The last day of vacation

We decided to start back to Nebraska on Sunday. We drove to Wichita and stayed in a really nice motel with a pool so Peytie could swim. She really enjoyed spending time with just mommy & daddy for a night. And boy does she LOVE swimming. She's becoming quite the little fish!

Peytie & Daddy (It looks like Joe is fully clothed, but those are actually shorts he has on. LOL!)

Mommy & Peytie sittin' in the hot tub

I tried to get a good picture of the motel we stayed in, but the sun wasn't cooperating with me.

The poor girl was tuckered out after such a fun-filled vacation... (She slept for 2 full hours on the way home, which is amazing considering as she's gotten older - she never sleeps more than 25 minutes in the car!)

A weekend with Jay & Renee

We drove out to Forney, TX after we left G-pa Ben's on Friday, to spend a couple days with Jay & Renee. Forney is just east of Dallas. They live in a really nice subdivision and have a beautiful home. It was a lot of fun catching up with them! Thanks for everything guys! Miss ya'!

Renee & I, hammin' it up...

Just hangin' out...

Chillin' after supper, Friday nite.

Allie (their adorable Jack Russell terrier puppy) and Peytie playing.
I don't know which one's more hyper! Ha Ha!

Jay & Joe

Playing washers. (I think it must be a Texas thing... ?)

We had a BBQ on Saturday nite at their place & some of their friends brought their kids, so Peytie had some playmates that nite. That was nice.

Renee & Jay



JUST MORE PICS...

~The ZOO~

Peyton FINALLY got to go the zoo! She'd been talking about it for months, saying "I wanna' ride an elephant mommy!" Where she got that, I don't know. Kids say the darndest things, don't they?! Although she never got to ride one, she saw a couple, as well as tons of other animals. We rode the train through part of the zoo. It was really hot & humid but we sure had fun!

Giant turtles

G-pa & a chimp statue... looks real, doesn't it?! :)

Peyton thought this was pretty funny. (She's one CUTE otter, isn't she?)

This tiger put on quite the show for us. He was very active as it was feeding time I think.

He was trying to reach some food on the top of this stick.
I guess the zoo keepers hide the food in various places around their cage. ?

The long awaited elephant!

The lone giraffe.
(I guess they had two, but the other one died just a few weeks ago... sad.)

This gorilla was really hard to get a picture of. His name was Patrick & he was the only one (out of 5) that was born in the zoo. He was born in 1990. The other 4 were born in Africa in the 60's. We couldn't get any pictures of them 'cause they stayed hidden.



THE CAROUSEL!!

We really enjoyed the Dallas Zoo and were thankful that G-pa went with us. It just gave us more time to spend with him. I think he really enjoyed it too!

Our 1st family vacation!!

Well, we just got home from our first family vacation. We spent a week in Dallas, TX. Peytie got to meet her only living great-grandpa, Ben Rotter. We stayed the first two nights with him, getting spoiled rotten, visiting the Dallas Zoo, eating out, etc...

The start of a very looooong drive. Peyton did so good tho'. I was surprised!

Peytie & Great-Grandpa Ben

G-Gpa Ben, Peytie, Quail & Sue Adams (really good friends of the family).
(We went out to a Mexican restaurant the first night, it was sooo yummy!)

Mommy, Peyton & great-grandpa

Playin' with Grammy Tami!

Grammy Tami is quite the lifesaver when it comes to watching Peytie. She's almost ALWAYS available to keep her when daycare is closed or during the weekend when we have something going on, etc... We really appreciate her & Papa Jerry! I had a meeting in NP on Friday so they got to hang out for awhile. Grammy bought her a cute little kitten notebook.
(I'm hoping someday she will maybe be able to write like her Grammy.
That would be something, wouldn't it?)

Thanks, Grammy Tami!

This is a purse she got while shopping with Grammy that day. Isn't it adorable?
And sooo fitting too, as she does love pink.

Goofy girls!

On the walk home (down the alley).

Celebrating more of Nana's Birthday!

Peyton, Nana & Mommy went to visit Great Grandma Betty last weekend to
celebrate Nana's birthday. We had a great time, eating chocolate cake & visiting.

Peyton & Addie Cat

Pets have not been a favorite in this Vrbas family. In fact, we've really enjoyed not having any for awhile. However, I knew that having a child would someday bring the 'joy' of having a pet in our home again. So, about a month ago, Joe called me and said someone had kittens to give away. He wanted to check with me about getting one. My initial thought was, "Heck no, I know how that's gonna' work - I'm going to be the one cleaning/changing the litter box, feeding it, watering it, etc..." But then, after putting my selfish thoughts aside, I thought "what a great playmate a kitten would be for Peytie." So, I gave him the go ahead. Adidas (a.k.a. Addie Cat) became a member of our family that day & one heck of a pal to Peyton. They get along famously! She gets excited to get home everyday to play with Addie. So far, I think we made a good choice. (I will tell you though, I was right on who was going to be taking care of the dirty work... Ha ha! Oh well... mother's second nature -right?)