Family Vacation - Part One

 We spend the first two weeks of July on vacation.  On our vacation we got to see Brian's parents and my parents and all of our brothers, sisters and their families.  It was really fun. We did so many things, and I took so many pictures that I am splitting up the posts so that you are not too overloaded.

We started out in the Dallas area.  My niece Amanda got baptized on Saturday, July 3rd.  We were so glad that we could be there with her.

The morning of her baptism, Nicole and I went with Amanda and her mom, Dixie, to get Amanda's ears pierced.  I forgot to take the picture while she was getting it done, but here is her picture in the chair when it was all done.

We went home got changed and left for the baptism.  It was really nice and Amanda looked pretty in the white dress her mom made for her.

Later that night we met up with some friends to catch up and see some fireworks.  I don't have any pictures of the fireworks (which were fantastic!).  Didn't get any pictures of our friends either, but it was great to see them again.  We look forward to seeing them again soon. The picture I did get was of Max getting to ride on the Merry Go Round at the mall before heading to fireworks.

On Monday, Grandma and Grandpa took everyone to the Dallas Zoo.  It was fun to see the animals and we all had a good time together.  It was hot and everyone was tired by the time the day was over, but we had a great time.  It was Max's first time being at a zoo when he was old enough to remember it.

All the grandkids waiting to enter the zoo.

All the grandkids again on a cool butterfly chair.

Brian, me and the kids.

Grandpa got tickets for all the kids to ride the pony.

We also got to ride the Monorail. . .

Boys

Girls

Got up close with the girraffe.

The lemurs were funny when they were yelling at each other.

Some big Galapagos Tortoises. (I hope I spelled that right)

The Cheetah trying to stay cool in the shade.

We had a great time in Dallas.  We were glad that we got to see everyone and that we were able to be there for Amanda's special day.  Stay tuned for Part Two of Family Vacation.