Dinosaur Valley State Park

We visited Dinosaur Valley State Park on Labor day with some friends one of whom is a a professional level photographer. She was gracious enough to share her pictures with me so I figured I'd share them here.

Caleb, 8 months

David, 23 months

Eli, 3 1/2

Daniel, 8

My Family

We spent the past long weekend in San Antonio visiting family and celebrating my grandparent's 60th anniversary. We stopped by my parent's hotel to do a little swimming before heading to my Aunt Beth's.

This was Eli's 3rd time in the water, and he is loving it. 

This shallow step was perfect for a little baby to play on.

Splish Splash Eli!

My grandparents and their five children. I asked my granddad what his advice for staying married 60 years was and he said, "yes dear." He's a smart man!

Four Generations! This is so special to me!

Grandkids and Great-grandkids. We were missing Kaitlin and Tito.

Here's another 4 generation shot, with me only a few weeks old!

On Saturday we went to my uncle's river house and spent a day enjoying the quiet of the country. I'm fairly sure Eli will be crawling any day now.

He was worn out after a long day of traveling and splashing. I was a little jealous of his two hour nap in the hammock.

His Family

Over the past weekend we spent time in San Antonio visiting family. We went to Kiddie Park in San Antonio with Tommy's mom, sister and kids. It is the oldest children's amusement park in the United States.

Daniel and Isaiah riding the boats.

Daniel and I on the carousel.

Cousins Isabel and Eli. She is 1 year, and he is 6 months! We are waiting doctor visits in the next couple weeks to determine who is actually bigger. And yes, they're kickin' it old school with Tommy's childhood Ninja Turtles!

Tower of the Americas

While we were down in San Antonio we took Daniel to visit the Tower of the Americas. It also happened to be Tommy's birthday!

It was a beautiful day, though pretty chilly and quite windy up at the top.

750 feet up in the air!

Super windy!

We decided not to bring Eli with us, and it was nice not to have to split my attention, but just to love on Daniel!

After several failed attempts at having Daniel take our picture, we asked a photographer setting up if he could snap a couple pictures. He did a great job!

Tommy and I at the tower 10 years ago!!

Upgrade

Thursday was quite a big day for us! I drove my wonderful Toyota for the last time.  I have been so blessed by that car, and certainly got my Dad's money's worth out of it! He bought it for me in February 2003, 9 years ago to the month. Between Tommy's automotive know-how and an overall excellent vehicle, the repairs and such have been minimal. We've probably spent as much on maintenance (oil changes, registration and inspection) as we ever did on anything else. 


It's been a little sad, missing it, but I am very happy with my 'new' car. However I thought I'd reminisce a bit.

I miss you old friend, hopefully you will bless your next owner as you did me!

-I had only driven a stick twice before driving off the lot!


-Shortly after getting my Corolla, my friend Stephanie had a little birthday bash and had a tub of butter left over which I didn't want to go to waste, so I brought home. Except I forgot to take it out of the trunk. By the time I found it, it had completely melted, and was soaked into the trunk. But it never seemed any worse for the wear.

Rockin' the tape adaptor

-My car was in two accidents, both happened while I was parked at the curb. Once at Maker Mama's house, and once at my not-yet inlaws.

-The rear driver's side hubcap fell off 6 1/2 years ago, shortly before we moved to Fort Worth, when I drove from my apartment to Thundercloud Subs, just a couple miles away. I never replaced it, but was often told, "I saw you driving, and knew it was you because of your missing hubcap."

I hit 100,000 miles in October of 2007. When we traded it in there was almost 165,000 miles on it!

-I put close to 130,000 miles on it, but the furthest I ever drove in it was to St. Louis, MO.

-I used to get 40mpg and could drive from my apartment in San Antonio to my parent's townhouse in Houston and back again on one tank of gas, 400 miles exactly.

Our 'new' car doesn't have tons of bells and whistles, but it is a great fit for our family. And besides, what's a car in light of eternity?

2004 Subaru Outback

Some fun things about our new car:

-heated cloth seats

-cruise control! Yay!

-paid for!

-all wheel drive

-roof rack

This is a cool car Mom!

Van: Earthquake Tourism

These are the kinds of shelters Tommy worked on. A 5'20" Dutchman from India named Titus (the Titan) tried to recruit Tommy.

A view of Van and the Iranian border from our friends' apartment. From what he heard, if you climb the mountains, the gun ships will come.

A shelter he built.

Tea, bread and cheese breaks hourly.

Remains of a collapsed hotel after clean up.

Van: Katie's Home in Rubble

When we flew out of Istanbul, Tommy flew into Van to help our friend Joseph pack up their old home as well as help with some relief effort and shelter building.
These pictures are from inside our friend's apartment and building. They were not home during the earthquake.

The stairwell outside their apartment

Entry hall

Fallen bookshelf; why anchoring them to the wall is valuable

Kitchen; none of their dishes broke

Kitchen. The living room sustained no real damage, even the china cabinet there was fine.

Stairwell after Tommy swept the debris to the sides so the movers wouldn't slip.

They don't have freight elevators, so everything goes up and down flights of stairs. One man will carry a whole couch up the stairs by himself on his back.

One more Van post, and we'll move on to our Christmas celebrations (of which I haven't even looked at the pictures!) and some new year resolutions.

Tarsus: Where we Take the Scenic Route

We took a day trip to Tarsus and a few things in the area with our friends and their three youngest kids. First we went to see this canyon which for the life of me I can't find anywhere online. No clue what it's called or really even how to find it on a map.

Katie and I with Raymond and Robert

Wish I had some sort of stats to give you, but it was pretty awesome.

The guys took turns throwing rocks off the bridge into the water below.

We drove for a while on roads like this. No signs, no directions. 

After a while we stopped and asked a man with his donkey where this road would take us.

He said we would be "Doomed" if we continued.

And then we turned around.

Tarsus Waterfalls. Not quite Yosemite, but pretty.

St. Paul's Well. Because if there is an old well in Tarsus, Paul must have used it right?

Cleopatra's Arch, where she met Mark Antony, as seen from the car.

After some more driving on more improved roads we found another exciting site. Again, no signs (seriously I saw one sign off the highway), no directions, no one selling tshirts and mugs and charging $30 to enter. There wasn't even another person around aside from the shepherd keeping these sheep.

A Roman Road, probably 2000 years old.

Paul probably walked here.

We didn't walk too far, as it was getting dark and chilly.

Pretty amazing, the Romans really knew what they were doing.

Soon to come- Van: Katie's Home in Rubble