First Family Vacation...and a Horse??

 We recently took our first family vacation!! We have been to the lake once or twice but always staying with family and have never taken the girls on a trip with just the four of us....did I mention the girls had never stayed in a hotel??  So...off we went to stay at Great Wolf Lodge.  We had a great 5 days away!! I must admit I was nervous about how the girls would sleep since they rarely sleep away from home and it usually doesn't go well. Or at least they stay up super late and wake up super early with lots of crying in between. The girls' did wonderful and even slept in a "big girl bed" together!  Now don't ask me what time they went to bed but it didn't matter because we were on vacation.  For some reason the blog uploaded backwards so the pictures are a little out of order, but we also came home with a new...HORSE!!! YEAH!!! His name is Payday and we love him so much. We hadn't planned on bringing home a horse but a friend in Texas that we went to visit helped us find him and he was too perfect to pass up. Thanks so much Dr. Alton, Sara, and Dr. Howell!  He is the best kid horse and we all love him so much. He has already traveled with us out to my parents to spend three days riding out on the farm...more pictures of him will definitely be in the future.  Here is Renna standing with him before we loaded him up to bring him home. Can you tell how happy she is?

 Here are the girls riding Payday at home one evening...it is pretty much a common evening activity now.

 Since it was our first vacation as a family we indulged a little and ate a lot of ice cream!!! We love Dairy Queen...especially mommy!

 Walking down the hall at Great Wolf Lodge.  The girls were totally intrigued by the idea of the hotel and Reagan kept calling it a "Ho-Tay"??  It was really funny.  Also if you ask Reagan where we got her horse she will say a "Ho-Tay in Texas!!"  Adam had already  explained to them the day we left that every time we go on vacation we do NOT come home with a new horse! ha! ha!!

 The highlight of vacation for Adam was going to his first Cabellas store!  Good times! He spent over two hours in there if you can believe it.  The girls and I enjoyed it too but only for about an hour then we had enough.

 We also went to the Grapevine Aquarium and it was really fun.  It had lots of different stuff for the kids to climb in or under.  We all enjoyed it.

 The girls up under a tank.  They thought that was great great fun.

 Renna in her Wolf ears.  We enjoyed the waterpark but honestly the water was a little cold for the girls and mommy too!  Renna was a daredevil as usual and did all the big slides by herself, even when she would flip on her tummy and Adam would pull her out gasping for breath...she would say "Wanna go again!"  That is my brave girl...she gets that from Adam not me!

 Reagan in her wolf ears.  So sweet and cute!  She didn't want to go down the slides without me and they don't allow you to go with them.  So we mainly did the splash areas and the lazy river which is just my speed anyways.

 Apparently we never got pics in their swimsuits except for this one.  We were afraid to take our nice camera down to the pool...so here is one bathing beauty!

  Reagan looking annoyed in her carseat. We drove all over Dallas/Ft. Worth so we spent a lot of time in the car. Thank goodness for DVD players and movies.  The girls really did well.   Especially on the way home with the horse trailer when we had to go 60mph the whole way home!

 We went to the Ft. Worth Zoo on Mother's Day.  It was a gorgeous day and a wonderful zoo.  We had a ton of fun. Here is Adam trying to point out a baby giraffe.

 So I said we indulged...we let the girls ride a carousel which we usually don't do.  They loved it sooo much.  Reagan wanted to ride the brown one that looked like Payday because we had went to visit and ride him for the first time the day before.

 Renna stayed true to my family roots and chose the paint horse.  We still have one paint horse at our house now named Ebony and she has become great friends with Payday.

 Mommy and Reagan on the carousel.

 Had to post these last two because they are my favorite ones from the trip.  I just love their excited smiles.  It truly makes all the work of a vacation totally worth it to see these little smiles.  Hopefully there will now be more vacations in our future since we know we can get a little sleep away from home...lookout world we might become worldwide travelers...within driving distance of course!

Renna on the carousel.  We had an amazing first family vacation that we will always remember.  We need to say thank you to daddy for giving in to his three ladies and letting us bring home a new horse. What a phenomenal time:  staying up late, ice cream, fish, zoo, swimming, carousel, and a horse...pretty much your typical vacation! Right?  Who knows what we will come home with from our next trip?  We are now preparing for the big 3rd birthday party.  I am sure after we recover from the party there will be a huge blog picture overload! Stay tuned!