A Weekend in Granbury

Since we've been having trouble making it out to Bronco lately, Clint's family decided to come (most of the way) to us.  We met them in the adorable town of Granbury for the weekend and had such a great time.  The kids LOVE Mimi, Pawpaw, and Sarah so much, and were just giddy (and sleepless, but at least it was only two nights of that :) the whole time we were there.  When we first arrived, Evie buried her face in my shoulder and played dead for 15 minutes or so.  But once Mimi started pulling out a few little treats she had brought with her, Evie poked her head out and started interacting.  After an hour or so, she was totally comfortable and wanted no one other than "PawPaw" to do all the important things like hold her hand, carry her around, and buckle her in her carseat.  They both requested "Mimi and PawPaw!" first thing in the morning and immediately after naps, so Mimi and PawPaw didn't get much alone time on the trip. :)

Here are all of us (minus Clint, who arrived late on Friday night) at our Friday night dinner.  Both of the kids behaved remarkably well at our two dinners out.  I think they were just so excited to be out with so many of their favorite people. :)

Evie and her beloved PawPaw. :)

Clint's parents got us rooms at this awesome hotel on Lake Granbury with the cutest little man-made beach.  The kids were so excited about that beach (Evie wouldn't stop insisting on the "beach!" until we finally got out there) and we spent lots of time there.  I was a little nervous about them going under in the lake water, but I quickly learned I didn't have much choice in the matter.  And so far, no nasty bacteria has surfaced. :)

PawPaw was the only beach-goer in jeans and boots. :)

The lake was SO low this visit--I couldn't believe how much bigger the beach had become!

Baywatch baby. :)

Yay!  Dada finally arrived!

Pawpaw, in another of his "beach" outfits.

This girl loves to splash!

Charlie is still SO independent.  He spent a little bit of time building sand castles with us, but usually found a friend pretty quickly and was off on his own adventure.  I feel like I have a little teenager on my hands already!

There was a little splash pad near the beach that was perfect for rinsing off...I mean, having fun! :)

We also enjoyed the hotel's pool.  So much to do, so little time!  (Or, just very late dinner times. :)

Clint's Aunt Gina and Uncle Donald have a lake house in Granbury and hosted the nicest lunch for us, as well as several other family members, on Saturday.  Gina and Donald have a pretty big place, and the kids loved exploring, fishing, and running around wildly.

Here are Charlie and Mimi digging for dinosaur bones.  We were especially excited over a T-Rex tooth that Charlie found.

My little paleontologists. 

Charlie and Mimi.

Mimi, me and the kids.

My kids (at this stage at least) have such different personalities.  Charlie is so independent, and once a few cousins around his age showed up, he wanted nothing to do with me the rest of the day.  Evie, on the other hand, was a bit overwhelmed by all the new faces, and I don't think I put her down the whole day (except to go to Clint or to eat--the girl loves her Dada and meal times).

Here are Charlie and Sunny, one of his second-cousins.

Charlie, Sunny, and Grandon (in green) played together for hours and had so much fun.  We took a very tired boy home, who was so upset to leave the fun.

Kimberly (Grandon's mom) with her daughter, Grace.  Grace is 4 months younger than Evie and they were so cute together.

Daddy and Evie.

All the second cousins, with a mad little Evie.

A few of the cousins met us at the pool after naps for a little swim.  The kids had SO much fun playing together.

Here are Evie and Grace, being very sweet. :)

Charlie, Sunny, and Dee.  Dee was so sweet to Charlie and would carry him around the big pool, catch him when he jumped, and was working on his swimming with him.  Charlie was enthralled with this super sweet "big boy."

I'm so grateful that we got to spend such a fun weekend with Mimi, PawPaw, and Sarah, and am so glad that we got to catch up with so many fun cousins.  Such fun memories from this trip!

A Trip to Lake Travis

As part of my keepreallybusyandmaybeIwon'tnoticethenausea campaign, my mom, sister, and I decided to pack up all three kids and spend a week at a condo on Lake Travis.  It was a wonderful week, and the kids were in absolute heaven.  They loved having us all there together, and Charlie and Evie especially loved having Walter all to themselves.  The resort had an amazing pool, and we spent most of our time there, much to my two munchkins' delight.  When we weren't at the pool, we hung out on the huge, beautiful (and abnormally cool and breezy) balcony at the condo and played games.  Charlie became quite the BINGO expert and was very hard to beat. :)  The kids loved, loved, loved "Ahh's condo," and are going to be quite disappointed one day when they realize that it isn't exactly Ahh's...oh well. :)  It was a wonderful time!

The kids just about died when they saw the huge pool(s).  There were a ton of different swimming areas--perfect for the myriad of pretend games they played with Meggie.  I had trouble keeping track of whether Charlie was a "bad shark" or a "marine" storming the beaches of Normandy.

Here's Charlie running into the water.  It was HOT there!  

Miss E ventures in...

And they're off!  With Aunt Meggie. :)

The pool had this little beach area that was so fun for Evie and Walter.  Evie spent hours filling and dumping buckets (the lost-and-found bin was a goldmine for water toys) and Walter busied himself perfecting his crawl.

These three quickly became accustomed to the resort lifestyle...especially when they learned you could even order ice cream at the pool!

Best part about vacation?  Baths in the sink!

Here is the view from our amazing balcony.

We spent so many pleasant hours out here.  Here's Evie relaxing out here one evening.

Goofballs.

Sweet Charlie.

We celebrated my birthday the first night we were there and it was SO fun and special.  The kids were really excited about it this year (especially about the cake, but what can you expect?).  Charlie had even gone to the trouble of picking a gift for me (a bracelet--he loves giving jewelry :) that Daddy had hidden in my car for him to give me.  I felt so special and had so much fun celebrating that night.  

Evie loves wearing jewelry as much as Charlie loves giving it.  As soon as I opened my bracelet from the kids and this beautiful necklace, she could think of nothing except getting those items on.  Once she got that necklace on, we had quite a time getting it away from her.  It very quickly had become "Ebie's!!"

One of the kids' favorite activities was entertaining Walter.  He is such a good baby and will always smile for them.  I loved to see him sitting in his high chair watching them, or crawling around trying to play with them.  They don't know how lucky they are to have such a good-natured little guy to play with!

Evie got really into playing peek-a-boo ("pee-pie") with Walter.  She would usually follow it up with some "baby talk" such as "goo goo" and "gaga," as if to show just how big she was.  Silly babies don't know big words like "my!," "Ebie's!!," "I dirsty!," "Caga," and "night night."

C'mon Walter, are you seeing how fun this is??

Much better.

We also took a trip down to the marina on the tram.  The kids loved walking around by the lake and seeing the big boats.  Charlie just could not understand why Ahh didn't have one!

The marina was so HOT and we were pooped afterwards.  Poor Walter and Evie looked like they had just walked through a desert:

A quick dip in the pool to cool down...

Evie became obsessed with goggles ("bobbles") on this trip.  Only she doesn't put them over her eyes, like Charlie does.  She just keeps them perched on her forehead, whether she is in the water or not.  They serve only as an accessory, but such a cool one, don't you think?  We thought it was a very sporty, I-just-finished-a-long-swim-meet look.

And then a bedtime, which meant lots of cousin cuddle time.  Walter looks a little worried about his precarious perch here...

Getting a little more comfortable...

Uh oh, watch out for Eves!

Tickle, tickle...

Uh oh, poor Walter.

A quick pinch on the nose...

More "snuggles"...

Aaaand, he's done!

Aunt Mary came by one day and that was SO fun.  She brought all kinds of fun treats for the kids (and us), and it was so special to have her there.  The kids loved the extra burst of energy, and Charlie was especially pleased with the number of bedtime stories she was willing to read...and the fact that she totally let him stay up past his bedtime. :)

We ate LOTS of meals by the pool.  So fun, and no mess in the condo--perfect!

The lost-and-found bin was the source of these treasures (the bobbles) for Eves.

Our favorite treat was poolside ice cream!

Evie had to have whatever ice cream Charlie got, but she never ate it.  Just waved it around, made sure everyone saw it several times, made clear to anyone in earshot that it was "Ebie's!!," and then pronounced herself "all done!"

I had so much fun swimming with these two little wild ones. :)

And reading stories is even more fun with 3! :)

Dad and Graeme came up on our last day and it was so much fun to see them.  The kids were thrilled when Papa showed up early, and were so pumped to go swimming with him.  Knowing Papa's signature style, Evie immediately demanded her "hat!"

More poolside dining, complete with fabulous water accessories.

We couldn't tempt Charlie over to the table once a group of 3 lovely teenage girls got in the pool.  Poor guy was so mad that I made him wear his floaties. :)

Cool cat.

Ahh and Walter, gearing up for karaoke night.

We finished off the last night with ice cream sandwiches (again, Eves waved hers around but only licked the edge).  A great end to a great trip!

The post would not be complete without a few videos of our trip.

First, Evie playing pee-pie with Walter:

Charlie and Evie goofing around with W:

Charlie perfecting his running dive:

And the kids wildly racing through the condo:

Thanks, Ahh, for a great trip!