Spring Break

Sooo, sorry for being a bad blogger. We have had a very busy few weeks! Today was the end of our glorious spring break :( It started off with lots of excitement! I will let the pictures tell the story...

Ryan had the Reginal Finals the weekend before Spring Break (March 6th). This is a shot of him right before the game started. Sorry it is so fuzzy, but it effectively captured the moment.

Pre-game Discussion

Will and Cate in their Dragon finest!

The final score against Judson. It was the most intense game I have ever been apart of! I cried when it was all over. After this, we moved on to the Reginal Finals, but we lost to Wagner.

Time to celebrate! UTSA was trying to kick us all out, but we wanted to see Ryan first (he was being interviewed). Ryan's entire family drove down for the weekend. He is talking to his brother, Wade, and sister, Lissa. Claire is giving him some love. She was so proud of her daddy!

Southwest Dragons 2008-2009. This pic was actually taken after the Regonal Quarter-Final game.

I am so very proud of my coach! Ryan was named the District Coach of the Year and will be the coach at the San Antonio All Star Game. I love you, RJ, and I am so proud of what you accomplished this year. God is sooo good!

Let me introduce the Purtell/Barker Clan. We had so much fun with all of our cousins! It was not boring around here this weekend! Notice the cups. I couldn't help myself to some basketball-themed dinnerware! We had plates too, but I think those were all used up by the time this picture was taken.

Our Nan, Nancy, (Ryan's Mom)

The Purtells. Wade (Ryan's brother), Cathy, Will, Eli, and Molly

The Barkers. Lissa (Ryan's sis), Chris, Anna, and Alex. By the way, my kids really, really love their Aunt Lissa! I think they would prefer to live with her!

I have no idea what they were talking about, but looks like it was a great conversation!

Ryan's birthday was the following weekend, so his family sang him happy bday while they were here.

The cousins-all 8! Bottom row left: Eli, Cara, Molly, Claire, Will, Alex. Top: Cate, Nan, Anna.

Lissa and Chris made us a wonderful breakfast. We love you all and are so blessed that you were here and we miss you all tons!

I broke out the pool the first day of SB. We had a picnic outside and the girls got to wear their new swimsuits. I think they only swam for 10 min, but had a blast! Claire absolutely loved it. She was shivering, but did not want to get out.

On Thursday, we went to San Marcos to go shopping at the outlet mall. Here we are at Bennigans having lunch before we head out to Natural Bridge Caverns.

Here we are at the entrance to the cave. You can see why it is called "Natural Bridge".

The girls were soooo excited! We are decending into the cave. It was a little chilly oustide, but the cave was 70 degrees with humidity at 80% or so. We shed those jackets really fast!

A little steep and a little slippery.

Stalagtites (from the celing)

Stalagmites (from the floor)

These pictures do not do this place justice. It was beautiful. Cate called me the storyteller because I was trying to teach her all sorts of stuff about caves and how this stuff formed (the science teacher came out in me). It was about 3/4 of a mile, but some of that meant going down and them climbing back up. It was quite the workout!

Notice Ryan's face. We could not take strollers in, so we had to carry Claire. I would not recommend going if you have to carry a child. It was hot and we had to climb a steep walkway. I held her the second half to give Ryan a break. Glad there was not a picture of what I looked like! We let her walk for a bit, but it was still hard with a two-year old. Cate and Cara did great. Overall, it was a great trip and I highly recommend going.

Although SB is over, it is good to get back into the swing of things. Only a few more months until Summer! I also love having Ryan home every night since BB is over! Although I am more of a cold-weather gal, I do enjoy those warm evenings when the kids can play outside after supper. Blessings to you all!