October 24th - October 26

 Saturday, October 24th

Judi and I hopped on a 10:00am flight out of Vegas to go to Dallas to see the kids. We landed just before 3:00pm and stood in a long line to get our rental car. We finally got our car and headed to Sulphur Springs to the kids new house. When we pulled in the driveway, Shelby and Lizi were out in the chicken coup with the chickens. So Judi and I went over to check the chickens out. It was fun to see the chickens. Their mom came outside and then we all went to see the school house. It was cool to see how Shelby had designed the reading nook and also to see all the kids desks. While we were in the school house, Trey came outside with us. We then went inside and the kids all showed me their rooms and the upstairs game room. Shelby, Lizi, and I then stated putting together the sand box in the back yard. I started getting a headache, probably from not drinking enough water while travelling which made putting the sandbox together a little more tricky. We went inside and had spaghetti and vegetables for dinner. Trey wanted to watch an episode of the Mandalorian so Shelby, Trey, and I watched an episode while Lizi and Judi played stuffed animals in Lizi's room. After the movie, Judi and I headed back to our hotel, the Best Western Trail Dust. 

Sunday, October 25th

The kids had church at 10:00am so Judi and I slept in a little and headed to their house around 11:00. The first thing we did was finish the sandbox. Shelby, Trey, Lizi, and I marked where we wanted the sandbox to go and then we dug out the grass that was there. We also dug the soil down about 2 inches so the sand wouldn't seep out underneath the wood boards around the sides. It was a really fun project. Once we got the sand box in place, Shelby and I carried the 50 pound sand bags to the box, Trey cut them open with a box cutter, and Lizi poured them in. The sandbox was ready! Before long, Lizi and Judi already had the hose running and they were making a river through the sandbox. We fixed some sandwiches for lunch and then Trey, Keri, and I put on some bee keeping gear and headed over to the bee hives to check on the bees. Shelby came to but didn't have any gear to wear so she stayed back a ways. It was fascinating to see how to check for honey and to see if the bees were doing ok. It was also difficult at first to get used to hundreds of bees swarming around you! One actually flew up the back of my shirt but didn't end up stinging me. After checking on the bees, Trey and Shelby showed me the "boneyard" where their neighbor must put his dead cattle carcasses. I also saw the remnants of the forts that Trey and Lizi had made near a really cool wooded area. When we came back to the house, Trey opened some packs of Star Wars cards - he got a Darth Vader Card which he didn't have before, and then Shelby, Trey, and I played a bunch of games of pool and air hockey. Judi and Lizi were playing lego and stuffed animals in Lizi's room. We had dinner and then Lizi wanted to watch a show called "Relative Race" which was really good. Shelby, Trey, and I then looked through scrapbooks while Lizi and Judi went back to Lizi's room to play. It was time to go and Judi planned on spending the night with Lizi but decided she wanted to come back to the hotel with me.

Monday, October 26th

Judi and I woke up early and headed to the kids house at 7:30am. Trey was laying down on the couch. Lizi got up and went straight for the breakfast table and started eating. Then Shelby came out of her room and we all went to the table to eat breakfast. After breakfast, Shelby, Trey, and I went upstairs and played some more pool and air hockey and then played the board game mousetrap. Judi came up stairs too and she and Trey played air hockey. Time seemed to fly by so fast and before long it was time for Judi and I to head to the airport. We left the house at about 11:00am and made the 1 1/2 hour drive to DFW airport for our flight. It was such a fun visit and so fun to be able to travel with Judi and see the kids new home!