For Chip Gaines, the perfect summer starts with one thing: loading up the car with all five of his kids and setting off on an adventure, making memories one mile at a time.
“Chip asked the kids to go on a road trip with him for Father’s day. Each kid got to pick where they wanted to go,” Joanna Gaines shared in a June 29 Instagram post.
The mother of Drake, 20, Ella, 18, Duke, 16, Emmie Kay, 15, and Crew, 7, noted that the family began their journey in Oklahoma, a choice inspired by their youngest, who “wanted to see a tornado and red dirt.”
Next, Chip Gaines and the children traveled through New Mexico, Utah and Arizona before looping down to Marfa, Texas, where they surprised Joanna by adopting a puppy — whom they named Marfa!
Her arrival officially brings the Gaines family dog count to seven, all enjoying life on the “Fixer Upper” alums’ 4-acre farm outside Waco, Texas.
“Chip, you’re such a fun dad,” Joanna Gaines wrote. “They’ll never forget this trip!”
Ella captured highlights from the journey on her digital camera. Through her lens, the trip unfolds in sweeping shots of picturesque highways, desert vistas, fishing trips and low cliff jumps into cool water. At one point, Crew is seen sketching his name into a rock right blow Ella and Duke’s signatures, in another, the siblings are captured meeting Marfa for the first time.
When TODAY.com spoke to Chip Gaines in May, Ella was still weighing her college options. While her brother Drake chose to stay close, attending the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas, Ella was considering schools farther from home.
“We can’t wait for her to decide. Ella has thought about Korea, she’s thought about sunny Southern California,” the Magnolia co-founder revealed. “She’s not going to be in the Central Texas area when she goes on to her next chapter. She seems excited to be able to spread her wings and do something very unique and outside the bubble.”
Chip Gaines described Ella as “engaged and thoughtful,” and mentioned that she is interested in pursing studies in business and digital design.
“With Drake, we needed to send him to college to teach him basic survival skills, like how to do laundry,” he joked. “Ella is on the exact opposite end of the spectrum. It feels like we’re sending this young lady off to become the next president of the United States. It’s very the sky’s the limit with Ella.”
Among his five kids, Chip, known for his playful personality, says he sees himself the most in 7-year-old Crew.
“He’s my boy. Literally, the one that I relate to the most is the 6-year-old,” Chip says. “The other kids take after their mom: They’re thoughtful, attentive, caring, pretty reserved, very cautious. When they go outside, I don’t have to worry if they’re going to come back with a broken nose. But with Crew, anything is possible.”
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