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!

Road Trippin' 2017: The Villages

The 2nd stop of our 3-week Summer 2017 road trip was in Florida. We drove from Gulf Shores, AL to The Villages, FL to spend a week with Jeff's family there. From the time Connor was a baby, we enjoyed spending a week in The Villages every summer, but this was our first visit in a couple of years and we were so happy to be back!

This visit was extra special for us because it would be the first time we've seen our precious nephew/cousin Cash since he was a newborn. We were so excited for more cousin time with Cash (love his name, Cash Courtright!)



While in The Villages, we made sure to schedule several fun activities with the group. Golfing for the guys, shopping/spa for the gals, boating with the family, scooters and golf cart rides, friendship bracelet making, and of course, the long-standing tradition of fishing with Cap'n Dan. Collin and Kevin flew in to join us as well, so it was a true family vacation.



Because we were in the middle of a 3-week getaway, Jeff and Connor were missing the beginning of summer football activities and conditioning. They decided to stage a few workouts in the Florida heat to make sure Connor was in shape. Sweaty but effective!




While in The Villages we were even able to celebrate the 4th of July holiday with sparklers and s'mores. It became a nightly activity for the rest of our stay.

My favorite activity of the week was our boating adventure in Mount Dora, a quaint city in central Florida. There is always plenty of fun around Lake Dora, and the Dora Canals make for a neat sightseeing trip with all of the foliage and wildlife. We rented CraigCats for a boating experience on Lake Dora and through the Dora Canals. CraigCats are compact, motorized, Catamaran fishing boats. I'd never heard of them before but we had so much fun!

Another family activity we were excited to experience was a central Florida swamp tour by airboat. We spotted several gators and enjoyed the local wildlife. The kids were thrilled to hold a baby alligator at the end of the tour.

During our stay in The Villages, Kaitlynn fell head over heels in love with Grandma and Grandpa's dog, Moose. He's an older dog and sometimes a little skittish, but he enjoys being cradled and given attention. Kaitlynn was more than willing to supply all of the love and attention, much to Moose's chagrin at times! Poor Moose...Kaitlynn stalked him and when successful, picked him up and wouldn't put him down. She carried him around like an accessory all week! When Uncle Chris joined us for the weekend, he brought his own dog, Snoop. Connor enjoyed hanging out with him as well.





Fun fact: one of Kaitlynn's very first words was "puppa" for puppy. During one of her early visits to The Villages, she loved her time with Grandma and Grandpa's other dogs, Gucci and Midge. We miss them! I couldn't help but share some of our old pics from her very first "puppa" loves.

Also during our visit, we spent some time with Uncle Justin at his fire station while he was on duty. The kids enjoyed checking out the fire engine and all of Justin's equipment. The full set of gear is HEAVY!

Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye. We were so sad to leave, especially breaking up the newly bonded cousin crew! We had fallen in love with Cash all over again and knew we were going to miss him so much.  We made sure to get some final cousin photos to end the week.

And of course, some of the goodbyes were harder than others.

On another note, there are sometimes advantages to writing a family blog post on a 6-month delay. We didn't know it at the time, but it was our stay in The Villages that would end up changing our lives forever. All because of a phone call during that week to Jeff from a recruiter about a potential overseas job opportunity. Ah, the foreshadowing...

We said goodbye to our loved ones and road-tripped it back to Texas. But we still had one more week to go on our 2017 summer road trip. Next and last stop: Dallas!