Dallas-mama.

On Friday morning, we woke early and snuck out before anyone could make us take our kids and boarded the first plane to Dallas. Let me be the first to say: Dallas is stinking hot. We were proud of ourselves for adjusting somewhat to the humid NC climate, but it has nothing on Dallas. According to Wikipedia, the Dallas-Fort Worth area has around 3 million people. But it is so big, I'm sure it could hold about twice as many. I'm sure it has enough concrete to make it to the moon and back. While we were there, it was hot enough to declare unhealthy pollution levels and all people were warned to stay inside because air quality was so bad. I don't have that much experience with big cities, but I didn't notice that my contacts were covered in dust every night when I took them out.

On Friday night we got tickets to the Rangers-Padres game. It started at 7pm and 100 degrees. It was still 92 degrees when we left at 10pm. It was a fun game and the Rangers were up 12-1 when we left during the middle of the 8th inning.

We made it through the game on one thing alone: All You Can Eat Seats. Our ticket price (only $25) covered our seats, and a buffet of hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, nachos, popcorn, peanuts and pop. I earned back the ticket price with pop alone. I know I drank 7 cups full while we were there. The game was only bearable if you were chugging cold drinks and rubbing your legs and arms with ice cubes. Despite the heat, papa posed for a shot with Nolan Ryan on the way out. On Saturday, we celebrated the real reason for our trip down. Papa's high school friend, college roommate for 3 years and a groomsman in our wedding, Jeff married his lovely girlfriend Cara.

They were married in a cool mansion in a very nice ceremony that I only cried about half through.

After the ceremony, we were all excited to get the party started. I was impressed by the carved watermelon.

I guess grooms get their own cake in Texas. It was as delicious as it looked.

And the bride's cake wasn't too shabby either.

The wedding party cleaned up real nice, even though a high percentage hailed from "Mern", Ohio.

We were very excited to see our friends Ryan Arend and Anupam. Papa lived with Arend for two years in college and he was also in our wedding. It's been almost three years since we've seen him.

It's been since our wedding 5 years ago that we've seen the whole Griswold family. We were very excited to hear that Mr. and Mrs. Griswold live only a half our from our new house in South Carolina and hope that means we'll get to see the Griwolds more. (And we want to give a special mention to Mike's wife, Heather, who braved the heat and a plane ride to make it to the wedding 8 months along in her pregnancy. We feel for you, Heather.)

The vast majority of the kids at the wedding were little boys aged 6-8. We spent some time wondering which one Henry was most like. Half way through the ceremony, we got our answer when one said to his mom "Can we go already?"

We expect this picture to be plastered over Facebook in no time. How sweet.

When the happy couple left, we were given kazoos and noisemakers to send them on their way.

It was quite the procession.

The reception ended early, so the party continued on at the bowling alley, where everyone bowled in their formal wear.

Don't let papa's good form fool you. Despite bowling a pitiful 53 in my first round, I bowled a personal best of 91 and beat him in the second round. Unfortunately, we were bowling with the elder Griswolds. Jeff's dad rolled a 179 and his grandpa bowled around a 120.

Thanks for including us in your special day, Jeff and Cara!

Cedar falls-Juner.

Our next stop was at Cedar Falls.

We had to walk down a steep path and over a bridge, but it was worth it.

They let Sadie and I take off our shoes and wade in the water. I wasn't too bold, but Sadie had so much fun that she required an outfit change when she was done (maybe we could see some of the pictures of it if Aunt Kate and Uncle Adam would update their blog- hint, hint).

Mama spotted two big snapping turtles. She suspected they might be the two mean turtles that Miss Colleen and Miss Leah made into house pets while they were in college. I wasn't so impressed, so I threw my snack cup in the water from 10 feet up. Mama had just gotten done cleaning up someone else's mess at the top of the hill, so she couldn't leave it behind. Luckily it floated down stream a little and PawPaw was able to fish it out with a large branch.

Look close and you can spot a snake we saw.

The reason I'm leaning so far out is because mama really stunk. She ran three miles (it was a pretty hot day) only for me to pee all over her. We had to drive home with the windows open.

Papa and mama decided I could be quite pretty if it weren't for my two front teeth. Looks like I inherited the Seibert teeth and I'll be very close to me orthodontist as a teenager.

The walk uphill was hard, especially if you were carrying a little boy on your shoulders. We've got the best PawPaw ever.

Ash Cave- Henry.

On our last day, mama was itching to get out and do some hiking. Unfortunately for her, no one else had that itch. So she convinced Aunt Kate and Unkie Adam to drop her off three miles from Ash Cave so she could hike and meet us there. It was such a nice day that she ended up running (okay, jogging) the trail and had the most enjoyable jog she's had in a long time.

She knew she was getting close to Ash Cave because she heard voices below. She looked over the edge of the trail and saw this. The picture doesn't do it justice, but this is what she was literally standing on the edge of:

That's a 90 foot drop. With no barriers to stop anyone from going over. Grams told a funny story about taking papa and unkie to Ash Cave when they were little. It didn't sound like she had very much fun. Mama didn't let us go up to the top.

Juner and her chicken legs insisted on walking the whole way just like the big kids.

Ash Cave isn't really a caved, but all the limestone has been washed away so you can walk under it.

Plus there's water running over the edge of it and into a little stream at the bottom.

I had a good time running around but insisted on taking off my shoes and cleaning out the sand about 10 times.

Mama took this cool shot of the water coming down. The sun was just right.

Kids and grandkids. If you look close, you can see that everyone is wearing a Marion Ohio t-shirt. The girls scored these gems at the Walmart and even made matching shirts for us kids. You know you're jealous.

What a good looking family.

I was getting rowdy, so Aunt Girl threatened to throw me in the water.

Juner did some rock climbing followed by rock jumping.

Despite my protests, mama made me climb this big rock to pose with PawPaw and Aunt Girl. I did have fun jumping off..

Mama likes this picture because she thinks it really shows Juner's personality well. Messy hair and a scowl. She's just seconds away from pushing us all off the rock and taking it for her own.

Pawps couldn't resist climbing a fallen tree, but Grams made him come down because he's too valuable for the Army to lose.

Back at the car, Sadie begged her Uncle Brandon to go get something to eat already, but he said they had one more hike to go on.

Farm tour- part two- Juner.

Henry was so impressed by the hay ride, that he never stopped talking about it. Then he even started mumbling about buggy rides in his sleep, so mama called up the owners and begged them to hook up the buggy so a three year old would be happy. Luckily, they were very obliging and called us down for a second ride.

Henry was very excited to ride in the buggy and only wished that they had added a battery so they could put the flaps down and turn on the light inside.

He was invited to sit up front and hold the reigns, but he's still a wimp and chose to sit int he back instead.

Since mama missed the hay ride, she got to ride in the buggy. She was a afraid it would tip when they were riding on the side of the hill, but luckily it stayed upright and she didn't have to worry about surviving any of the bizarre Little House on the Prairie buggy accident story lines.

Here they are cozy inside the buggy. There were a few more pictures, but mama found out that her beloved Milwaukee Brewers shirt is not very flattering in photos and, as the editor of the blog, she has deemed them unworthy for public viewing. It's too bad too, because she really loves that shirt. But we are moving to South Carolina, and I don't think the big Miller Light logo stamped on the back would be very appropriate down there.

Sadie and I tried to roll the buggy on our own, but we're still not big enough.

While Henry was enjoying the buggy ride, I got to feed the goats again. I spent a good deal of time walking from the fence to the hay bales over and over. I really liked the goats.

The owner's grandkids spent their time trying to capture the kittens and even let Henry hold one. It wasn't as bad as he makes it look in this picture.

They didn't let me hold one, but I did my best to be gentle when I petted it. This little girl was very patient with Sadie and I, even though it landed her quite a few scratches from the kitten trying to escape.

Papa got some good "Little Juner on the Prairie Shots." I could totally pass for Carrie in the opening sequence.

Looks like we put the hat on too late. My nose is a little red from the sun.

I ate flowers until papa made me stop.

What a pretty place.