Visiting Grandma

Great-Grandma Adams has had a rough couple months with some heart problems, a horrible case of shingles, and some other setbacks. She is in a nursing home and though she is improving she is pretty down and I felt like taking the kids to visit would really lift her spirits. She lives just east of the lake so we decided to head down early in the day to play at the lake for a bit and then we would go visit Grandma, eat dinner in town, and head back home. 

The water is soooo low right now! We sure have a lot of beach which is great for all of Hudson's digging and made a great place for us to practice playing catch with Hadley. 

One of my favorite spots! Love coming to the lake and being forced to give up technology, chores, errands, and just relax.

The little queen being carried into her castle....

After the kids were worn out and tired of playing outside we made the drive on over to Great-Grandmas. She is in such a clean nursing home that actually smells decent so its a pretty pleasant visit. The kids, of course, love playing in her wheelchair and seeing all the fun stuff in her room.

Hadley drew the picture that is behind grandma's head to make her feel better. It is a picture of her house so she can look at it while she gets better. Such a sweet girl!

After visting grandma for a little bit she was ready to rest and it was time for us to go. We decided to go to Van's pigstand for dinner. As we were eating Hudson looked up and saw the big wild hog on the wall. He was very intrigued and kept looking at it. After a few minutes he said, "Me want to go outside to see his body."

Grandma is progressing well and hopes to go home soon. It really seemed to make her day to see the kids and it was such a fun day to get away for a little bit and go visit her!

Spring Break zoo trip

We have had great weather over spring break so I thought it would be fun to take the kids to the zoo while Hadley was out of school. Of course, I knew the zoo would be crowded but I assumed many people would have already gone earlier in the week since we waited until Thursday. I was SO wrong! It was the most crowded I have EVER seen the zoo. The parking lot was full, as well as the overflow lot at the omniplex, as well as Remington Park. We literally had to park on the very last row in the Remington Park parking lot and must have walked close to a mile just to get inside. In fact, I did everything in my power to talk the kids into another activity but they had their minds set. So after pulling a wagon all the way inside I was already exhausted. But in the end, it was worth it and we all had a great time. 

Already worn out...because it's really hard to sit in a stroller!

We always stop at the rhinos first because they have always been Hudson's favorite. This time he wanted to see the gorillas next and they quickly became his favorite. However, whenever someone would call them gorillas he would get very upset and say, "it's a monkey!" They were all out and sitting by the window so we watched them for such a long time. The baby gorilla was out too and it was fun to watch her playing with her mommy.

After seeing a few more animals they kids insisted on the carosel next. This is definitely their favorite part of the trip and we ride the carosel at least a few times.

After riding the carosel we stopped at the little park and played for a bit before heading to see more animals and then playing at the big park.  Hadley is a monkey bar pro and has callouses from playing on them everyday at school. She was trying so hard to teach Hudson how to do the monkey bars and I captured a few cute pics of her helping him get across. His face shows him struggling so much and then pure joy when he got to the very end!

It wasn't really the longest day at the zoo. The kids tired out, we got hungry for lunch, and Hudson had a haircut at 3:00 so we decided to head out early and get on the road. This is an idea of how far we parked. This is after already walking through the entire zoo parking lot. It is on the main street looking across the Remington park lot. Our car is literally the last row in the picture!

Waiting to get his haircut. He finally gets excited and doesn't cry when we have to get it done. Major progress since his high maintenace haircut requires him to get it cut at least every 3 weeks!

Such a fun spring break day with my kids. Having Hadley with us all day is really making me look forward to summer!

Mommy/Daughter Weekend

A couple months ago Lindsey called me and asked if Hadley and I would like to join them on a mother/daughter trip to Dallas. I, of course, was so excited to go and knew it would be so much fun for Hadley and I. I even waited a little while before talking to Hadley about it so she wouldn't go crazy waiting for the day to arrive. 

We left at 6:00 in the morning and rode in the car with LaNeale and Holland. Hadley was up and bright-eyed waiting for Holland to get here! The girls were chatty cathy the minute we got in the car and were just so excited.

We all met at Lindsey's house to caravan down to Dallas together. With a trip revolving around the American Girl Doll store they each had their dolls in tow. A picture of great highschool friends, their girls, and "their girls."

The whole group. Poor Megan's little girl got sick in the middle of the night so Megan took Milan's doll on the trip and promised Milan she would pick out some great outfits for her.

Pitstop at the border:

Holland, Hadley, and Brooklyn getting silly near the end of the trip:

We made it to the American Girl store! They were all still so full of energy and ready to go. First things first, a trip to the beauty shop to get all the girls hair done.

After the hair had been fixed and shopping was complete we ate lunch at the bistro. I am always impressed by the food and it was just as good this time. The girls loved picking out their lunches and serving their dolls some drinks.

We checked into the hotel about 4:00 and while the moms got everyone unloaded and checked in, the girls posed for a few cute and a few silly pictures.

I think they were wearing out and they really had no interest in doing anything other than going swimming. We went down to the hotel pool with our snacks for the kids and wine for the moms and we enjoyed the rest of the evening relaxing. After a few hours downstairs we went back up to hang out in the room in our jammies until each of the girls were ready for bed.

All packed up and headed home...

We stopped at Blue Mesa for brunch on our way out of town. With full tummies we got back in the car for the 3 hour drive home. The trip was a blast and much needed for Hadley and I. It is so fun to take a trip with a six year old. I no longer feel like I have to take care of her but, instead, just spend time with my friend! And I really think she enjoyed the one-on-one attention from her mommy. We are already talking about the next mommy/daughter trip and I hope it happens soon!