Jason and Tashia visit.

I better get this done right now that Kahlan is asleep and the details are fresh or it will never get done.  Jason and Tashia took their first family road trip and came to visit us.  We had been talking about it for a while now and were pretty excited about the idea but to actually have it happened it was just such a treat for all of us.  We offered them to stay with us since their kids and ours have around the same ages and we told them they could stay as long as they wanted and we could just hang out or do stuff together.  They arrived Friday evening and the kids instantly started to bond.  Our first outing together was the Battleship Texas in San Jacinto, Jason and his family had a list of things they wanted to do and were looking for fun and inexpensive things too, so that was a good choice. We got to go on the ferry which is something their kids had not done before... exciting stuff. 
It was kind of rainy so we didn't stay for a long time, we came back home and Steven and Amber came over to visit for a while.  On Sunday we went to Steven's ward to be present for the baby blessing and after that we had a big meal at our house courtesy of Jason and Tashia and by that I mean that Tashia did all the cooking.


 This was the first Sunday we went to church together for Damon's blessing.


 
It was a little crowded but we managed to find a spot and eat.  All the cousins were having a lot of fun, including Niya who was visiting from Florida. On Monday Dan had arranged to stay home so we could go to the Houston Nasa Space Center.  We met up there with Steven and family and then took a bus tour of the
facilities. 
 

 We got discounted tickets for the entire family and the cool thing was that they printed the Family name on them.

 Aaron and Joshua building space stuff, they thought that was the coolest thing ever.



For Jason's kids it was the first time to see it and for the locals it was just as fun to go the second time around.  We had a picnic there and then continued on with the fun inside and the nice AC (we were literally melting outside).  After a while my baby had had enough and Dan and I headed home for the day.  On Tuesday we were basically hanging out at our house because the rain was pouring down and there was no where to go, the plan for that day was to go swimming at our neighborhood pool... oh well.  Wednesday we went to the beach and that was super fun, once again Dan stayed home to spend the whole day with
Jason and family. 



 She is such a cute little girl, we miss her so much.


 

The kids were jumping in the waves, playing in the sand, Shayna ended up completely buried in it.  The kids and I built a sand castle, you know I always have to build one when we go to the beach but since I have a little baby that requires most of my attention, the kids finished it without help.  A lot of us go sunburned but it was oh so worth it.  The drive home was long and I managed to sneak in a cat nap... after we got home Jason and Tashia were invited to spend the evening with Steven and Amber and had dinner there.  We just stayed home and relaxed, it was much needed after a long day of fun.  On Thursday Amber had the girls come over to work on some skirts and they spent most of the day there cutting and sewing, they all did a great job with their skirts.  Lindsey was the only one to completely finish hers, Shayna still needs to work on hers but it already looks great.  Thursday evening Dan and I worked our magic on our famous "Churrasco" (Guatemalan BBQ).  The food was great and everybody loved it.  Friday we went down to the Hermann Park and Jason & Tashia  took their kids and mine on a train ride, it was so hot that we just could not stand it and ended up looking for a place to park and then go look for the underground tunnels that Jason found last time he was here. I had never heard of it so I was really interested in going.  I have to say that it was a very interesting day that included me driving on the wrong side of the road... yes Jason and Tashia were following me and they too ended up on the wrong side.  I felt like a complete idiot!!!  Later on I did it again but both times we managed to fix the situation right away... nobody died and that is a good thing.  Dan was going to meet us down there and the plan was to have lunch together but his car broke down and we didn't get o see him until two hours later.  Car is all fixed now just for the record.
That same evening we had planned on going to the drive in theater and that was also a first for Jason's family so they were in for a great treat, we knew they were going to enjoy it, we got a great spot at the front of the drive in, we had packed our food and Tashia made us sandwiches, we had lots of goodies for the kids to keep them happy.  We saw the last of the Harry Potter movies and it was so good.  It was the perfect night.  The kids were all tired so we headed home after the movie instead of staying for a second one.
Saturday Dan and Jason went to the movies, Tashia and I stayed home with the kids and made some freezer jam for her to take back home and when the guys got back we went out shopping for a while.  We got beads to make Tashia a watch and now she is the proud owner of one of my creations, I had done watches for her girls that I promised to send about a year ago but never got around to do it, so it was the perfect opportunity to get it done while they were here.  I think they love their watches, too bad I did not take a picture of them.  In the afternoon I took the kids to the pool for like an hour so they could cool down a little bit and after that we all went to the Houston Motor Sports to see some car races, it was so much fun. We have been there 3 times before but just for the drag racing, this time they had actual I Nascar cars competing.  It was loud but very fun, Steven and Amber also showed up and their girls were all very interested in the cars too. I took my kids down to the track during intermission to meet the racers and get some pictures taken and autographs, it was Tristan's dream come true.  Tashia and I left a little bit after the intermission because the younger kids were very tired and my poor Kahlan was scared to death, but the guys stayed behind with the rest of the kids and did not come back home until way later.

On Sunday we  went to church and later on we had another great meal together, my famous burritos with home made beans and flour tortillas.  I also made some wheat bread for them to take on their trip, they tried while they were here and loved so much that I just had to make more.  Steven and Amber came over to hang out and say their goodbyes and we were able to take a picture of all the cousins in the backyard.
 This is what happens when three families get together and there are only 6 adults!!!
We are so happy they came to visit us and decided to spend their vacation with us, for us it was a treat since we did not get to go on vacation anywhere and it was a cool experience for my kids.  Victor had the time of his life with his cousin Caleb, they played together all day long every single day.  Shayna felt like she had 2 sisters to hang out with and basically got to have a sleepover every single night.  They played all kinds of games, watched movies, jumped on the trampoline until late at night, did crazy dancing in the dark, got dirty, got wet, you name it they did it.  For me it was just so cool to hang out with Tashia, talk, laugh and go shopping together.  They have such a cool family and we love their kids.  I hope it wont be too long before we see each other again, we never got our girls night out like we had planned so it better happen next time.