will never forget! Looking forward
to our next family adventure!
Loving this 'timeshare' thing!
I'm already thinking
'Where do we want to go next!'
Hope you're enjoying the end of your summer
can't believe it's already
Back to School time again!
:)
loved reading about your family adventure. looks like ya'll had a great time! love all the pictures. Yeah, ikea is the best and you all found the best restaurants around... chuy's and in and out are some of our favorites! i just love family vacations! we are thinking of taking noah to sea world for his birthday instead of having a party. :)
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