Bowers Family Reunion

We got to Gilmer, Tx last nigth about 10pm. We are staying at Deni's aunt's house, Denise Craig. Uncle Larry and Aunt Denise were nice enough to let us stay at their house for the next few days.

We were up and out the door by 7:45am for a flag raising at Grandpa Bowers gravesite. We got to the cemetery about 8am. Uncle Stanley had a little program that told a short story or facts out of Deni's family genealogy. We raised the Texas and United States flag at the cemetery.

Here is a picture of Ryan and Sydney at Grandpa Bowers grave.

After the flag raising, we went to Uncle Stanley's for breakfast.

The rest of the day was spent visiting with extended family. The kids played in a little blow up pool.

We had dinner about 6pm. Right after dinner a large thunderstorm came through which made us run to get everything taken down before they blew away.

After the rain stopped, one of Deni's cousins started playing the game of Fireball. The game consists of a ball of twine/small rope that is soaked in kerosene then lit on fire. Once the ball is on fire, it is thrown around a circle, much like hot potato. Obviously you can't hold on to it so as soon as you catch it, you have to throw it again. We got some laughs out of watching them throw a fireball back and forth. I wish I would have gotten some video or photos of it, as it was quite the site.

Sydney can swim

Today was our last day at Shane's house. We packed up all of our things and got them in the van.

Today was the great day. For the past few days, I've been watching the rain poor out of Shane's rain gutters, but not at the spouts, they would fill up and then run over the side. So Shane and I got the ladder out and started looking at the gutters to see what the problem was. In at least 2 of his down spouts, he had a ball blocking the down spout. The rest were full of dirt. He even had a few 8 inch tree's growing in some of the spouts because the were so full of dirt. We got them all cleaned out, so that the water should come down all the spouts correctly now.

The sun was out all morning so we all went swimming in Shane's pool. (Even got Shane in there this time.) Sydney can actually swim now. In the past, she has been jumping into the swimming pool and kicking to the top of the water, then I would grab her and help her back to the side of the pool. However today she started jumping in, kicking to the top, then doggy paddling back to the side of the pool. At age 3, Sydney can swim. Who would have thought that Sydney would swim before her older brother?

Not only can she swim, but she can float on her back pretty well too.

Sydney has no fear. She saw Uncle Shane jump from his rock wall and she wanted to do the same.




The kids loved Shane's pool. Sydney relaxing on vacation.

Ryan relaxing and making the most of his last day at Uncle Shane's.

After our afternoon swim, we decided to go out to a movie. We saw Ratatouille. It was a good movie, but quite long. After the movie, as we drove home, the rain came again. I was amazed at how hard it was raining. I was glad to see Shane's rain gutters finally working as they should. We ate dinner at Shane's and then headed on another long drive (about 160 miles) to Gilmer, TX. We will be staying in Gilmer, TX for the next few days for the Bowers Family Reunion.

Brett, Ryan, Deni, Sydney and Shane right before we left Shane's.

Tour de Dallas

We started out the day by visiting Shane's office. It has been 8 years since we have been to Denton. Shane's office looked completely different. It is very nice, he has made many improvements in the last 8 years.

Here is Sydney outside of Shane's office.

Because it has been raining so much, we decided that we should do something indoors. Shane took us to Dallas World Aquarium. (DWA) DWA is much more than an Aquarium, there were birds, snakes, frogs, bats, turtles, Crocodile, flamingo, otter, sharks, fish, stingrays, etc.

Here is Deni, Sydney, Shane, Ryan and Ron.

The DWA was a like a little Rain Forest. Behind us was a cool waterfall.

Sydney and I are looking at the flamingos.

Finally there was a 30 foot underground walkway that allowed you to see the stingrays and sharks swim over you. Shane took this picture from above looking down through the water and into the glass walkway.

We had a great time in Dallas as the Dallas World Aquarium. After the DWA, we went to a bike store looking for a "Texas" bike shirt. I found one that I liked, so I picked it up.

Six flags, or not

Today we had planned on meeting my old college roommate Luke, his wife Misty, and baby Max at Six Flags water park in Arlington, TX. It has been rainy since we got here and it didn't appear that today would be the optimal water park day, but we had already purchased the tickets and figured today would be just a good as any (since the weatherman said it was going to be rainy all week.) We got about 5 minutes from Six Flags and Luke called me to tell me that they closed the park for the day, due to inclement weather.

We then decided to drive to Allen, Tx, about 45 minutes north to an indoor City Recreation Center.

We got there about 1pm and played for about 3.5 hrs. After the water park, we went to see Luke and Misty's new house (that they are closing on Thursday).

Finally we had dinner with Luke, Misty and Max at a local hamburger place called Scotty P's. After dinner we sat and talked for about an hour and then came home to Shane's house. As we were coming home, we hit some traffic. The police had closed one of the 3 lanes because of flooding. Also, somehow I didn't take any pictures. Probably because it was pouring rain all day.

A rare sighting

You don't see this everyday, at least not in Utah.

Actually since we have been in Texas, we've seen gas prices much lower than this. When we left Utah, the average price was about $3.15. Here in Texas, the average price is about $2.80

Vacation - Traveling to Texas

The kids loved having their own bed.

Since we were so tired, we decided to sleep in and not leave so early this morning. We left about 9am, however we failed to remember that there was a 1 hour time difference, so we really got on the road at 10am (Texas time). We tried to find things that would be fun for the family to see on the way out. One of those things was, Cadillac Ranch. Cadillac Ranch is ten graffiti-covered cars are half-buried, nose-down, facing west.

You can see them in the background of this picture of Sydney and Ryan.

Deni, Ryan and Sydney

Me, Ryan and Sydney

Both kids decided to see if the back wheels of these cars moved.
 

The rest of the trip was long but good into Denton, TX, which is where my brother, Shane lives.

Vacation - Traveling to New Mexico

We left this morning at 6am from Spanish Fork. I had planned on leaving at 4am, however between getting to bed at 11pm last night and Sydney getting up about 2:30pm, I slept in a little when the alarm went off.

Our destination is Albuquerque, NM, roughly 569 miles, or about 10 hours.

We left early in hopes that the kids would go back to sleep and sleep for a few hours. It didn't quite happen the way we had planned. About 10 minutes into the trip we knew we were in trouble when Sydney asked if "Are we in Texas yet?" It's hard to explain to a 3 year old that we have a 20 to 22 hr drive to our final destination.

We got to Albuquerque, NM about 4pm and checked into our hotel. We stayed in the Wyndham hotel right by the Airport. We had a hard time getting the right steet into the hotel, but we had a very nice lady that pulled over and offered for us to follow her to the hotel.

We went out to find something to eat and it appeared that each turn got us further and further into the getto. We finally found a Wendy's and decided it was going to have to do.

After dinner we went swimming. Ryan refused to get into the pool. He's gotten deathly afraid of the water for some reason. So Ryan sat on the side of the pool while the rest of the family had fun in the water.

Remember me - video

I saw this video and thought it was a great reminder

Now Deni is sick

Opps. It appears that Deni has gotten sick. (I'm sure it is my fault, as it is the same symptoms what I had all last week.) It's taken me almost a week to get over this sickness.

Dinner and a movie

Deni and I went on a date tonight. Deni got a babysitter and we headed out for a night on the town.

First, we went out to eat at Ruby River in Provo. First of all, we aren't Steak people (Ruby River is a Steak House), but we had a $20 gift card and thought we would use it for a free date. I've been to Ruby River during lunch many times with work. It isn't the cheapest place, $7 to 8 dollars for a hamburger, but we thought we have $20, we might as well go. When we got there, it appears that the lunch and dinner menu are quite different, as are the prices. The least expensive plate was about $12 bucks. I ended up getting 1/2 rack of Baby back ribs and Deni got some chicken dish. Both our meals were $14.99 a piece.

About half way through our meal, I asked Deni how "$14.99" was. We then talked about how people afford to eat out at places like this. Although expensive for my tastes, dinner was good. (The company was even better.)

After dinner, we went and saw a movie (Shrek, the Third). It was a funny movie. The kids would have enjoyed it.

When we got home (around 9:30pm), our babysitter had the kids in bed and had even cleaned up dinner and loaded the dishwasher. I think we have found a new babysitter.