Third and Final

It was our third and final day for our little vacation. We said goodbye to our great hotel, had an awesome time watching glass blowing demonstrations at Wimberly Glassworks, savored the glory of In n Out for lunch and then made the trek home uneventfully in on and off rain.

I am absolutely marking this trip as successful for us all! I really had a fantastic time! Unsurprisingly my highlight of the trip was enjoying good meals with all these people that I truly love! And the craziness that was our river floating comes in second. The girls highlight of the trip was filling the ice bucket at the hotel! We did it 6 times in 3 days. Their Pakka would be so proud as that was always the very first thing he did in a hotel room! They also loved playing pie face, hangin with the big kids and the river. We all loved getting a break from our norm and we will be back at it tomorrow! But we will be back at it with wonderful memories made with these wonderful people we love. And we will do that after sleeping in our own beds!

Quite the Adventure!

"Go float the river" they said!

"It will be so much fun" they said! 

"The Comal is totally family friendly and safe" they said! 

Well it sure was quite the adventure! That's what they should have said! 

The day started out not going as planned to begin with so we should have known! We were on schedule and after breakfast at our hotel we showed up to our tube outfitter and they were closed! After the hard rain storm last night the city had closed the Comal River. So we took a detour and we were actually all happy with what we came up with! We drove around the darling town of New Braunfels, saw lots of deer, rode the choo choo train at Landa Park and then fulfilled Sa's dream by going antiquing! 

Then after some waiting we got the green light to go tubing. It took some time to get checked in, get our tubes and get all set up. Meanwhile the clouds were very ominous. We finally loaded the shuttle to the drop off point and right when the shuttle dropped us off it began to POUR! Like Pour! We all huddled under a park pavilion and decided to eat the lunch that we had packed and were planning to eat on the river. So we all sat on the concrete in a small space and ate peanut butter sandwiches and chips with the rain all around us. It sure was something! Then finally we decided to just go for it! We were there to get wet anyway. So we drug all our tubes down to the river in the pouring rain! 

The next three hours sure were interesting! The rain stopped but then we had other drama. To sum up the drama that followed...we all got seperated, Taryn lost everything in her cooler, Kellie and I both flipped out of our tubes seperately and Kellie honestly nearly drowned and had a very terrifying experience. There were good and fun times but over all I was just SO thankful we had family prayer last night and that the Lord protected us and we all made it! The last hour after Taryn totally handled helping Kellie and having Riley, they joined me, Keagan and Hudson and we had a good time while Taryn waded and pushed and drug us to the end. She was a rockstar! And we all survived with quite a story to tell! 

After much needed showers we headed off for another adventure! But this one was much calmer. We drove 30 minutes to Driftwood, TX, the middle of nowhere in the Hill Country of Texas to eat some AMAZING BBQ! Salt Lick BBQ is one of the top 3 best BBQ restaurants in the country! It was fun and worth the drive. Best sausage I've ever had in my life! 

And our final adventure was stopping at 7-11 to get slurpees! Keagan and Riley's very first slurpees that is! 

And now we totally crash! After we sad our prayers of gratitude of course! It sure was quite an adventure! 

Road Trip!

This is going to be bullet points because Momma is tired!

180 miles from home to San Marcos.

Miss Taryn with us in Nana's car and Sa, Todd, Kellie, Addie, Reagan and Hudson following us. 

A stop at Buckees of course. 

A great hotel, Marriott Fairmont Inn, for a great price.

An amazing dinner in darling historic Gruene, TX at Gruene River Grill. 

A serious rainstorm then "Pie in the Face" game.

Three very happy and very tired Kikuchi girls! 

Making memories with my babies is the best!

Here, There and Everywhere!

I read an article the other day about how it's good for kids to be bored in the summer and that as moms we shouldn't over plan or lead activities for them. Well this summer I have definitely failed on that one!! Oh well! It isn't my first mommy fail, nor will it be my last! Instead we have been pretty busy doing and going. We have been here, there and everywhere! We have had down time too for sure but we are sure packin in the fun for summer 2016! 

Every morning this week Keags has been doing a mini camp at the amazing Miss Evans house to get ready for 2nd grade! Oh we seriously love her! 

We had a play date with cute Izzy Monson and made slime and soap clouds! I totally counted it as our science experiment day and was so happy when it was cleaned up! 

We had a fun night out with the Fosters and the Frenchs eating at MOD Pizza and then watching our ice cream get frozen right in front of us at Sub Zero. PS Keagan is currently obsessed with that scarf and Riley is currently obsessed with watching Barney on Netflix!

The girls started their swim lessons at FINS this week! They go every Tuesday and Thursday late afternoon and I'm really proud of the progress they have already made. Keagan is in a "white fin" class with two other kids and I think she's doing so well because she is very, shall we say, "peer motivated." Riley is considered a "Nemo" in their special needs program and has the absolute sweetest instructor in Coach Cody! 

One night we had a yummy make your own pizza night at the Frenchs! 

We have baked the tiniest of tiny treats. Hopefully the Easy Bake Oven is going to turn these girls into better bakers then their mama! 

All summer Keagan has also gone once a week to the incredible Mrs Potvin's house. Keags is uber smart but she needs a little extra help with reading and Mrs Potvin is a fantastic reading tutor! Riley obviously still goes to therapy once a week and works very hard! While Riley was at therapy this week Keagan got to go to a darling spa birthday party for cute Kennedy Skidmore! 

We redecorated the powder room bathroom and finally took down the art work from preschool that was hanging on the play room wall and put up some of our art from this summer! 

We pranked the Frenchs with Addie by putting the Myers family's mannequin in their kitchen while they were at church Wednesday night! Then we hid with Addie in Miss Taryn's room for an hour and a half waiting for them to come home and scream! 

We had a super fun afternoon with the delightful McArthur family bowling for almost free! In two games Riley got two strikes, Keagan got 3 strikes, everyone was totally happy and Keags was super helpful. 

And today we went to the Holy Grail of all birthday parties, Chuckie Cheese! Yep! Chuckie Cheese on a Saturday! It was worth it for sweet Sofia's birthday and for all the fun the girls had! 

So after all that can we please just sleep for the next week?! Sure would be nice but there is more fun to be had and memories to make! So we will still be here, there and everywhere Im sure. 

One day I will get a nap! One day.