On Friday school was cancelled for my little sisters so we made some quick plans to spend the day with my parents at the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. The weather was perfect to be outside! When we bought our annual pass, we received 5 free tickets as well so all of us got in free! It happened to be field trip day so it was busy but not nearly as crowded as I thought it might be.

The lily pond was so pretty!

All the children except Ethan.

I love observing the many unique animals God created!

It was after lunch until we were through the zoo. Dad had an Applebee's gift card so we went there for lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed our day and the children thought it was so fun to have Grandpa's and their Aunts go with us!. Far to often it seems like we don't take time to specifically enjoy the people we see often or the places close to home. I'm on a mission to change that :) . 

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On Saturday plans had been made to meet up with several other full-time families (aka, other families who are crazy like us and live in an RV full-time) in Fort Worth.

Our first stop was the Fort Worth Water Gardens. It's free but we did end up paying to park in a parking garage because we couldn't find a parking place after driving around the block about 12 times! The next step was to actually find the other families. We carefully scrutinized each family we walked past and did some texting and successfully all managed to meet up! Next time I'll take a flag or something :) . The Water Garden is in downtown and pretty much an oasis in the city. It's got 3 big pool/fountains and lots of pretty landscaping and plenty of shade trees.

This was called the active pool and definitely the most majestic in my opinion. There is steps all the way to the bottom. We went down but I did freak out a little since there was moving water all around and under you but it was fun!

At the bottom

Hurrah for having friends along to take pictures of us as a family!

There is also a mountain. The steps are all 20 inches high. I did not climb this but Eldon took the kids up.

The aerating pool featured many spray fountains. It was windy so the mist felt great! The third pool, called the quiet pool was closed so I didn't get any pictures of that. 

The King Family

The next stop was the stock yards. It's also free but there is many, many opportunities to spend money if you want . Like sitting on this steer, for instance.

Emily thought is was so cool that they had real cowboys!

We went for the cattle drive at 4 then 15 min later they had a gun fight.

The very calm longhorns walking down the street.

This was the cattle drive, by the way.

By the time we were done there it was hot and we were all tired! On the way to Trinity Park we all grabbed some fast food then had a picnic. The park was busy but the kids had such a blast.

I almost couldn't get Makayla off the merry-go-round!

Ethan loves to swing.

It's so fun watching their brother bond get stronger as they get older!

Emily and her new friend. 

Ethan is scowling because I'm wanting to take a picture instead of letting him slide!

Lots of talking among the adults as we played with our kids!

Sam is a crane operator so he was showing Michael and Eldon pictures. Michael is enthralled!

Makayla and Josie quickly became friends.

The whole gang, plus miss "fancy" in the front row just jumped in the picture too, lol.

It is very out of character for both Eldon and I to enjoy spending the day with people we don't know from Adam. But we did. It was wonderful to talk to others who are on the same journey of less stuff, more time. Hopefully we'll meet again, farther down the road!