Farewell, Sister Prestidge!

This is just so awesome!  Recently, Adam's youngest sister, Olivia, put in her mission papers, waited a month or so, and got a mission call to - Chicago!!!  It has been a really exciting time in the older Prestidge family.  Getting ready to go on a mission is such an adventure in itself, and an incredibly busy and stressful time.

So of course, we had to be there.  Actually, we had to be there for Olivia's farewell, which would wouldn't have missed for anything!  Olivia was scheduled to go to into the MTC (and did, quite successfully) on September 4.  Her farewell was scheduled for August 18, so, two weeks after returning from our summer in New York, we packed it up again and headed to Texas for 5 days!

First of all, it was hot!  Thankfully, not as humid as it had been in Virginia, but man, that Texas sun was brutal.  Our poor little (whiny) babies were not made for that kind of heat, and they let us know it.

But aside from that, it was a wonderful trip.  The highlight of the trip, of course, was seeing Olivia before she left and listening to her farewell talk on Sunday in her ward, which was incredible.  She has such an amazing testimony of the church, and a vigorous desire to share it with others.  It is so fun to witness and we are so proud of her.

(At the time that we're finally getting around to posting this, Olivia has been on her mission for almost 6 weeks (!) and has been in Chicago for almost 4!  She is doing an awesome job and loving her life as a missionary!)

During the trip, we also got to spend some time with our dear friends, Matt and Heather Boothe, who we've known forever, and our law school soul mates Dustin and Sabrina Draper.

Some of the fun times:

Little known fact: the oldest children's amusement park in the country is located in San Antonio!  We took a little park train over to the location, where we had tons of fun riding the restored vintage kids carnival rides.  (Just like Fete Paradiso in NYC, we can't get enough of anything vintage-carnivally!)

Somehow, Solana is like a natural airplane gunner.  I have no idea how she knows to look down the barrel and gun down targets as she flies by, but she did it the entire time and loved it.

Super old restored vintage carnival - um, yes please!

Boston had a great time!  (But notice the poor little hot red cheeks!)

(Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train, "All Aboard!")

Boston loves his Grandpa!  They are great buddies.  

Boston and Solana had a great time playing in the pool together.  It's interesting because when Solana was little, she was super hyper except when in the water.  Boston is kind of the opposite.

Solana discovered that a really fun activity is to bury, or be buried, with stuffed animals.  Then you jump out!

We also went bowling and to play some games.  Solana and Sarah racing Adam, and beating him.

At first she was hesitant...

And then she exploded!  Look at that wind-up!  Her face says so much!

Adam and his mom squaring off in an increasingly competitive match of Skee-Ball.

But Adam was no match...

But Adam and Solana won the basketball game together.

Solana became fast friends with Charlie, Sarah's dog.  They would follow each other around the house endlessly, and it was really fun to watch.  Solana loved Charlie, and he was really great with her.

Well, we can't get our own real puppy, but we can get a little battery powered yapping robot puppy, named Baby Charlie.  Let me tell ya, Boston LOVES Baby Charlie!

Boston Prestidge and Grace Boothe, Matt and Heather's precious little one.  Boston is only a couple months older than her, and they really enjoyed getting to know each other.  Adam and Matt have known each other since they were 12.  These guys will have known each other from before they were even 1.

Some serious travel snoozing.  Boston, above, conked out on the plane.  And both kids in the airport coming home, totally passed out in the stroller.  What a nice way to travel!