Sep 17, 2014

Dallas & Fort Worth Weekend-- the things we do for our kids........

5 day Labor Day Weekend. WHOOOOWEEEEE!
5 wonderful days of exploring some Dallas/Fort Worth. 
2 of those days spent right here at the Perot museum. Lincoln LOVED it. He was running around and with his little curious mind wanting to try everything, and play with everything, and throw everything....talk about stimulation overload. 
We weren't planning on going 2 days in a row, but someone gave us free tickets to come back for the next day. And when your child lights up like Lincoln did, you'll go to the same museum, to see the same things, the very next day, just to see him happy......until the following situation happens.......

This child of ours can sometimes be that child where you say under your breath, "Don't his parents teach him any discipline?" We do, but he has his days.... or in this case, he has his situations where no matter how sweet he is the moment before, he will flip a switch if someone tries taking him away from the wheel of any motor vehicle device, especially this big blue one at the children's museum. His chubby fingers are deceivingly strong. Go on, just picture me trying to pick up Lincoln so another child can have his turn and Lincoln clawing the wheel with all his might screaming bloody murder. I may have tried putting one of my legs up on the truck to get better pulling leverage....but try as I might, I cannot get that kid to let go. I can be yanking his legs high in the air until he's practically upside down... does he lose any grip? Nope. If anything, he may just rip the steering wheel off with him. 
Sigh. 
We had a few parents, heck, even children, watching the show of mother trying to defeat 17 month old son. He's one happy kid when he has it all to himself. But bless that child who happens to get a spot behind the wheel instead of Lincoln.... you're Lincoln's target now. 
 ^^^^They look thrilled don't they? I told them to tone down their excitement. ^^^

Ryan met up with his brother and friend for a preseason football game: Broncos vs Cowboys. Broncos won, so they were pretty happy about that. We stopped at these water gardens in downtown Fort Worth the next day before his brother and friend left town. 
 And our last stop before heading back home was walking around the stockyards in Fort Worth. We went there first thing in the morning on our way out of town. We fooled ourselves thinking we timed our stockyards trip right-- beating the heat, crowds, and Lincoln's nap time, but we were the suckers walking around the strip with all the stores still closed. DOH! No wonder why we had no trouble finding parking.

We walked up and down the streets, very slowly to kill time, with a few other out-of-towners like us who came too early. We stuck it out until the cattle drive, the "big" event that everyone comes to watch. It was getting extremely humid and hot and I was so ready to head back home, but I really wanted our fussy Lincoln to see all the cattle come through. So we waited and waited until FINALLY, the moment we had been waiting for all morning. 

10 seconds of only a handful of cattle???? Really??? Uuuuuggh.
The things we do for our kids. I'm sure the experience will be one Lincoln looks back on fondly throughout his precious life.  When he's old in a rocking chair and his grandchildren are asking him to tell them stories, he'll speak of waiting 2 hours for those 10 seconds of  watching the cattle come by and how magical it was. HA :) 

Sep 16, 2014

say "sheeeese"

I'm so ready for fall. SO ready. I'm becoming one of those people who would be okay if the summer season just went away. I blame it on the fact of not living in Idaho anymore. Those summers in Idaho....sigh. Let's just say my love of summer will never be satisfied until I can have another summer there. These Arizona/Texas summers just take a poor beating on this old girl now.

This past weekend though we had rain, and a whole lot of it. PLUS, we had "COLDER" temperatures in the high 60's low 70's, I know right? Freezing. AND, it wasn't muggy and sticky! We were outside more than we have been all summer. We had the back doors open to bring in the fresh cold air, sat on the porch and watched the rain (mostly just watching Lincoln's rain dancing), and had a little breakfast-dinner picnic without having beads of sweat dripping down our face. Glorious!!!!!!

One big plate of warm french toast for all three of us. Raspberries mostly for the chubby hand that snatched them all up before anyone else had a chance.
And a bunch of blurry photos of us trying to get a family photo that never quite turned out smoothly. Lincoln has an attraction to the camera and feels the need to jump up after it yelling "sheeeese". 
 oh. and this boy turns 18 months in a few days. this is the best age. THE FREAKING BEST. He is pretty dang special. 

Sep 12, 2014

Hello there, Emma Long

eating his popsicle like a boss ^^^^

Ryan's work schedule has been a little demanding..... who am I kidding? It's been very demanding. Longer hours than what we were accustomed to in Arizona, so it's been a bit of challenge--probably more for me than Ryan. I need someone to slap me silly next time I start complaining or to gouge my eyes out for checking the clock every five minutes in the evening wondering how much longer. We know it could be worse. Everything could always be worse, but we also have so much to be grateful for and this lady just needs more practice focusing on that. So here I go: I'm grateful my husband has a job. I'm grateful that he is able to provide for our family so I can be home with Lincoln. I'm grateful he is home to at least play and see Lincoln before Lincoln's bedtime. I'm grateful that he has (mostly) all weekends off. I'm grateful that my husband has such a positive attitude with everything, even though it results in me feeling completely guilty for my negative-nancy outlook. And I'M SUPER DUPER grateful for that random Friday he got off work a few weeks ago.   

It was stupendously perfect. 
The weather was perfect. The location was perfect. And the fact that it was a Friday morning and we were at the lake with no one else there was even MORE perfect. 
We laid out our beach blanket, dumped the buckets and shovels into the sand for Lincoln, opened our little cooler of drinks and snacks, and enjoyed our view. Even more so, we relished our Friday "DAY" time together as a family. :) :) :)