About a week before Thanksgiving, I was on the phone with Robyn Bunkall and we were talking about our lack of plans for Thanksgiving...when all of the sudden the idea was born of us getting our families together! Well, it doesn't take a lot of convincing for either of us to want to do a vacation, so there really was nothing stopping us once the idea got rolling. We went back and forth about how and where, but in the end, it made the most sense for us to head to Dodge City, Kansas!
We had a great trip out (I wasn't quite sure about a drive that long - 15 hours, but it was totally fine). We arrived on Wednesday evening, had dinner, let the kids get reacquainted, settled them in for the night and then made a pumpkin cheesecake for the next day. On Thursday we had a great time together in the kitchen. We all brought our favorite things together and ended up with a spectacular Thanksgiving feast! It was a wonderful way to spend the holiday.On Friday we went exploring in Dodge City. The first place we went was to Dave's orthodontic practice. It is awesome. If there was nothing else in Dodge City besides this office and a bunch of kids with crooked teeth, it would be the place to be! Here is the family in front of the office.
Here is the front desk area (a view looking back towards the entrance).
When you come into the building, this is the view to the right...
And to the left...
And in the patient area.
This is their logo...Dave created it (the orthodontic bracket into the B) and then his dad made this wooden version of it to hang in the office.
There are also tons of other great things in the office. Big, huge teeth to brush, hand clapper noise makers, an odd assortment of instruments (the staff all play and sing when someone gets their braces off)...
And what office would be complete without a wild eyed orthodontist and a terrified patient??!!?
After visiting the practice, we went downtown! Here we are in front of the Dodge City sign being as gun-slinger-ish as we could be without having any guns!
Dodge city was famous in part for the cattle industry. Here are all the kids with a good ol' Texas longhorn in the center of town.
I thought this guy was just begging for a little smooch!
Robyn has a family tradition where they paint cookies. I had never seen it before, but it was really awesome. Here are the kids helping to roll the dough out.
She uses a cookie recipe that is pretty sweet and doesn't really need frosting. Then you use a very small amount of evaporated milk (probably a 1/2 inch deep in each of 6 cups) and add food coloring to make your "paint". We used q-tips as the paint brushes and let the kids go to town!
Not just the kids went to town!
Here are Andrew's creations...
Zach's...
And Ava's. She was last at the table by quite a bit. She really took her time and enjoyed every second of it!
We also visited a replica of the old town while we were there. It is a fun museum and the kids were really having fun exploring. Here they are in jail...
Look how determined Ava looks to lock Zach up!!
We went to the saloon and had some sarsaparilla sodas - yummy!
Apparently Luke got into the saloon theme and was drunk in this picture! I love it!
The guy who was working the bar went over and played some saloon style music for us. It was really fun. We even sang along with him...a little 'Where the buffalo roam'...
Now all the kids are passed out drunk...precious.
Into the classroom we went!
What a cute little student!
School's in session and the Bunkalls and Bacons are all present and accounted for!
This little outhouse was part of the "town" and Cannon had the idea to all line up and pretend they were waiting to use it...these kids are King Henry offspring for sure...they just make their own fun!!
There is a really cute, little church in the town too.
This picture is completely irreverent because Andrew is pretending to be praying. Sweet child of mine!
I love the movie 'Tombstone' - back in my rated R days - and I love the stories about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Well, here is the Wyatt Earp statue in town. It was fun to be right in the places where these super famous people actually lived. I was trying to get Andrew to take this picture, but the sun was shining right in his eyes. He could not keep them open...and kept making these crazy faces when he was trying...it really made me laugh.
If Greg had the mustache, and a good costume, he might be able to pass for a good Wyatt.
Later, we let the kids have a western showdown of their own. They lined up back to back, took their steps, turned and shot!
Silly string!
There was also lots of time playing. Here are the youngest three!
And Ava trying to practice her hair styling on a real person! Move over dolls, Ellie is here!
On Sunday we went to church with the Bunkalls. Here are the big boys, Andrew and Cannon.
The medium boys, Luke and Zach.
The girls, Ava and Ellie and of course, the cute, tiny morsel Henry.
The kids were all tuckered out at the end of the trip and slept like 3 little bugs in a rug at the hotel on the way back!
Here is the front desk area (a view looking back towards the entrance).
When you come into the building, this is the view to the right...
And to the left...
And in the patient area. 
This is their logo...Dave created it (the orthodontic bracket into the B) and then his dad made this wooden version of it to hang in the office.
There are also tons of other great things in the office. Big, huge teeth to brush, hand clapper noise makers, an odd assortment of instruments (the staff all play and sing when someone gets their braces off)...
And what office would be complete without a wild eyed orthodontist and a terrified patient??!!?
After visiting the practice, we went downtown! Here we are in front of the Dodge City sign being as gun-slinger-ish as we could be without having any guns! 
Dodge city was famous in part for the cattle industry. Here are all the kids with a good ol' Texas longhorn in the center of town. 
I thought this guy was just begging for a little smooch!
Robyn has a family tradition where they paint cookies. I had never seen it before, but it was really awesome. Here are the kids helping to roll the dough out. 
She uses a cookie recipe that is pretty sweet and doesn't really need frosting. Then you use a very small amount of evaporated milk (probably a 1/2 inch deep in each of 6 cups) and add food coloring to make your "paint". We used q-tips as the paint brushes and let the kids go to town! 
Not just the kids went to town!
Here are Andrew's creations...
Zach's...
And Ava's. She was last at the table by quite a bit. She really took her time and enjoyed every second of it!
We also visited a replica of the old town while we were there. It is a fun museum and the kids were really having fun exploring. Here they are in jail...
Look how determined Ava looks to lock Zach up!!
We went to the saloon and had some sarsaparilla sodas - yummy!
Apparently Luke got into the saloon theme and was drunk in this picture! I love it!
The guy who was working the bar went over and played some saloon style music for us. It was really fun. We even sang along with him...a little 'Where the buffalo roam'...
Now all the kids are passed out drunk...precious. 
Into the classroom we went!
What a cute little student!
School's in session and the Bunkalls and Bacons are all present and accounted for!
This little outhouse was part of the "town" and Cannon had the idea to all line up and pretend they were waiting to use it...these kids are King Henry offspring for sure...they just make their own fun!!
There is a really cute, little church in the town too. 
This picture is completely irreverent because Andrew is pretending to be praying. Sweet child of mine! 
I love the movie 'Tombstone' - back in my rated R days - and I love the stories about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Well, here is the Wyatt Earp statue in town. It was fun to be right in the places where these super famous people actually lived. I was trying to get Andrew to take this picture, but the sun was shining right in his eyes. He could not keep them open...and kept making these crazy faces when he was trying...it really made me laugh. 
If Greg had the mustache, and a good costume, he might be able to pass for a good Wyatt. 
Later, we let the kids have a western showdown of their own. They lined up back to back, took their steps, turned and shot!
Silly string!
There was also lots of time playing. Here are the youngest three! 
And Ava trying to practice her hair styling on a real person! Move over dolls, Ellie is here!
On Sunday we went to church with the Bunkalls. Here are the big boys, Andrew and Cannon. 
The medium boys, Luke and Zach.
The girls, Ava and Ellie and of course, the cute, tiny morsel Henry. 
The kids were all tuckered out at the end of the trip and slept like 3 little bugs in a rug at the hotel on the way back! We had a wonderful time. Delicious food, kids playing, visiting a historic city, laughter, relaxation, staying up all night (literally) talking to Robyn, watching Gunsmoke, and just having time together. With a family vacation like that, who would ever really want to "get out of Dodge"? Thank you Bunkalls for a perfect Thanksgiving!
