Texas Trek Trilogy: Reed's Birthday Party

Reed turned SEVEN years old on Wednesday, June 17. When I realized his birthday and our Texas trip coincided, I was excited to plan something fun for all the "gang" to do. I spent some time researching possibilities and decided on Fun Trackers in Corpus Christi.

Well, we ALL had a good time. And by all...I mean EVERYONE from the little guys all the way up to the big guys. I guess you can't go wrong with racing go karts and driving bumper boats.

To really enjoy some of these pictures, you have to click on the picture and it will enlarge. You won't be sorry...the facial expressions in some are hilarious!

The birthday boy on his first go kart ride.

Notice how his leg is fully extended. He was just barely tall enough for these.

Uncle Mark,on the other hand, had no problem reaching the pedals though.

Here is Andy who, we discovered, missed his calling as a "full-contact"

race car driver. And he also, by the way, doesn't follow silly rules like:

"No bumping into other cars."
Gram Ava with Reed, Cassidy and Laura.

Cassidy and I racing around the track. Notice, Cassidy isn't as cut-throat

as Andy or her daddy. She had to wave at the other cars and the by-standers.

Mom and Laura getting passed by Randy the Ruthless and his sidekick Reed.

To really enjoy Mom's expression, you need to click on the photo.

Getting strapped in. Note: Uncle Mark is strapping in the car beside us and

Mom and Laura are in the car behind us.

Reed and Daddy

Reed in his bumper boat. I am quite thankful for the rule about not spraying the onlookers with the water blaster. The next few pictures will illustrate why!

Click on this photo!

What a great sport Katie was...soaking wet, but a great sport!

Again, to really enjoy these, you need to click on them to enlarge.

Take that, Uncle Aaron!

Reed spending a moment with Marla.

The kids, minus the 2 babies, at the party. Reed is

sporting his new Storm Trooper helmet. And yes, we

somehow managed to get that thing home on the plane.

I did not let Reed wear it home even though he wanted to because Roger

told him is was a "chick magnet." Thanks, Rog.
Reed and Grandma Jane
Eating cupcakes
"Happy Birthday, dear Reed. Happy Birthday to you!"
Two of our cutie cousins, Hallie and Vivian

So, as you can see, we enjoyed ourselves at Reed's birthday party! What great memories!

Team Blankinship is leaving on our next big adventure in the next few days, so the blog won't be updated again until we return and I re-surface from the mountain of laundry and unpacking I'm sure to have.

Texas Trek Trilogy : Playing in Portland!

Well, I was lovingly informed by my Dad that I needed to update the blog. He must have been feeling overlooked! Never fear, Pop...I'd never leave you or Mom out!

After spending a few days in San Antonio, we drove down to Portland to Roger and Beth's house. Needless to say, we had a BLAST with ALL of the family and friends! A few statistics:

1 Great Grandma
2 Sets of Grandparents
3 Four year olds
4 sets of parents
5 School age kiddos
6 Little girlies
7 The age Reed turned while we were there
8 The oldest age of any of the kids
9 People sleeping in Roger and Beth's house all week (Thanks, guys!)
10 Kids in all!

Obviously, with all the fun we had it was rather difficult to narrow down which pictures to post. So I didn't really try to. So buckle up and get ready...its a long post. And remember - you can click on any picture to enlarge it if that tickles your fancy!

The grandparents with some of the kiddos.

Here we are with my folks before heading back to San Antonio.

The Mommas

The Men...they look so happy because they had just finished

eating stone crab, shrimp and ling.

Eight little monkeys climbing in a tree! Thankfully,

none fell out and hit their heads. Yes, there are 8...Colten

is hidden behind Hallie some. By the by, this picture was not staged.

All the kids were already climbing all over everything. We just asked

them to look at us and smile.

Reed eating stone crabs...he LOVES stone crab!

Look at all those kiddos chowing down!

Reed and I are cracking up at Miss Marla's cutie "camera face."

Seriously, she sees the light on the camera come on and this is the

face she makes! What a DOLL!

Grandma Jane decided to wear Reed's Aggie cap.

Grandma Jane and Jo Ellen hanging out with some of the girlies.

Gram Ava and Mar-Mar

The "big" kids went fishing with the men one day. Yes, that means there

were 9 people fishing in Roger's boat. Here they are with some of the catch.

Cassidy and Laura were "helping" Beth make something yummy.

Happy Birthday to Uncle Aaron.

Reed and Colten: 2 peas in a pod.

These 2 boys were very glad to see each other. And poor Reed was

so sad on Friday when we had to leave.

We enjoyed our trip so much! Randy and I are amazed that so many people love us enough to clear their schedules, open their homes, cook us food, drive miles in their cars... JUST to spend time with us! We are truly blessed with a GREAT family and with friends who are "closer than a brother (or sister)" !

The last post in the Texas Trek Trilogy will be Reed's Birthday Party. Stay tuned!