20 Years

Class of 1994...how is it possible that was over 20 years ago?  In September, a few of my 23 classmates met up in Sterling City for our 20 year high school reunion.  Robert and I made a detour on our way to my family's land in Santa Anna.  We enjoyed the views of the hills, but the rattlesnake...not so much.

As we got close to Sterling City, the familiar landscapes made me feel somewhat nostalgic, but it was also interesting to see how different everything looked with the wind farm boom.  Love those open West Texas skies!

We met up with my old friends at the football game on Friday night.  It was my first time in the stadium, and in Sterling City, since our 10 year reunion.  The high school now plays 6 man football, and they were dominating the game - it was called at halftime - so we only saw a few minutes of the game.  Afterwards we hung out for awhile in one of the hotel rooms, just catching up.

The next morning Robert and I drove around the town.  This was Robert's first trip to my hometown, so he got to see the places of my childhood - our home, the streets where I rode my bike, friends' houses, my church, etc.  We met up with my classmates at the park for a picnic lunch, then went to watch my friend Jodi's girls play in their volleyball game.  After the game, the principal (who was also in school with us!) gave us a tour of the school.  I was surprised to see that some of my math team's plaques and trophies were still in the trophy case, and our class composite was still on the wall.

One of the highlights of the tour was the new ag complex, complete with a deer processing area that the students use to raise money for the program.  Welcome to small town West Texas!

Although there were only a few of us able to make it, I really enjoyed the time I was able to spend with each one of them.  We got to really talk and share some old memories as well as new ones.  I hope we do it again before another 10 years pass!

September Randoms (Part 1)

9/1 - We got outside to enjoy the beautiful weather by exploring another section of the Mission Reach trail.

9/3 - Claire's first day of gymnastics!

9/4 - Will's first day of Pre-K 3 at school!

9/4 - Will hosted a dinosaur party.  Dinos everywhere!

9/5 - Robert and I stopped for a sno cone.  This was a small.

9/6 - Birthday fun at Paige & Kate's house

9/15 - MOPS playdate at our neighborhood fire station.  The firefighters are always so friendly, and Will loves getting to explore the station and the trucks.

9/18 - Claire and Will asked if they could turn on the hose to water the plants.  It didn't take long for them to start watering each other.

August Randoms

Finally trying to catch up on all of our 2014 photos!

From August:

We got in one more visit to Sea World with some good friends before school started:


Bahama Bucks for a treat after dinner one night - check out the results of that cherry sno cone!


The rest:


Top row:  (1) Impromptu dinner out with some friends from Life Group after the power went out in our area - we definitely made the best of not being able to use our kitchens! (2)-(3) Another "last visit for the summer" - playing at the McKenna Children's Museum in New Braunfels.

Middle row:  (1)  All Claire wants for First Grade is her two - wait, make that FOUR - front teeth!  She lost four teeth in a span of 10 days - crazy!  (2)  Working together on a computer game at the children's area of the library (3) Will built a big castle in his classroom at church before everyone else got there (I was working in his class that day), and he asked for a photo beside it before he knocked it all down.  :)

Bottom row:  (1) Thursday afternoon, first week of school.  Claire was insisting that she wasn't tired, but I suggested that she go lay down for a few minutes.  She was out for a good nap, and still went to bed easily that night.  First week wipes everyone out!  (2) At the park with Will.  He loved showing me how high he could climb.  (3) A comfy (???) spot on the couch.

While I was gone...

After Robert and the kids dropped me off at the airport, they enjoyed a fun day together.  First stop was Krispy Kreme for donuts - Robert texted me this picture of Will's chocolate donut face.


Next they had a playdate in the park with Elliot and Jack - Courtney was hosting an essential oils class, so Josh and the boys were also looking to get out of the house.




Lunch, naps, and dinner at Nana and Granddaddy's house finished off their day.  I'm so glad they all had a good day while I was with my friends.

A&M Girls' Weekend

I have an amazing group of friends from my time at A&M, and I love when we can make time in our busy schedules to spend time together catching up and reconnecting.  In the days of social media, it's easier to know what each of our families have been up to, but it's nothing like seeing each other in person and getting to talk about how we are all actually doing.

These ladies have such a treasured place in my heart.  I've made a lot of good friends since my time at A&M, but there is something special about being with a group of women who knew me before I was a mother, before I was a wife, before I had a career...and no matter how much time has passed since we've last seen each other, we can pick up right where we left off.  I am so blessed!

Jill and Melissa arrived at Lindsay's house on Friday night, and I flew up on Saturday morning.  They picked me up from the airport, and we met Courtney at the nail salon for pedicures.  After some pampering, we treated ourselves to brunch at Breadwinners, another one of my favorite restaurants that I miss from our time in Dallas.  We all commented that it felt so strange to not be checking our watches to make sure we were adhering to a schedule!  Our day of leisure continued with some time at the mall and a movie (The Fault in Our Stars).  Courtney had to leave us, and Jill, Melissa, Lindsay and I ate dinner at Gloria's before driving back to Lindsay's to relax over s'mores, a glass of wine, and another fun movie (Pitch Perfect).



Jill and I drove back to San Antonio on Sunday refreshed and ready to see our families.  It was a wonderful weekend with good friends, good conversation, and good food.  Hope we can do it again soon!!!

Summer at Sea World

We went to Sea World twice in July.  The first trip was just me and the kids.  I wanted to make a point to see more shows on these visits, so for the first time, we saw the "Pets Ahoy" show, and it was a huge hit with the kids, especially our animal lover, Will.  I particularly liked that it was air conditioned.  :)  It's a really cute show with dogs, cats, birds, pot belly pigs, and other animals, most of which are rescue animals.  We also saw "Azul" with beluga whales, dolphins, and lots of acrobatics.

A big portion of our morning was spent at the splash pad.  We don't get a lot of opportunities to play at splash pads, especially ones this big, so the kids always get excited to run around and get really wet.




After I dried them off and got them some lunch, we had time for a ride on the Shamu Express.  On our last trip with Daddy, I checked and realized that Claire was tall enough to ride by herself, so I told them we could go on it if I could ride with Will and Claire rode in front of us.  She was SO excited to get to ride alone - she likes being a big girl.  :)




After the ride she told me that she smiled really big for the ride camera.  So cute!

We got to go back the next week, this time with our sweet McCormick friends.  We always love getting time with them.  We saw 3 shows ("Cannery Row Caper" with sea lions and a huge walrus, "Azul" again, and the Shamu show), played in the splash pad, saw lots of animals, and rode the Shamu coaster again.  I totally failed on the photo front - the only one I took was this one of Claire and Will (they wanted a picture with the seal).


Next time I'll get a photo of all four kids together!

Tourists in Our Old Hometown

We spent the July 4th weekend in the D/FW metroplex.  There is never enough time to see everyone we want to see, do everything we want to do, and eat everywhere we want to eat, but we were able to fit in a lot over our long weekend!

On Thursday, we picked up Claire and Will a little early from their summer fun program at Will's preschool and headed out of town.  The drive was uneventful, and we made our usual stop at Spring Creek Barbecue for dinner on the way.  When we were making our plans, we decided to stay in a somewhat central location since we planned to spend time in both Dallas and Fort Worth, and we chose the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine.  A lot of people had the same idea - it was packed that weekend.  It was a good choice, though, for our stay - lots of places to walk around when the kids needed to burn off some energy, and they had some special events over the weekend, including a stilt man dressed up like Uncle Sam.

Friday morning we drove into Dallas to see the Perot Museum.  It opened last year, and we had been looking forward to our visit.  In addition to the regular museum exhibits, we chose to also see the special exhibit, "The World's Largest Dinosaurs", because as I've mentioned many times before, Will LOVES dinosaurs!

The highlight of the exhibit for Will was the Sports Run.  You had your choice of 10 people/animals to race against, so Will got to race a T Rex.  Definitely his favorite part of the day!

Claire enjoys any exhibit that is interactive (buttons to push, panels to raise, screens to touch), so she had a good time, too.

We had a hard time deciding on a place for lunch (so many options!), but finally settled on Twisted Root Burger.  We all enjoyed our food, then headed back to the hotel to nap/rest before driving over to my friend Lindsay's house for her family's annual 4th of July party.  It was so good to see her, and the kids had a blast with the water guns and the inflatable slide.  

A full and fun day to start our mini-vacation!

Weird Animals!

Instead of a traditional Vacation Bible School, our church does something called Backyard Bible Club.  We had about 12 church families in the area who volunteered to be host homes during BYBC week.  We all had the same theme and activities (Weird Animals) and met for four nights, with the 5th day activities held at church the next Sunday morning.

One of the host homes was down the street from us, which was fun and convenient!  Claire was old enough to fully participate this year, and I volunteered so that Will could come for a portion of the activities, too.  I was a crew leader, which means that I had a group of about 5 kids that I supervised as we went around to each of the different stations. I loved getting to spend time with other kids from our church and our neighborhood and help them learn about Jesus and how much He loves them!  Each night Robert came over after work to help out where he could, and usually, to take Will home a little early (he got restless halfway through).

Claire and Will singing and doing the motions during worship time




My crew at the Critter Cafe (snack station)

Fiesta Texas

June 13th was Robert's company's annual family day at Fiesta Texas.  We arrived close to opening time and were able to ride several rides.  This year both kids were big enough for the log ride - it was a big hit for both of them.  The line went through a "castle", and Will was excited to see the dragon.  We saw Carol, Jeremy, Grace and Jacob and were able to ride a few rides with them.











After lunch we rode the train and a few rides with our friend Elliot.


After we had our fill, we went home to rest and get cleaned up, and that evening we took the kids to see "How to Train Your Dragon 2."  We all enjoyed it - Will said it was the best movie he's ever seen.  :)

The slide is back

Our next door neighbors held their annual joint birthday party for their daughters in May, and as always, Claire and Will had a fabulous time - pretty easy to do with pony rides, pinatas, a water slide, a balloon artist, and cake & ice cream!  This year Will was big enough to try the giant inflatable water slide, and he absolutely loved it - he would get out of the little pool and immediately run around to get in line again.





Will on the left, Claire on the right:


They also had an amazing balloon artist.  Will got a sword balloon, and almost immediately popped it.  When he went back, the guy asked him what he wanted, and he said "A dragon!"  The guy just said "OK" and started making one of the most elaborate balloon animals we'd ever seen.  It was a terrific dragon, and Will was really careful with it - it lasted about a week.  It was such a fun afternoon!



Will excitedly watching his dragon come together:




The balloon dragon!