Family Visit

My Mom, sister, Valerie and her two kids came out for Halloween.  We went to IL last year, so they came here this year to trick-or-treat in some warm weather where they would not have to bundle up.  We had a great visit!  They arrived Thursday and after a quick lunch, we headed to the Doseum.  Everyone had a great time there.  The kids loved it. 

 

 Friday ended up being rainy, so the kids just played in the morning.  It always amazes me how well they get along.  They all just have so much fun together.  After lunch, we went to the Dollar theater to see Inside Out.  It was a great movie.  That evening we went to my friends, church for a trunk-or-treat. 

Saturday, again the kids played and played.  It was nice out, so we played outside a lot-the guys threw the football, girls rode bikes and scooters, my Mom and Val made some fun chalk pictures. The kids rode the zip line over and over and played in the sand.  It was just fun being together. My Mom had also brought some crafts for the kids to make.

 

 

 

That evening, we headed out to a coworker of Scott's to trick or treat in their neighborhood.  We were headed to the Tejas Rodeo after and they lived about 10 min away, so it worked out great. 

Tyler was a cowboy, Bailey a hula girl, Molly a Dalmatian dog, and Zac was John Cena-he was very popular.

 

 

 

The kids had a blast at the rodeo.  I know Molly's and Bailey's favorite part was the barrel racing.  They were cheering those girls on like crazy.  Tyler, Zac, and Bailey all went out for the calf scramble. It was so dark, so these did not turn out great, but in the first one, you can see Zac has his hand up by his mouth-he was nervous.  In the second one, they're about ready to start chasing the calves.

 It was a fun evening and everyone enjoyed it.

Sunday we headed down to the Riverwalk.  We took the boat tour and then headed to Market Square.  Out boat guide told us it was just a few blocks down, BUT he was wrong.  It was about a mile walk. 

 

 

Once we finally made it to Market Square, we shopped a bit, the kids rode a mechanical bull, and then ate at Mi Tierra, a very popular mexican restaurant here. 

The girls each got one of these flower headpieces and were so cute in them.

 

That evening my Mom and Val watched the kids so Scott and I could have a date night.  We went to dinner and then to see The Intern.  It was a good and funny movie.  

Monday, Tyler had to go to school.  We took everyone else to see Molly's preschool.  She was very excited to show them it.  They, of course, loved it.  Then we picked up lunch and headed to the park to play and hopefully wear out the kids before their flight home.  

My mom and I at the park

 

On the way to the airport, we had to stop and see the big Cowboy Boots.

It was so nice having everyone here!!

Pumpkin Patch #2

This past Wednesday, we went with our preschool co-op to a small pumpkin patch.  It was fun. The kids enjoyed the maze, story time, the corn tub, and getting their faces painted.  My kids have never wanted their faces painted, but Molly did it this time.

 

 

They had face stickers to decorate your pumpkin with.  Molly put a face on each side.

Molly and Payton are in our Wednesday group.  Briley was last year, but I is not this year.  She's going to the school for preschool.  The little girl is Felicity, Payton's sister.  You can see in the picture that Molly got a pumpkin on her cheek. Bryce was sick and couldn't come.

After doing well with the pumpkin, she had them add the kitty face to match Briley.

Devine Acres Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday I took the kids to Devine Acres.  It's one of our favorite pumpkin patches around here.  We had a really good time.  Here are the pictures to prove it.

Tyler mining for gems!

 

Molly, of course, made friends with Millie.  There was another dog Max, that we also met

Tyler was happy to find a tree to climb while Molly painted her pumpkin.

 

Tyler trying his hand at roping

Roasting marshmellows-yum!

Tyler thrilled for a photo-op on the hay ride.

Tyler and I had a potato sack race. He won!

We also played horse shoes, pumped water for the duck races, went through several mazes, and played on the playground.  While we were having lunch, a cowboy puts on a show.  He called me up to be a volunteer.  He tied me up and then I had to hold his gun with a piece of straw coming out of it.  He then used his whip to break the straw in half.  The kids thought that was pretty neat.  It was a fun day!

Austin Trip

Last Sunday the kids and I headed to Austin to meet my new niece, the kid's new cousin, Vienne.  On the way there, we stopped at the Austin Zoo.  It's a small zoo because it's a rescue zoo, but you get to be closer to the animals.  We had a fun time.

They had 3 bears cubs that were so cute.  They showed us how they train then and then they put them in the kennel while they set up their food all over the area.  They hid some in boxes, in this tire, put some in the water and under things.  Then the bears came out and found it all.  When the zoo rescued these bears, they were only 1lb.  They had to be bottle fed every 4 hours.  Now they are 2 years old. 

 

After the zoo, we headed to Brett and Carman's.  The kids couldn't wait to meet Vienne.

 

Vienne was so sweet!  She almost 2 months old, so she still pretty much ate and slept.  She was just precious.  The kids loved holding her.

Monday morning, I took the kids to the Bee Cave Sculpture park.  It was pretty small, but the kids had fun seeing the different sculpture and climbing on them.

This one was Tyler's favorite.

This was Molly's favorite.

 

Molly loved this dog one too.

After lunch, it was time for us to head home. On the way home, we had one more stop-Cabela's.  When  we were researching zip lines, Tyler found Cabela's online and thought it was the coolest store.  It's a lot like Bass Pro Shop.  When we passed one going to Austin, I knew we'd have to stop on the way home.  We were there for a good 45 min.

It was a quick, but fun trip.  We can't wait to see Vienne again at Thanksgiving. 

Last weekend

Last Thursday-Sunday, Scott's friend, Patrick was here.  On Friday, him and Scott golfed and then went to dinner with people Patrick works with.  He does the radio broadcast for Northwestern State sports.  Saturday, Scott and Tyler went to the football game and were able to go down on the sidelines and up to the radio broadcasting booth.  Tyler thought it was pretty neat. 

 

 

Our new zip line

About a month ago, Tyler started asking for a zip line.  He researched them and knew just what to get.  He said he'd even use all his birthday money for it.  Scott and I discussed it and made sure it could actually work in our backyard and decided Tyler and Molly could earn one.  Everyday that they pretty much behaved, got along, didn't argue much, and Tyler did his homework without a fight, they could earn 5 feet.  On the weekends when Tyler was home all day, they could earn 10 feet.  It took about 3 weeks and they made it to 100 feet.  The zipline finally arrived last Friday and we had it up by Saturday afternoon.  It's really fun and the kids love it.