the longest vacation ever: part 1...

so lane's job is a little difficult to explain when asked what he does. he works for an organization called CIY (christ in youth). more specifically, he works for MOVE..."a 5-day high school only event held all over the country, designed to amplify the call of Christ on students lives to become Kingdom workers." go check out their website. they are top notch at what they put on! 

so 10 months out of the year, he works along side of a team as a creative programmer. they dream up the event and make it happen. the remaining 2 months are spent traveling during the summer putting on 28 of these events on college campuses all over the country. lane has 5 weeks that he is directing. the first 2 weeks fell in june and he is currently in the middle of his last 3 this month. 

all that to say, we take advantage of when he's gone and hit the road as well! as insane as it sounds to travel to 3 different states with 3 little kids for 17 days straight, staying busy actually keeps me sane! dallas was our first stop. we headed there thursday, june 6th and left on monday, june 10th. we LOVE to spend time with kyle and lauren in dallas. when i'm having an off day, i'd give just about anything to blink my eyes and be in dallas. 

my little road trip companions were angels on the way down. we stopped in muskogee 2 hours into our trip and ate lunch, pottied and hopped back in the car for the rest of our trip. we only stopped once for a movie change. i was impressed with their bladders! we weren't there for an hour before we found ourselves at chuck e' cheese. they associate aunt lala and the mouse together!

gotta love the cheap junk!

friday morning, we got up and around and headed to ledger's second favorite spot...ihop! ever since my mimi took us there in december, he has been able to spot an ihop from a mile away.

we then headed to meet kyle to look at a house in the town they're wanting to buy in. they decided not to make an offer on it. we said goodbye to kyle for the next 24 hours. he was headed to okc for a golffing trip with tyler. i LOVE how intwined our families our! actually kyle and the moss boys' knew each other way before the cromley girls were on the scene. lane's mom and kyle's mom were best friends in jr. high and high school. small world! anywho, after a couple of errands, we stopped off for some yummy in-n-out and made the trek back to lala's house. we were trying to keep the boys awake on the way back so they could swim. every couple of minutes, i yell," let me see your swim faces!" and this is what i got!

we weren't too hungry that night so we let canon pick where he wanted to eat and he chose pei wei. so much for a light dinner! since the big boys didn't have naps and were worn plum out, bedtime was a breeze. lauren and i settled in with parental guidance...and both stayed awake for the whole movie! we were so proud!

the next morning was a lazy one. lauren fixed bacon and eggs and we just took our time getting ready. the boys had second breakfast with a big bowl of fruit! 

gosh...he's ornery, but SO sweet!

hardcore :)

 

we piddled around tj maxx, home goods and target before deciding on bbq for lunch. we had an overly attentive waiter that made our time there very entertaining! we felt so over stimulated by the time we left between he and my kids! #guypattersonandthesonics below...

late afternoon, we went swimming. the boys would've stayed all night if we let them. we had planned to grillout while there, but it was really crowded so we took our burgers back to the apartment. while i bathed knox and got him down, kyle and lauren took the boys to get ice cream. they're spoiled rotten i tell you! thankfully, they've still got sweet in them, though.

sunday morning, we went to church with them. i loved it, the boys did great in strange classes and i wasn't called out to come get one...success! this was the 4th different church we had worshipped at in a month's time. i so enjoyed worshipping with different bodies of christ that all loved the same god! after lunch at chili's (free kid meals AND a gift card...woot! woot!), we all napped hard that afternoon.  

lauren treated me to a pedicure while there. i rarely get one and it's one of my most favorite things to do! so sweet! meanwhile, kyle was watching the boys. he decided that he was going to make lasagna for dinner so he loaded up the kids, took them to kroger, survived that, came home and whipped up dinner and had it in the oven when we got home. all in an hour and a half! i was SO impressed! he's a great uncle to them :)

 after dinner treats :)

this picture needs no caption :)

 taking a big bubble bath!

we so enjoyed our visit with them! it's never long enough...at least for us! we love you, guys! monday morning, we loaded up early and headed back to muskogee for a week of swim lessons...