Getaway

All summer I had been looking forward to our lake trip. Of all the things I'm thankful for in regards to my Baylor experience, at the top of the list is the friends we made while there. We hadn't seen the Bowlins for months, and I missed them so much - it was great to have 2 days to talk, enjoy good food, and have fun out on the water. 

As you can see, Grant got into super relaxed mode on the boat!

Can you see the look of concern on Grant's face?  He did not last long on the tube...

Something you never think about it before it happens: how fun it is to see your own friendships move to the next generation.  One night the 2 of them ate dinner outside.  It was so cute to watch them through the window - they sat and talked and laughed and ate for almost as long as we did!

Growing Pains

Well, despite all the drama going on in our house over the past couple of weeks, I was able to re-paint Grant's room and move in a big bed. I have to admit, I was very sentimental about taking down the crib. Grant was visiting his grandparents while I re-did his room, so this was the scene when he returned home for the big reveal:

Grant: enters room, looks around, running, smiling, jumping on bed (at least a couple minutes of pure happiness).

Grant: realization hits. looks around...."where is my crib?"

Brad: "ummm, well, we took it down because now you are going to sleep in your big bed."

Grant: (with more worry) "where is my crib?!?!"

Brad: (very nonchalantly) "well, its in the back of your closet, but its been taken apart."

Grant: (firmly) "i want it back. put it back together!"

And, so it went.... The first night we resorted to letting him sleep in his pack and play in the middle of his room. But, by the second day, he relented. Now we can cross this transition off the list and move on to the next. Poor 2 year olds - so much growing up to do.

I've been wanting to make something for Grant's room for a long time. I wanted something really simple and was happy with the way this turned out!

Summer Roadtrip

My sister and I loaded up the Pilot and headed to eastern Oklahoma last week to visit our grandfather. Three kids, a cooler full of juice boxes, backpacks full of toys, and lots of movies - it should have been a smooth ride. Ha. I felt like we could have been a reality series called 'motherhood revealed' or just an updated version of national lampoon's toddler road trip. After this trip, I have a new item to add to my wish list if I ever happen to buy a lottery ticket and actually win the jackpot: a nanny to accompany us on all vacations.

Okay, maybe I'm writing this post too soon after the trip...but, I guess this will just be the un-cut, unedited version!

We stayed at the best possible place for kids - one of Oklahoma's many state parks. I have to hand it to OK - they have amazing lakes and state parks. The place we stayed was out on a peninsula surrounded by a lake and had an amazing playground, a big pool, a decent restaurant, horse stables, and a complete kids program with nightly hayrides and other fun things.

The hard part was just that starting around 7:15am, the kids were up and ready to go. And by go, I mean go. They didn't want to sit through breakfast - they just wanted to get outside and play. And about every 20 minutes, they wanted to move on to the next activity. I have no doubt that it was a fabulous couple of days for them, and while I enjoyed bits and pieces, I am one tired person!

Taking a pony ride. Grant loves being on horses and is fearless around them.

They had an old-fashioned hay ride one night that ended in a secluded part of the woods with a table set up overflowing with sliced watermelon - my version of heaven.

Two words: double trouble. These two are cut from the same mold and have the funniest relationship. Sophia will be staying with us for a week in September and I'm looking forward to having a little girl in the house!

Of course, the road trip home is always the most colorful part. And in true style, we had the quintessential experience. Yes, after exhibiting no warning signs whatsoever, Grant decided to throw up all over the floor at Pizza Hut, much to the horror of the Sunday lunch crowd. And yes, we had to pull over twice for spankings and once for rearranging car seats so that one was relegated to the extreme rear of the car.

Every time we would go on a road trip in college, our friend Bailey would say "it's all about the memories". I have to say, despite the toddler drama, we made some keepers.

Highs and Lows

Talk about a whirlwind couple of days. I have been on vacation with my family at the Frio River while Brad has been in and out of the hospital dealing with not 1, but 3 kidney stones that refuse to go away. Despite the stress of worrying about how Brad was doing while I was away (he was in good hands at his parents house), we managed to have a really fun time down in south Texas. I hope we can go back again, perhaps when there is enough water for a floating trip. Here are a couple of pictures from our adventure:

Sophia is so adventurous for a 3 year old. Meanwhile Grant wouldn't let go of me in the water. He clutched on to me for dear life and every 5 minutes would remind me "don't leave me, mommy, don't leave me". He finally warmed up to the water and played by himself, and yes, of course that was during our last swimming outing of the trip.

We went to the Frio Bat Cave where up to 20 million bats fly out every night. It was incredible. And also somewhat eerie, like at any moment, we could become a scene in the movie 'Birds'.

Doesn't Grant look so sweet? Ha. He is a tough one. Iron will. On my reading list this month? 'The Strong Willed Child'. Last summer, he earned the nickname 'piranha' on our family vacation due to his biting problem. This year, he will be remembered for the infamous stand-off wherein for 2 hours he went in and out of time-out for refusing to apologize to his granma for hitting her in the face with a rock...

Thanks mom for a great trip! I'm glad we are getting to make all these memories while the kids are little. Now we are back in Waco, still dealing with health problems. I wish instead we were making smores around the campfire!