Texas!

The end of April I flew down to Texas with Edyn to visit my brother, Aaron, who lives off the Gulf Coast, about an hour south of Houston. My sister who lives in Wisconsin, met up with me down there as well and we spent 4 days without children (minus Edyn), decorating and helping my brother with his new house. It was so much fun! I have never been there and neither has Valerie and we hardly see each other or Aaron because of where we live so we had a great time!  Aaron took us to the beach on the first day we were there and we walked our on this mile long jetty. We were able to see dolphins swimming near by and got sprayed with plenty of water. 

All the homes there are on stilts that are nearby the water, for obvious reasons. In church on Sunday they had a hurricane preparation meeting and we got to hear everyone's stories from experiencing all the various big storms over the years. The hurricane season starts June first. All I can say is that I am so glad I don't live down there!

 We went to to the state park there where there are alligators crawling around. This alligator was about 20 feet in front of us in the grass right by the trail. As we were looking at it, it walked across the trail to the swamp on the other side. Pretty creepy! They are scary because they camouflage themselves so well..all you see is some bump and eyes and there they are!

 We borrowed this mosquitoe net from someone in Aaron's ward, its meant to go over a carseat but I used it over Edyn's stroller. I thought it was pretty awesome!

We celebrated Aarons' birthday while we were down there as well and decorated cupcakes and a cake.   I also tried the local Bell ice cream while I was down there which apparently can only be found in certain areas in the midwest and it was delicious. We spent a day furniture/household shopping for Aaron in Houston and also went to China Town where we had delicious mango frozen yogurt. Aaron also took us to a BBQ place that was very yummy, Valerie is vegetarian so I wanted her to take a picture in front of the big cow...

 Aaron's new house is very nice and clean and bright and I think just about anything will grow in his garden. He even has an orange tree! I loved his plantation shutters, so pretty!

 I also got to pet a baby alligator. It was quite soft. I really want to go back and take my kids, they would love it there.

Edyn really loved all the attention she got from Aaron and Valerie but was not a big fan of riding in her carseat all over the place. She spent a lot of time crying in the car.  But she is a tough baby and survived. She did really well on the plane, by far my best baby flier. Isak was super fussy as a baby on the plane and Lucy I think did okay but she was pretty wiggly. She was also about 6 months and Edyn is only three but still, she did really well. Slept almost the whole way back and loved sitting up in her stroller being pushed around the airport.  

                    She was happiest at Aaron's house, lying on his floor and staring at his ceiling fan.

 It was pretty warm down there and humid but it was also very pretty. I'm not a big fan of the huge insects that come along with climate but seeing the turtles, different birds, fish and of course the alligators was pretty interesting.  We had a really fun time and I am thinking that I need to visit Aaron at least once a year. And next year I can probably go with no kids! Kevin survived at home with Isak and Lucy and they were all alive and well when I got back. Thanks Aaron for the great time!