Texas

We spent our spring break camping in Texas. Most of my kids love camping. The others tolerate it.
Miss D helped both set up and take down tents. E2 helped set up.
Miss D & our oldest helped wash dishes.
I had plenty of volunteers to help cook, but declined those offers.
Something about sleeping in a tent makes substandard rations okay with the kids. We had zero complaints about the hot cereal breakfast, cold sandwich lunch, hot dog dinner regime. Only Si guy has eaten oatmeal since we've gotten home though.
High camp points included:
Setting up.
Tearing down without incident.
Sand, dirt and rocks. (at least for kids 3-6)
Neighbor kids at the campsite across from us for a couple of days.
I had one glorious afternoon of hanging out in my reclining camp chair to read a couple of magazines. I had 4 days of chasing our oldest out of said chair whenever I wanted to sit down.
"Why do you get the cool chair?"
"Who's money bought the chair?"
"Dad's!"
"Let's try again. Who organized this trip? Bought all the stuff? reserved the campsite?"
"You."
"That's right. Now gimmee my chair. Besides, I'm over the weight limit for most of the others."
(Unfortunate, but true. I'm working on that.)
E1 was in hog heaven with Texas warm weather.
"Mom, why can't we move here?"
"Come back in August kid, and ask me that again. There's a reason we reserve Texas for spring/fall camping."
Now, other than camping, the high point of Texas is visiting relatives.
We spent one afternoon at my cousin's house, where the little kids worked on a floor puzzle, and the big kids turned into t.v. zombies...well, digital is banned at our campsite. They have to get it where they can. Me, I admired the baby. Mr. M rolled his eyes and was thankful for his v.
I also admired his absolutely beautiful and tastefully decorated home. Mr. M was thankful for the home we should FINALLY be moving into around memorial day. It was an interesting afternoon.
Another event we attended in Texas was an IMB sending service for our friends who are entering the missions field. It made a big impression on the kids. They'd never seen a church with it's own parking garage, or one that took up two large downtown buildings before.
The orchestra was impressive. It was fun pointing out the different instruments to the kids, from oboes & french horns to three kinds of drums. We sat up in the nosebleed section, where we were surrounded by the organ pipes. The sound board was in front of us. It was a pretty cool view. Besides the awesomeness of the building, the service itself got our oldest thinking about missions, and what missionaries do. This I consider a success. The kids considered the cookies at the reception afterwards to be a success too.
The last two days of our trip were dedicated to J, my oldest son who was placed for adoption. We attended one of his baseball games, and caught the tail end of another. ( Nine a.m. is a time to wake up, not be somewhere for us. We tried though. We were up at 7 that day. Just could not get the gear down & van loaded fast enough.) We spent a couple hours each day on a playground where he chased, pushed swings, and just was a rock star in general for Mr. M & I's six kids. Day 1 was all about the kids. Day 2, we talked quite a bit as he pushed the ever demanding tire swing.
He's graduating high school this year, and moving on into the big, big, unsheltered world of college. He's got great ambitions and huge ideals. His parents have given him the tools to succeed, and his firm faith will serve him well. His plans probably include the military at some point, something I really wouldn't wish for any of my offspring, especially ones that express wishes to have families, but his life was given to God long ago, and God knows what's best for him. I'm just grateful he decided to find us, and that he really does want us to a part of his life, however large or small that part may be.