Austin- the end

We headed home on Wednesday morning so we could be home for Arabella's first day of ballet.

 This was Lily after we had swam at the pool on Tuesday and she slipped in the shower scraping her cheek on the shampoo bottle. 

 Peter and I have recently observed that travelling with large families is tricky. There are not very many hotels that have rooms that connect or that have 2 beds and a pull out (or maybe just in Austin and Washington DC where we have been trying to find them). Large families are becoming a thing of the past. I watch a fair amount of HGTV and have noticed lately that many of the young couples that are purchasing homes talk about having room for their dogs or a bedroom to use as a dressing room. But, there are not very many that talk about the desire to have room for a family or future kids. One even said that they had been married for a few years and had not intention of having children for at least 5 years. There is nothing wrong with having pets or waiting to have children but it does make me sad that more men and women do not possess "parent hearts". They are seeking the things the world offers and are not as concerned with what our eternal destiny is and that is to have a family. 

 Anyway, we finally settled on a hotel that was closer to Peter's job site and had 2 full beds. So, the 3 middle kids slept on one bed, we put Joseph on Peter's camping cot and Lily was in her box again (you can see it in the bottom R hand corner).

And we will end on this sweet note! Oh and that we did not make a single stop on the way home- it was wonderful!