Rocky Mountain Air Show

We haven't been to an air show in a long time... so it was fun to go today and show the boys, especially Maddox, who has never been to one before.

We got a spot right by the runway where the planes were taxiing on and off.

This was some of the cool stuff we watched:

They had a lot of planes that the boys could look inside.  Here's Morgan at one, but don't ask me what it is... I do not know my planes.  :)

But I DO know this next one... it's a F22 Raptor.  Super cool, super fast (hard to take a picture of)...

 ...and SUPER loud!!

For the grand finale, they had it slow down considerably so this older version (from WWII, I think??) could fly along side of it.   It was surreal to see how far we've come in aviation technology!

Maddox Turns 6!

Maddox is now half a dozen years old!  As usual, we went all out on the celebration...

He really scored in the present department... Grammy and Koopop got him a beginning chess set.  I think he looks excited, don't you?

...and just to show you that he really is learning - here he is showing Dad a few moves.

 Morgan got him a fun game...

 Mason got him a HexBug habitat... somehow, his brothers know just what he wants!

 Mamaw Dianne and Papaw Larry got him a fun color version of Sudoku.

All in all, I'd say he hit the jackpot:

For our family outing, Maddox chose to go to Jump Street.

Mason and Morgan got to ride the bull:

And Maddox raided a quarter machine hoping for the perfect accessory to help him look older.  How did he do?

After Jump Street, Michael said he had another place to take us... it was a surprise, but we all had a wonderful time at...

Casa Bonita!!  We didn't eat dinner there, but we paid "admission," which gives us all-you-can-eat sopapillas and chips/salsa. 

It also allowed us to check out all the cool things to do and see!

 There was a fun tunnel that we must've gone through a hundred times - this is at the end.

 A mariachi band came and sand happy birthday to Maddox!

We had the boys' caricature drawn.  (see who's peeking around the corner?)

Casa Bonita is known for their divers.  You can see them performing in the upper left corner.  After their little dialogue, one of them always ends up jumping (diving) off into the water below.  They do something like this every 15 minutes.

Here are Morgan and Maddox sitting in front of the diving pool.

Fun times!  And just when you thought the party was over, along come two more gifts in the mail!  Grandma Sara and Papaw Nick got him this fun lizard building set...

 ...which makes this cool chameleon!

 And then, of course, Auntie Audrey spoiled him rotten!

Happy Birthday, big boy!!

Maddox's First Day of Kindergarten

My baby boy is growing up!

 Mrs. Miller is his kindergarten teacher. She is super nice!

Kayaking at Chatfield

While I was away on my cruise, Michael took the boys down to Chatfield Reservoir for what he calls an Epic Kayak Adventure.  (it lasted over 5 hours, so I'd say it was Epic).

It was an expedition over land and water.  Below, you can see Mason trekking through the bushes... where poison ivy unknowingly lurks.

Everyone had to work hard on this outing...

Even little Maddox!

 They had to push, pull, and shove the kayaks over beaver dams and shallow water.

But, despite the Epic nature of the outing, I think all participants had a good time... well, at least until that poison ivy reared its ugly head on Mason's legs.

Birthday Cruise!

My mom, sister, and I all celebrated "milestone" birthdays last year... uh, they were 50, 30, and 20 respectively... hee hee!  So we decided to do something extra special!  We went on a cruise!

We left out of Galveston aboard Carnival's Triumph headed for Progreso and Cozumel.  We had a very nice room with two twin beds and a loft bunk (guess who slept in that?!). 

We also had a balcony where we spent a lot of time enjoying the views and sounds of the ocean.

As always on a cruise, dinnertime was always a treat.

We had lovely table mates - here are Diane and her twin granddaughters, Christina and Jennifer:

 ...and here is Keith with the "two Sues" (as we referred to them!)  They were Sue Ellen and Sue Ann.

 We did a little shopping in Progreso and Mom surprised us with these sexy shirts!

 ...look at them from the back!!  Hilarious!  We received many comments as the three of us walked around the ship. 

Here is our ship (on the right) docked in Cozumel alongside the Carnival Legend.   We were the only two ships there that day.
 

...and Oh, what a fabulous day we had in Cozumel!  This gentleman was a huge part of it... this is Lorenzo, our tour guide!  Ahhhh, Lorenzo!  What a charmer! 

We took a jeep tour of the town with stops at a nature preserve, beach, lighthouse, and then back for lunch.  Audrey did all the driving!

Here we are on the beach in Cozumel.  Oh, what fun we had!!

We had one formal night on the ship and we took the opportunity to have our portrait made.  This is a scanned copy of the original, so it's not very high quality, but you get the idea.  I will cherish this photo forever...

I have many, many more photos, but these were just a few of my favorites.  What a wonderful, memorable trip we had... can't wait to do it again!