Road Trippin' 2017: Dallas

The last stop on our 3-week summer road trip was back in Texas. Connor was invited to attend a leadership camp in Dallas, so we took advantage of the week to spend extra time with our family in the area. (More on his camp in a later post.) We stayed in a hotel for a couple of nights, where Aunt Alli and her 3 girls joined us for some swimming and girl time.

Then we headed to my sister's home in Murphy for a few days to enjoy some time with her group. Chris was traveling for a few days but we sure enjoyed time with Michelle as well as her two border collies, Gus and Shiloh. I don't know how I managed to complete our Dallas trip without many photos, oops!

While we were in the Murphy area, I arranged for Kaitlynn to spend some time at a tumbling camp at one of the local gyms. She was excited for the tumbling time, but I was concerned that she would feel lonely or out of place since she didn't know anyone in the area or at the camp. On the way to her first day of camp, I spent some time coaching her and giving her advice on meeting other girls in the camp, but she didn't seem worried at all. "Don't worry Mom," she assured me. "I'm like a MACHINE at making friends!" Ha! Let me just say, she was right. She immediately became friends with several of the girls in the tumbling camp and she had a great time. Since then, that simple phrase from Kaitlynn has become something of a life mantra for her, repeated and referred to by all of us on many occasions. With her social graces and sweet disposition towards others, Kaitlynn continues to be quite the friend-making machine. Makes me smile! :-)

Between the gymnastics and more pool time, we really enjoyed our visit in Murphy. My favorite part was the time just to catch up with my sister. I didn't manage to take any photos with her!

During the evenings, we arranged a couple of group dinners with Connor's fellow classmates from his leadership camp. These kiddos had such a fun time together during the week, and they were so cute to watch interact. To be honest, the way they tend to "interact" is to sit side by side, each on their own devices with frequent commentary. But they still manage to connect in their own way. Kids these days!



And before we knew it, our time in Dallas came to an end. Which also meant that our 2017 summer road trip came to an end as well. We enjoyed our family time so much... numerous hotel stays, countless trips to Bucees and favorite restaurants, visits with our favorite people, and oh-so-many hours in the car. Memories we'll cherish for years to come!