Petting Zoo

Our chuch put on a little petting zoo for the Preschool kids and we were so excited to go :) I told him we were going to see the animals at church and he kept insisting that I was wrong and that "we not going to church to see animals, we going to the big zoo to see the biiig animals!" It was cute when we pulled up to the church and he saw the animals and got so excited and said, "mommy! there are YES animals at the church!" :)

We got there while they were still putting animals in the pin, so we couldn't go in right away...torture!

As soo as we went in, he fed the goat and went straight to chase and pick up the bunnies and chicks. He was SO proud that he caught the bunnies to pick them up.

Then he got a little over confident and tried to pick up the goat! haha

:)

Date Weekend

Michael and I took a weekend for ourselves and went to a relaxing Bed and Breakfast in the middle of nowhere, Texas.

Michael's parents watched Bryson for the weekend and they had a blast going to the Aquarium, Mall, playing with Granny, etc. So blessed to have our family so close to spend special time with Bryson :)

Michael and I left early Friday morning and made a quick stop in College Station. They've put up a TON of new buildings since Michael graduated, so it was fun to walk around a little bit.

We finally made it to the B&B and just relaxed ad even took a nap!! We had a homemade amazing pizza dilivered to our room Friday night and watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics. My sister, Stephanie, was in London on a mission trip, so it was really cool thinking that she was RIGHT there the whole time!!  We actually decided to go see the new  Batman movie at 10:00 that night. Good thing I took a nap earlier that day!!

The next morning, we went to Saddlehorn Winery and tasted some of the local wines. YUM!

Later that night, we went to Shakespeare at Winedale. I was a little iffy about how it would be since it was college kids preforming in a renovated barn, but it was actually pretty good! I'm really glad we went :)

This was our first bed and breakfast experience and we had a great, relaxing time. It truly could not have come at a better time for us!

Sea World

This year, we decided our family vacation would be to Sea World. I had been looking forward to taking Bryson for months! Then...we went o the Zoo and it was just miserable. SO hot! I actually called Michael to see what he thought about canceling because it was going to be even hotter down in San Antonio. He really really wanted to go, so we kept our trip for the end of June.

Bryson did fantastic on the 5 hour car ride down there. I packed a fun busy bag for him and he sayed really busy for a while and then we talked and sang songs for a while.

We stopped for lunch in Austin and thanks to Beau and Rebecca's suggestion, we stopped at Phil's Icehouse. It was perfect!! They had a big outdoor playground for Bryson to run around like a mad man and get out all of his energy :)

Once we got to San Antonio, we went straight to the Children's Museum. I seriously wish we had one in Dallas! Bryson (and Michael) loved everything about it!

We checked into our hotel and then jumped on the River Taxi to go eat dinner.

We were waiting for the boat and we saw a couple ducks swim by so I rummaged in the backpack for a little snack for Bryson to throw at them. After a couple pieces of granola bar hit the water, two ducks turned into 20!! B loved it!!

Saturday, we went to Sea World. I had been talking about everything we'd see and do to prepare B for what to expect. I showed him YouTube videos of Shamoo so he would be excited about seeing him and we checked out dolphin books from the library so he would know what they really are. He was so thrilled to get up and go see "Shampoo the whale jump really high and splash all the people in the chairs and get wet" :)

Thankfully, there was a cool front that came through for the weekend and it was only 85 degrees while we were there instead of the 102 degrees it was the weekend before. Phew!! And, Sea World is so amazing, they give free season passes to teachers! To bad we don't live closer!

We went straight for the dolphins and stayed forever. I think Bryson is a dolphin magnet because they were all swimming straight over to us and showing off for him. It was cute :)

We went to a few different shows, which were so fun :)

We left a little after lunch and went back to the hotel for naps before going out to the river walk again.

We had such a blast spending time together as a family and really cherish making fun memories!

We left at 4:30 AM on Sunday morning to drive back to Dallas for our best friend, Alicia's Baptism. I took pictures, but they're on my Dad's camera, so I'll need to get those soon. We were so thrilled for her and couldn't be more excited for her decision. We wouldn't have missed it for the world!!

I was reeeally hoping Bryson would go back to sleep in the car after waking up at 4:30, but no such luck. So after an early wake up call, church, lunch with Alicia's family, we finally got home and B took about an hour nap before John and Melony came over to take Bryson to a "Family Fun Day" at the Roughriders Stadium. I was so nervous that he would be a terror from lack of sleep, but he had a blast!! He talked about his ballon animals and playing baseball with Grandma and Papa for days!

It was a long, busy weekend, but we had so so much fun!!

4th of July Weekend!

There's something very special bout going to the lake on the 4th of July with all of the family. We grew up going to my Grandparent's lak house on Lake Conroe and I loved that time with my cousins and family. And I still do!

My mom's family came up from Houston for a long, relaxing, fun weekend at the lake!

We got to the lake on Thursday and started off with a bit of drama! My parents were having a new light put in at the end of the driveway and the electrician hit the main water line when he was digging. Yikes!! They searched everywhere for the shuck off valve, but it had been covered with dirt and was under the tractor so we had to wait for an hour, with gushing water, for the city to come out and find the shut off valve. Eek!!

Bryson is SOOO into worktrucks, buldozers, tractors, etc, so he was FASCINATED with the tractor at the house. :) Then he decided to help the man out and move some dirt around :)

We all had fun playing washers

swimming

playing volleyball

relaxing inside

a nice rain storm outside

fishing

(he LOVES my cousin John. He followed him everywhere! :))

Bubbles

Bryson woke up super early every morning, so we would go on hour long walks until everyone woke up. One morning we went out and played bubles with Aunt June for a long time. The next morning, she watched Bryson and played with him all morning and let me go lay down for a little bit. I ended up sleeping for 2 hours!! She is amazing!! :)

fun presents

The boys shot fireworks one night and we watched from the side. B was SO excited about the fireworks, but when they made the loud pop, he would make ths face

then after a couple of them i suggested we go upstairs and watch from the window and he about jumped out of my lap and ran to the house. Poor kid :) He loved them from the window though!

Robert and Emily gave Bryson a package of waterballoons and he LOVED them! It was the first time he threw water balloons and when he threw it and it popped, he was so confused, but after a couple more, he really got into it and was trying to throw them at other people :) It was really funny!

Bryson loved loved playing with Kendal. He would play so gently with her and giver her toys and sing to her. It was absolutely precious! He is so sweet with little kids ;)

We had so so much fun with everyone. I love that our family gets this fun chance to make memories that will last a lifetime. And even though we may not see each other often, our kids can still grow up with fun memories of the lake, just like we have!! :)