One of the things we did in Texas, that I do not have pictures, or should I say I was not allowed to take pictures, was visit the Bureau of Printing and Engraving ~ where they print money.  What a neat thing.  I guess I had never considered how the money is printed.  How they spend months and months designing the new bills and colors, hearing about how it is engraved,  how they put layer upon layer of ink on the bills and having to let it dry for days.  What a process.  Huge sheets of bills that are eventually cut.  It was crazy seeing that much money in one place.  Although I don't think it is actually considered currency until it shipped out to the Federal Reserve Banks.  About 95% of what is printed replaces worn out money.  When you visit, you park and they don't allow anything like video, camera, phones, etc.  You go through one metal detector and then wait inside for a bus.  The bus comes and drives you a couple of hundred yards to the actual building.  Once the tour is over, you are required to stay in the building into the bus comes back to get you.  Very protected and secure.

We had hoped on the way home to go to The Mint in Denver and see how coins are made, however, I guess they require reservations and they did not have any reservations available for the day we were going to be there.

The other thing we did, and I also did not get pictures, was went to Six Flags.  It had been 2 or 3 years since the boys had been to an amusement park, so was excited for them to be big enough to ride most of the rides.  We got there at 10 am (we were with 3 of my nieces and my mom).  Because of my vertigo, I was afraid to ride too much, so I did a lot of sitting and watching.  We had a great time.  The boys rode the Shock Wave ~ the double loop ~ roller coaster.  Joseph enjoyed it so much he went back for a second time.   They rode quite a few of the roller coasters and the spinning rides.  The lines were not too long and it was not unbearably hot.  However, we decided for a second time to ride the Looney Tunes water ride...which according to my niece is the lamest ride in the park.  It is a slow boat ride through a long tunnel and there are Looney Tune characters through out, like Wiley Coyote, Road Runner, etc.  Recordings of the characters are played throughout the ride as you observe different scenes.  At one point Benjamin said "what would happen if we got stuck in here?"  Not 30 seconds later we come around a corner and bump into another boat.  There are 4 boats in front of us and soon there are 4 more that come up behind us.  We are not sure what happened, but we sat there for about 5 minutes before a staff person came in and pulled us through.  The lady, and her small kids, in the front boat had to get out and walk out of the long tunnel to notify staff.  It amazed all of us that the staff never clued in to the fact that the boats were not coming out.

By 8pm, the kids were starting to drag.  We went in different directions to get a few more rides in.   About 9:30 I headed to car.  Within seconds of starting the car, I realized something was not right.  It appeared the battery was low.  I managed to drive up a bit to pick everyone up.  The battery was no holding a charge so we pulled over in the parking lot by the trolley station (the old gas station).  We found a phone that we were able to pick up and call security.  After many cars exited by us, security showed up.  The man was very nice and gave us a jump.  My car was not holding a charge and he determined that it was probably the alternator.  Given we had a 45 minute ride home on the interstate, I did not want to chance losing power on the road.  So, we called AAA ~ thankful for roadside assistance when you are 1500 miles from home.  The problem to all of this, was that there were 8 of us in the van and 8 were not going to fit in the tow truck.  We ended up calling someone who lived nearby to pick up 5 of us and myself and 2 nieces waited for the tow truck.  My first time in a tow truck and what a fun experience it was.  Given that it was midnight before our car was loaded up (we had to wait for a second truck so we could be towed on a flatbed), we are tired and just made the best of it.  The tow truck driver Darcell was really nice and we had fun talking with him and laughing about life.

Turns out the van did have to have a battery and alternator replaced!  Not a fun expense but very, very thankful it happened in a lit parking lot, with lots of people and security around.  God's amazing hand of protection!

Here are the rest of the pictures from our trip!

One night sitting on the patio there was a huge spider spinning a web.  It was fun to practice some up close shots, even though I do not like spiders.

This kid is so photogenic.

So is this one...

I loved watching his hair blow in the wind.

I loved what the wind did to his hair!

Then we headed to Abilene and Grandpa's
We headed to a park one morning...cousins ran around on the playground and skate park.  (My boys looked wiped out and tired from the heat!)

Lots of slip n slide fun.

Played some games to beat the heat!

Got some more swimming in at the hotel pool.

Water hose fights.....Joseph was definitely on the loosing end of this fight.

My three sons!!!!

Just before we got in the car to head back home, we celebrated B's birthday ~ what a way to spend your birthday, in the car all day.  (Side note, don't ever put sparklers on a cake, especially inside.  I think we all had lost our minds to the heat and fun)