Phoenix, Arizona

Andy had to work a conference in Phoenix for a week at the JW Marriott. 

We have a strict rule in our house.

No one goes to the JW without me. 

I asked my dad to join us and I'm glad he did because it's quite a challenge flying with 2 children. 

We had a great suite with a massive patio that had beautiful views. 

The kids had a hard time adjusting to the time change but they didn't complain.

Thank heavens' for Amazon Instant Streaming. 

The view from our patio. 

The first two days were spent at the pool, all 5 of them. 

Both of the kids favored the lazy river.

Ains' would put on her floaty and let the current guide her around and around. 

Drew spent countless minutes on the water slide. 

Eating out is still a difficult task with our kids so we prefered to 

order room service and hang out on the patio. 

High School Reunion

Dirk and Tina Dunlap came to the States for a few weeks so they planned a day trip to the river and invited the Mac Crew and their families: Mills', Dunlap's, Kripner's, Woltersdorf's and the Boerckel's. 

It had been almost a year to the date the last time our kids had seen 

Dylan Dunlap and the Woltersdorf's kids.

Needless to say they all were ready to go the minute they saw each other.

Chelsea and I with the girls.

We love that they live in Ft. Worth and we get to see them A LOT during football season!

The kids had a great time feeding the geese and catching minnows in the shallow water. 

Sweet, sweet Ainsley went right to sleep while Christian was holding her. 

One. Tired. Pickle. 

Dylan Dunlap, Adalyn Kripner, Ainsley, Drew, Paige and Parker Woltersdorf

Dylan, Adalyn and Ainsley- all 2 years old. 

Girl's Weekend- Vegas Style

For our 5th annual girls weekend we made plans to have everyone meet out in Las Vegas. 

It was my first time to go and I could live the rest of my life not going again.

I think I've by far reached the "I'm too old to hang in Vegas".

We stayed at a new resort called Aria. We were in town the same night that the new "Bachelor" was hosting a party at the pool. 

We decided to pass on that.

Again, I'm too old for that. 

It was my first time "gambling". And by that I mean doing more than dropping $1 in the slots. 

I did pretty good by making $5.50 off my $1. 

We visited a local pub that was infamous for massive bloody mary's. They also have the 8 second beer challenge, and if you can chug it within that time, it's free.

Three of us accomplished that challenge. 

We had a few celebrity encounters.....

1. Nicholas Cage

2. Carrot Top (sp?)

Nicholas Cage looks surprisingly better than he does on TV. 

Carrot Top is still quite scary.

And he wears too much eye liner. 

The last night we drove to Old Vegas and ate dinner at an old mafia restaurant. 

We enjoyed being scared when we arrived, interrogated while we waited and had Frank Sinatra sing to us while we ate. 

Until next year......

it's off to the dentist we go...

It was a annual trip to the dentist for Drew and a first time for Ainsley. 

I had high expectations for Drew since he's loved going to the dentist for the past 3 years. 

 Knowing Ainsley, I was expecting the worst since she is very comfortable in the arms of her parents.

Surprisingly, Ain's opted to sit in the chair all by herself and was happy to just hold my hand.

If you mustache..... both kids had ZERO cavities!

Annual Port Aransas Trip

The last weekend before I went back to work we planned our last summer hoo-rah in Port Aransas. We invited the Smith's to join us with their 6 year old, Connor.

We kept the tradition going by spending most our time at the beach hunting for ghost shrimp. 

We were EXTRA lucky to be down the same weekend that the Brown's were going to be there. 

It had been over a year since we had seen each other so it was great to catch up and have our kids spend time together. 

The pool behind our house was a huge hit!!

There's only so much time you can spend in sand so it was refreshing to jump into cool, not so salty, water. 

I loved being able to meet sweet Delaney! She is such an easy, lovable little darling!