Pictures,pictures, and, oh yeah, pictures!

Well, as most of you know, we moved this summer. We are now located in the wonderful state of Alabama, and we are enjoying it. Our trek here was very eventful since we decided to take the opportunity to make it a vacation. Our first stop was on July 5th at the Arches National park. Dallas decided to kill us all by hiking up a mountain in 100+ degree heat with no shade to view one of the arches. We did lose Mackenzie along the way, but thankfully she was found by a group of college girls, and they had a lovely conversation about Twilight while her family was in panic mode. When we had finally found her again, we headed down to the Grand Canyon where we set up camp for the night. It was beautiful, the night was cool, and we were thoroughly exhausted, so we slept very well. The next morning we walked one of the rim trails at the canyon then loaded up and went on our way. The next stop was the Petrified Forest, and then we stopped in Roswell so the kids could see the aliens. We went through the museum there and then moved on to Carlsbad Caverns. We watched the bats fly out of the cave in the evening and went through the caves the next morning. We went down through the natural entrance and really grew a respect for the people who used to be sent down in a barrel through a pulley system. I don't think I would have ever had done that. We then moved on to Texas, where we stayed a few days with my best friend from high school, Jenni. She had just had surgery so we didn't do too much partying, but the conversation was always good, and the rest was much needed. We did hit up the Dallas zoo while we were there, because DJ wanted to go to his very own zoo.:) After a couple of days we got back in the car and stopped in Burnet for a quick visit with Larry and Angie, then of to Fredericksburg for a couple of nights to visit with Grandma and show the kids where mommy and daddy met and where mommy grew up. They weren't that impressed. Oh well. Then off to San Antonio for a week where we went down to the Riverwalk, visited Shamu at Sea World, and spent a day at Schlitterbahn. Finally, back on the road to our new home here in Alabama. We were put into a house immediately and had our furniture and home goods within a couple of days. The kids are back in school, and DJ is on a regular schedule of weekly dilitations. Life is moving along at its usual break neck speed, and we are for the most part enjoying the ride. We miss all of our friends and family and hope to hear from you and see you soon!