Road trip 2011!

I look forward to our road trips all year.  And I plan along the way.  And it's a good thing, because this year we left on the road trip five days after we got home from Utah.  And we had to squeeze all the school stuff into those five days.  Sheesh.  It was crazy.

Ready to roll.

First stop:  Visiting Destinee and her kids in Asheville.

It was a short, but fun little visit.

Another fun stop:  East Tennessee Discovery Center.

 The kids LOVED it.

It was small, but very fun.

 We even got a planetarium show all to ourselves.

We stayed one night at Aunt Irene and Uncle Bill's house.

The kids visited their animal friends from last year.

There was a good reason for the mad rush to get out of town.  We were working on a surprise.  A BIG surprise.  This year is Grandma Cuca's 80th birthday and we had to get to Texas in time to celebrate.

In fact, we were the ones in charge of getting her to the party.  So we couldn't be late.  My kids missed the last day of school, but it was SOOOO worth it.  I don't know if surprised is the right word.  Grandma Cuca was absolutely shocked.  We had a fabulous party with just about every friend and loved one there.  Yay!

After the party, my fam headed out to some cabins to stay for a few nights.

It was the perfect time for a family photo shoot.

Andrew was the only one missing.

Grandma Cuca with all her grandkids and great grandkids

My family

Gigi and Grandpa with all their grandkids

Grandma Cuca with all her great grandkids

While we were there, we:

enjoyed the wildlife

swam and swam and swam some more.

It was HOT.

And the water was cold.

Mark went fishing.

Brandon watched.

went geocaching.

Found three of the four caches we were looking for.

went exploring on the Colorado River

 caught these teeny tiny frogs

had a blast hanging out with our cousins

These two sunbathed but did NOT want to get in the pool.

did crafts with Gigi.

Me and my four siblings live in five different states, so get-togethers like this are rare.  It was great to spend time with everyone.  I especially loved watching my little brothers and sister as parents.  They are awesome!