Travels Across Texas--Waco Mammoth National Monument, George Bush Presidential Library and Palo Duro Canyon State Park

After Christmas Kent and I rode with the Stinson family and the Lee family followed behind as we drove to northern Texas for a Carson family reunion. Along the way we stopped at Waco, Texas. It's on the map now because of a popular tv show called "Fixer Upper" which is filmed in Waco. Below is a picture of the bakery in Waco, but it was too busy and crowded to stop (that's the line to go inside!!) We just drove by and took a photo.

Outside of town was the Waco Mammoth National Monument, so we went to see it. It's where many mammoth bones were discovered.

                                           

An artist's rendition of what the mammoths looked like.

Some of the bones that were found there.

Our next stop was the George W. Bush Presidential Library, which is near Dallas, Texas.

I wanted to go here especially during the Christmas season because I'd heard they set up some of the decorations as they were during the years the Bushes lived in the White House.

     

It was a great display and fun to see some White House  Christmas decorations in Texas!

I thought this was interesting, pointing out that the only other father and son presidents were the Adams, two hundred years ago.

There was a mock Oval Office, so Kent took the opportunity to sit behind the desk.

Some quotes by President Bush that I really liked:

Unfortunately, the kids weren't as interested in the displays as I was. This picture was taken in the entry way of the Presidential Library.

The Stinsons, Lees and we spent the night at a Residence Inn in Fort Worth that night, and the next morning the Stinsons and we stopped at Palo Duro Canyon State Park.

It's nicknamed the "Grand Canyon" of Texas, and had some unusual rock formations and canyons.

It was difficult to get pictures that really did it justice.

Our last stop was Cadillac Ranch outside of Amarillo, Texas.

It's a copy of Stonehenge in England, made with Cadillacs stuck into a field. The day we were there it was clear, but it had been snowy previously, so the ground was super muddy. Savannah and I looked at it from the car but we weren't interested in tramping through the mud to go out and see it. Kent and the rest of the Stinsons did brave the mud and wind and got a few photos.

Christmas in Houston with the Lees and Stinsons

Kent and I flew to Houston on the 22nd of December to spend Christmas with the Lees and Stinsons. The picture below was taken before we went to church with the Lee family on December 23rd.

I took the opportunity to play some Christmas carols on the piano with the Lee kids.

We also joined in on some gingerbread house making!

Ta da!! The finished gingerbread village.

Kiera takes voice lessons, and we went to her Christmas voice recital. 

She always does an amazing job-so poised and confident. Savannah didn't want her picture taken, however.

                                                      

We spent Christmas eve at the Stinsons, where the kids and some of the adults acted out the Christmas story.

More pictures from Christmas Eve at the Lee's house.

 Sophia singing while her daddy plays the guitar.

Savannah with the piano bag I made and other gifts I gave her for Christmas.

Grace REALLY wanted a yellow tutu for Christmas, so we got one for her. She looks very adorable in it, but promptly spilled hot chocolate down the front of it. The hazards of wearing pale yellow!!

Adrianne bought tickets for her family and us to go see the "Magical Winter Lights" on the 26th.

The theme was around the world, so there were famous landmarks and country scenes made from lights.

                                                     

All the lights really were very pretty and magical.

There was also a place where kids could pay to ride dinosaurs for a five minutes, so the Lee kids gave it a try. None of the pictures when Carson was riding the wheeled dinosaur with his sisters turned out,

So here's a picture of him riding a biped dinosaur instead!!

Another fun thing we did was to go to an Escape Room, which I've wanted to do before but haven't ever done it. We had a triple date with the Stinsons and the Lees, and we were able to solve the clues and escape from the room with just minutes left of our time.

Last, but not least, we went to see the new movie, "Mary Poppins Returns" with Lissa, Kiera and Savannah!

We had loads of fun in Houston for the Christmas season!!