Skinner Cousins

Okay, so time has really gotten away from me. We've all been sick with the flu, and I think it's taken me the longest to get over it. Now that we're all well, and the laundry is finally done, I can post the pictures we took when Reed and Rachel came to visit. It was such a fun time. Carly and Josh just love to get together with their cousins. There's nothing better than built in friends. We just wish we lived nearer to our cousins.

The Skinners were in town for 4 days, and we were able to pack in a lot of fun. Sunday was a relaxing day of church and hanging out. Of course we played Mexican Train that night, and I just have to toot my own horn because I WON!!! That's right, me, not Jarod. Jarod always boasts, and rightly so, that he always wins. It felt good to de-thrown the Mexican Train king.

On Monday we went to Inner Space Caverns, which is a cavern not far up the road from our house. I haven't been since an elementary school field trip, and I thought it was pretty cool. From left to right we have Carly, Me, Josh, and Jack, Rachel and Quinn, Reed, Parker, Emma, Spencer, and Conner. Everyone is feeling the one rock in the cavern that you can touch without breaking the law. The cavern is alive, and as soon as you touch the rocks, the oils from your skin essentially kill the rock so that it no longer grows. This is one of the bats that live in the cave. The cave was found while they were building the interstate highway that runs through Austin. Before they opened the cave, there weren't any bats living there, but now there is a colony. We only saw a handful of bats, but the kids thought it was pretty cool. They have several prehistoric animal fossils that were found during the excavation.

After the cavern expedition, we went to the Valdivieso Villa for a picnic, and then on to the county park for some attempts at kite flying. Mama Skinner got some rad kites at Costco, and after it all, we decided that plain traditional 50 cent kites might be easier. After kite flying we trekked it on over to the outlet mall by our house. Yea for $2.99 Disney shirts!!

On Tuesday we headed on out to San Antonio. There is a drive-thru African Safari, and it was a lot of fun. We observed all kinds of exotic animals, and fed a few others from our hands. One long horn cow stuck it's huge tongue in the car, and everyone got a good gross out. From left to right we have Quinn, Parker, Josh, Spencer, Conner, Carly, Emma, and Jack. Can you see "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil"? I think the Zebras and the Ostriches were the highlight of the day. Then there was another picnic before we went to the Alamo. The Skinner kids are really into Davey Crockett, and to show their enthusiasm, they wore Davey Crockett garb to the Alamo. It was a lot of fun to hear all the passersby ask the boys if they were Davey Crockett.

Wednesday we took it easy, which was nice. We did some more shopping, and took a trip up to Papa's school to see some neat science demonstrations. The kids always love to see his flying pig.

We're so glad the Skinners came for a visit, and we hope they'll make their way out to see us again so we can fit in all the fun that we didn't have time for this last visit.