Our Trip to Houston...back in March

The day John was offered his new job at Halliburton he imeediately gave his two week notice at Home Depot. This was fine except for the fact he had to wait until his background check came back to start at Halliburton. This took longer than excpected and so there was a two week period when John was technically unemployed. We decided at the last minute this would be a great time to go visit John's family in Texas. So we loaded up the car and headed out.

I was a bit worried about the 24 hour drive we had ahead of us and three kids ages 4,2, and 1 being in there with us, but it turned out great. We had planned on stopping along the way, but every time we got to a place that the kids could get out and play, they were doing great in the car. So we kept on going. We drove through the night so they slept a lot of the journey. The only time we had any problem was about an hour or two outside Houston.. Linken started getting a bit restless and cranky. At that point though, John said we had made it this far and we weren't stopping that close. So we drove the whole 24 hours without stoppin other than to gas up.

Well, like I said we decided at the last minute to go so we thought it would be fun to surprise
John's family. We got there Monday night around 7:00 and went to John's sister Tammy's house first. We knocked on the door and gave them a big surprise. They thankfully took us in. The best surprise wa the John's mom the next day.

His parents work as missionaries in the cannery so we decided to show up there. Tammy led us there and when we arrived we decied Tammy should go in first with just Linken. We took Link's helmet off so it didn't completely give it away. Tammy said she went and found Grandma TX and she asked who the little boy was. Tammy just said she was babysitting him. Then the rest of the conversation went a little something like this:
Grandma TX: "What's his name"
Tammy: "Linken"
Grandma TX: "Just like our Linken and he has red hair like our Linken too"
Tammy:" Yes"
Grandma TX: "How old is he"
Tammy: "One"
Grandma TX: " oh, just like our Linken"
Tammy: "Yeesss"

At this point Link started getting fussy so Tammy said she was going out ot hte car to get his binki, and she came outside ot tell us the story about how Grandm TX had no idea that it was her linken. Then we all went insisde and gave he a HUGE surprise. John's Dad came out of the restroom right after we had gone in. He saw us, did a bit of a double take, jumped, and had a great big smile. It was fun to surprise them and I don't think we'll ever let Grandma TX live down the story of not knowing Linken even after making all the comparisons. Too Fun! I love surprises!

Well the rest of the week was filled with lots of fun, including lots of shopping for Tammy and I, rock band, a trip to the zoo (where I have never waited so long to find a parking spot
in my life), a treat from Tammy to Build-a-Bear, out to the movies to see Princess and hte Frog, eating out, and lots of visiting and enjoying being around the Fairchilds. It was lots of fun and we were grateful for Tammy and Mark and thier kids for letting us bombard their house and cause them to rearrange their daily lives for us.

Here are some pics of the trip:





Above our some pics of Kyandi at a reptile store. She got to go with Tammy, Mary, Andrew and Spencer. They said there was a HUGE snake there.

Aunt Tammy amazingly got Brooklyn to take a nap.

Linken with Aunt Mary...this was the best pic I got

Brothers!

On our way through the mall to Build-A-Bear we saw this pet store and had to go in. The kids LOVED it. Linken loved seeing the dogs as long as they were not too close.

Brooklyn doesn't look it, but they were pretty excited about getting to build their first pet.

Kynadi got right into stuffing her bunny, but Brooklyn was a bit nervous so I had to help.

Kynadi was so cute, she was so serious about getting her new bunny washed and brushed. It was lots of fun.

This is at the cannery. Kynadi is dressed as a worker. She took this all home so she can dress like this for the next Halloween. :)

The Thayers love Macs and are the ones that sold John on them. So here is Links new Helmet sticker. They labeled him "I-Link" This could be profitable for Macitosh .

There always has to be a wrestling match... I think Tammy wins!

Brooklyn is playing with a remote control spider. Linken was deathly afraid of it, which I think made it more fun for the girls. It made him cry every time he saw it move.

Gettin down with some Rock Band!