Frio to the Hill Country

We spent the first part of the week in Garner, traded our river shoes in and headed for the JW Marriott for a little more fun in the sun. 

 

 

View from the balcony, by far this has been my favorite resort in Texas and we will definitely be going back for some rest and relaxation someday soon.   

 

 

I had been looking forward to arriving at the JW Marriott to finally meet my sweet friend Kim Watson and her precious family.  Kim and I met through our blogs and Matilda Jane a couple years ago and instantly connected because of our love for our kids, LV and life.  We had plans to meet this summer and it worked out for us to finally connect in the Hill Country. She is as wonderful as I thought she would be from all of our texting/emails/conversations and her family is as cute as can be.

 

 

We enjoyed spending the afternoon with the Watson family and the kids had fun building a pyramid with the Honky Tonk Kid, Aaron Watson.  If you look closely you will see that all the cups stacked are filled with water, it took them a while to finally accomplish this.   The two little boys by Emma joined us in the pool and the other two are the Watson boys. Not real sure where Princess Jolee Kate was when we took this picture, probably floating around talking to everyone (she is a social butterfly). Jack Jack and Gavin immediately hit it off in the pool and went to wrestling, Kim called this years ago about those two.

After we got out of the pool one evening we made smores and they were yummy we ate lots of smores on this trip.

 

We got to enjoy room service one morning and the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever. They  said it was a "royal feast rolled in on a royal table", again they have seen too many fairy tales. 

 

The kids enjoyed all of the water slides and went down by themselves, in groups of twos, threes and with me.  They also enjoyed the lazy river along with Tedra.

The days were so hot, we kept cool with frozen drinks by the pool and lots of SPF 70.

 

This little boy played his heart out and had a ball.  He loves the water and is close to being a swimmer,  no doubt he will join his sister on swim team next year. 

 

 

These three had a blast together while Tedra and I had some great girl time laying out, talking, laughing, dreaming and supervising.   All in all our trip to the Frio and Hill Country was a blast, relaxing and gave us lots to laugh and talk about.  I love this time away with my two kids and Emma was thrilled to have a friend along on this Texas-cation.  We are already looking forward to being river rats again next year.

Garner State Park Fun

We took our annual summer trip to the Frio River this year and it did not disappoint.  The kids love Garner as much as they love any other vacation.   Daddy does not get to go with us because we take our family vacation in June and he can not take two vacations back to back, maybe one year we will just let this be our vacation because the kids really want Daddy to go.

 

 

Emma had been looking forward to Garner for months because she got to bring her friend Lauren along this year for some river fun.   Garner just seems to be alot more fun when you are surrounded by friends.  I brought one of my best friends with me and met one of my other besties there, can't beat that!  That cute little boxer is sweet Mona and the kids loved walking the dogs all over the camp grounds, those poor dogs were worn smooth out and I am certain they were happy to see us go.

 

Garner life is like no other life and something that both my children fully embrace, God's country.  Sweet Emma found a puddle of tadpoles on our hike down to the river one day and enjoyed playing with them. I think she was a little intrigued by how this guy would become a frog in 24 more days.

 

I love this little boy, but I also fell in love with this log that was floating down the river.  The kids had hours worth of fun playing with it too.

 

Floating and playing in the river all day long keeps a smile on this boys face.  Big fun to swim a little, float a little, ride a raft a little then get out and fish a little.

 

My sweet, wonderful amazing friend Darla who is the ring leader of the DiStefano family and planner of our Garner getaway every year.   When I got home I realized I did not take many pictures at all, so maybe she will share hers with me (at Momma Choles).

 

 

This would be sweet little Vincent on his first river trip at 10 weeks old and he was a TROOPER.  His Momma was my student as a 6th grader and my favorite student ever, thank God our paths crossed and we are now part of the DiStefano family.

 

Lauren did a great job embracing Garner for it to be her first time.  Between her and Emma, Gavin had three Momma's on this trip.  They were so excited when Gavin pulled this fish in that they caught all by themselves.  I heard Gavin scream, "yeah baby" and I turned around to look and they came running with this cute little perch. 

 

Lauren was sure brave to stand by Gavin while he was cane pole fishing, it was a sight to see.   You would have thought the boy was fly fishing the way he cocked that cane pole out and swung it forward into the water.   It was a bit scary and he was destined to hook someone, himself in fact.

 

Him in action to prove his fly fishing action and he was not slowing down a bit.  He would let his cork bob up and down about 2 times and then he was slinging it again, quite surprised a fish ever had time to get on that hook but he caught a few.  We might have to take a summer trip to Steamboat soon, so this boy can do some fly fishing in the river.

No trip to Garner is complete without a trip to the pavilion for the dance and a little bit of two stepping.  August danced with the girls and had a smile on his face the entire time.

 

Oh the Garner dance was something that Emma and Lauren seriously lost their minds about and acted like giddy teenagers.  It was cute for about the first 30 minutes then they were out of control laughing, making up songs, reapplying lip gloss and talking about kissing Leighton and August (Darla's college boys).  Seriously, they were screaming, laughing and whispering like they were 15.  I was in shock and kept asking how they even knew to act like that.  These two girls had the biggest crushes on the big boys and they were very open about it!

 

All day long they kept talking about going to the "ball" that night and acted out the dance floor scene with Gavin, where he would bow down to one knee, extend his arm and say, "may I have this dance?"  Clearly these kiddos have watched far too many fairy tales.  They were not disappointed when we arrived to the pavilion and they were dancing under a huge tree on a concrete dance floor opposed to a crystal ball (ha).  Poor Gavin passed out before we arrived, so Tedra held him the entire time.

 

 

I think it is pretty safe to say they love each other, love to two step, love Garner and love Leighton and August.

 

 

The big boys were really so sweet to them and treated them like little ladies on the dance floor.  They both danced with Daniel too, but I caught them talking about him being too skinny.   Those girls cracked us up all night, we were laughing till we were cried.

 

Cabin sweet cabin.  We loved where we stayed and will go back there for sure next year.  The owners were wonderful and the cabin was so super clean and cozy.   We had lots of belly laughs inside this little place.

 

 

We ended up pushing a full size and twin bed together for me and all 3 of the kiddos to sleep on.  The two window units running on high made for a good nights sleep for all of us.  Tedra was scared to death she was going to be carried away by scorpions, hilarious.  I came home wanting a window unit but our HOA won't allow it, darn!

 

 

What else does a librarian do on the river all day?  Soak up the sun and READ, love this girl more than life and our time together is precious.

 

 

Excuse the roughness from being outside on the river for 48 hours with no shower, but I loved this picture of me, my boy, the log and Garner.  We love, love, love Garner!  

 

 

Peace, Love & Dance ~ Garner State Park!  Oh and super silly girls too.

 

Poor Gavin was passed out when we went to take the traditional Garner picture, so here are my "Garner Girls".  

We had a wonderful time in Garner and spent our days in the Frio, roasting smores, eating PawPaw David's fried chicken, visiting the dance, going to Josh's, shopping at the Dry Fifty, eating at Momma Chole's, sitting around talking, listening to old country music on the jambox, walking the dogs and just enjoying each other.

My kids are already talking about next years trip to Garner and all the fun they are going to have.  So blessed and thankful that the DiStefano's include us in their 20+ year tradition in the Hill Country.

July 4th + Cousins = Fun

Yesterday we spent the 4th with our family and had a fun filled day.  This happens to be one of my favorite get togethers because it is the only time of year when almost all the family is together (only missing Uncle Larry, Aunt Holly and cousin Wyman yesterday). There were about 60 of us together celebrating and it was a blast.

 

I love to see how much braver the kiddos get in the water year after year and yesterday did not disappoint.  It was somewhat difficult to keep up with all of them swimming, jumping and sliding.  Emma loves the slide, along with all the rest of them.

 

Gavin supplied the bubble fun for a while until his bubble gun got dropped in the pool. I loved hearing sweet Maddox saying "bubbles, bubbles, bubbles".

Emma and Hudson got super brave this year and were jumping from the rock bridge, these two were not afraid at all (hard part was climbing up there because there were no steps).  The bridge is about 12 feet over the water and provided hours of fun for all the kids.

 

Sweet Maddox gets the prize for being the youngest one to go down the slide.  Ummm, you look just like your Daddy boy!

No gathering would be complete on the 4th without some good ole smores, yummy!

 

Sweet Peyton was so excited about doing smores.   She kept telling me, "Princess Laura, I remember when you brought smores last year, I can not wait to do smores, I love smores."  Yes, she calls me Princess Laura and I love it.

 

Bubbles, bubbles and more bubbles. 

 

We also celebrated Mr. Preston's 1st Birthday which is a few weeks away since they will be in Colorado. Happy Birthday Preston Sterling Carnes, you are such a wonderful little blessing to our family.

 

Our attempt at getting a picture of all 15 of the Carnes cousins, there were a few that got away (ha ha, can you blame them?). I sure wish I could have gotten more pictures, but it was a day spent chasing and watching lots of kiddos. 

 

We spent our day eating BBQ, singing Happy Birthday, swimming, laughing, playing, shooting water guns, watching fireworks, doing sparklers, roasting smores, listening to music, saying the pledge, jumping, sliding and catching up. We are headed back to the Carnes tomorrow for another BIG family day spent poolside.  It is truly a blessing that our kids get to do life with so many cousins and the promise of fun family get togethers.  Feeling extremely thankful, blessed and tired today.

My BOY...

I love summer and I love being able to spend all day, everyday with my kiddos.   I love hearing a certain pair of feet slapping the tile floor every morning as a certain little boy RUNS to my room to jump into bed with me.  I love how he crawls up, lays on top of me and half asleep whispers, "good morning Mommy!"  I purposely lay in bed after I am wide awake just waiting on him,  it is such a sweet little time.

 

Look at those little eyes on that ball, I don't think I can ever get enough of him or his sweet little face.  Yes, we made him play with a plastic ball and foam bat in the backyard to avoid replacing all the windows on the back of our house.

 

You might understand a little better after seeing this picture why we will not let him play with a metal bat and ball in the yard, the boy is a natural.

 

Oh I've been dreaming of the day I can be a BASEBALL Mom and I think that day is near.  We actually signed this boy up this past fall, but he just was not interested. Sometimes it is a little hard for him to focus, gets that from his Momma (of course). 

 

Who knows, we might even have a catcher on our hands. Yep, I am his Mommy but geez this boy is so cute!

 

You know you can't get enough of your kids when you take pictures of the back of them and think they are so cute, well I am "that" Mom (don't judge!)

 

Go Gavin go, no way your big sister is going to get you out when you run like that boy!

 

Not my best photography skills, but I loved this one too and I love the little boy in it even more.

 

Believe it or not there are a few minutes of everyday when he gets tuckered out, but it is not too often.  I really wished I could convey through my words what life with this little dude is like, it is nonstop constantly but it is something you can't understand unless you spend an afternoon at our house (doesn't even take an entire day, ha!)  My body reminds me at the end of everyday that my 41 year old self works overtime to keep up with this 4 year old (in a good way of course). 

Every single day I thank God for blessing me with Gavin Thomas and I can not imagine my life without him. He has taught me so much about life, being a parent and unconditional love.  He reminds me daily that Parenting Isn't For Cowards and that God is going to use all of his energy, imagination and aggressiveness in a MIGHTY way one day.   I love this little boy more than I ever dreamed possible and I will always be his biggest fan!

Auditioning for Company

Tuesday was a big day for this little girl.  Emma has been asking for two years to try out for Company at our dance studio (the competition dance team).  Last year I attended the parent meeting, but when it came time for tryouts, she chose to swim year around and we supported her.  This year after recital, her mind was made up that she was going to try out for the team.  We talked to her about the HUGE commitment, the cost and how she would not be able to swim as much, but she was determined to audition and keep up with both activities.

 

Tuesday morning she had to be at the dance studio at 8:30 to stretch and for Mommy to fill out all the paperwork.  Upon arriving she went right in and started stretching and was tagged with the number 5, I felt like we were at High School drill team tryouts (number, black tights, leo, bikers, jazz shoes and hair pulled back).

There were about 40 girls who auditioned in her group and about 40 more in the afternoon group, they will also hold a make up tryout in August.  I was so shocked that Emma was so excited and confident about this, she practiced and stretched the entire day before.  They took 30 minutes and talked to the girls, taught them a dance, worked on their leaps and then they were walked over to another room in small groups to tryout.

After tryouts Emma came out and she was so proud of herself.   She was required to perform four 8 counts of a dance, leaps, turns, ballet positions and answer 2 questions they asked her.  Of course she was ready for the questions because I overheard her interviewing herself the day before in her bedroom.

When we left tryouts, we were told we would get an email from the studio by Friday that stated whether she made the team. She has asked me everyday if I got an email and if I thought she made it. I just keep telling her that I was so PROUD of her for trying and that if she did not make it we would be okay and she could take a few extra dance classes and try again next year. She seemed content with my answer, but would always say, "Mom, I really want to be on company this year, I hope that I made it."

 

The email came through Friday afternoon while I was in a training.   Daddy had the idea of telling her with flowers so we picked these up that afternoon.

 

 

We asked Emma to have a seat on the couch in our family room because we needed to talk to her, she got a little nervous and had no idea what we were up to.  Daddy brought the flowers in and she read the message, so nice to have a reader on our hands.  She was ecstatic, immediately ran to me and squeezed me so tight and quickly moved onto her Daddy for congratulation hugs.

 

We had one very PROUD little girl on our hands.  She has not stopped saying,"I can not believe I made company, you told me I could do it Mom if I wanted it bad enough.  Can you believe I made company?" 

To say this little girl is over the moon is an understatement!  She has not stopped dancing around the house or talking about company since she found out the news on Friday night.   She can not wait to have a "big sister" and have a bigger part in recital next year.  This year will certainly be hard work for our little dancer, but I am hoping she enjoys every minute of her commitment to the studio. We are so PROUD of her and look forward to supporting her this dance season.  Don't ever stop dreaming or believing Emma Caroline!

Summer Swim Banquet 2013

Tonight we celebrated with our little swimmer at the swim banquet that concludes the end of summer swim team.  It was a fun little celebration and all 220+ of the kids were honored for their efforts and improvements in the pool.

 

This is the group of 6 and under girls that Emma swam with this summer.  She was on a relay team with 3 of them and they did exceptionally well as a team.  If you know Emma at all, I am sure you are not surprised that she chose to wear her after 5 attire to the party (it's her beat and her drum!).

 

Of course Emma and Lauren are going to be close to each other at any dance, swim or church function.  Lauren swam with the 7-8 year olds this year, but it did not keep them separated.  They are such sweet friends and so supportive of one another in all that they do.

 

 

Emma was so excited to get another trophy and display it on her shelf with her one from last year.

 

Here is Coach Becca, Miss Becca and Nanny Becca to us!  Emma loves this sweet girl and we are so thankful that we found her to Nanny for us a year ago, she plans to stay with us this year too.

 

Oh Emma Caroline, we are so PROUD of you and  your commitment to everything you do in life.  You did amazing in the water this year, qualifying with your backstroke in a divisional and championship meet.  You fight so hard and always do your very best, with a BIG smile on your face (yes, even when you swim you are smiling girl). 

 

Now that summer swim is over, we will start practicing and swimming with her year around team again.   No where we would rather be on a Saturday morning at 7am than watching you poolside baby girl.