Weekend Roundup

We spent a great weekend with Dan's family (his brother Adam's family and his parents) in San Antonio at Seaworld and then at Adam's house in Austin. We didn't take our camera into the park, just the video camera. So once I get all those videos uploaded, I'll write more about our fun trip. For now, I'll focus on our picture-taking attempts on the way home.

Around this time of year the bluebonnets start to pop up in the "Hill Country." I have been wanting to take family pictures in the bluebonnets for two years. So on the way home, we kept our eyes peeled for any bluebonnet fields.  It's supposedly two weeks early according to this website. Plus that area is a foot-short on rainfall. But I was hopeful. We drove and drove and finally I was about to give up. Then we saw one! A field with bluebonnets. There weren't tons and tons yet, but enough for pictures. So we stopped and took some.

For some reason, it's only letting me add those. I'll add more later. Hopefully!

UPDATE: Here are the rest.

 Please notice how Sam, who usually HATES getting his picture taken, turned into a total ham and ruined half our family pictures. But that's okay. We love him anyway.

 And in the end, I think we got at least one good one.

 Until next time!

Picnic in the backyard

Yesterday I was going to take the kids on a picnic. I had everything all prepared. Then Afton decided to nap until noon. Sam goes down for his nap around 1, so that left little time to drive to the park, eat lunch, and play. I improvised and we had a picnic in the backyard.

Afton has gotten much better at sitting up, but she still can't do it for too long.

 Going...

Gone.

And FYI, we hit up the park a little later.

Houston Rodeo

I know I just wrote something yesterday, but I wanted to write about what we did last night before I forgot. Dan and I got to go on a date to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It was SO FUN!

Each March, for about 3 weeks, Houston hosts a gigantic rodeo. Each night the cowboys and cowgirls compete at events and then some big name performer throws a concert. Dan and I initially planned on seeing Brad Paisley, who comes this Saturday, but then we thought it might be better for the people watching our kids if we went on a weekday (so our kids would be asleep lots of the time and so Afton wouldn't be as hungry).

So Dan found some awesome tickets for last night - Rascal Flatts! Rascal Flatts and I have a history...

Back in high school, a friend of mine let me borrow their CD and our family (mostly my sister, parents, and I) have been pretty much hooked ever since. We saw them for the first time in October 2001 at the Virginia State Fair. They were opening for Toby Keith (I wanna talk about ME!). We were going wild screaming for RF and everyone thought we were crazy. We left when Toby Keith hit the stage.

For my birthday that year, my parents made me a member of the RF fanclub, which meant I got 2 free meet-and-greets at one of their shows. May 2002 my parents drove us 5 hours (Was it 5 hours? It felt like it.) to the Springfest in Ocean City, Maryland. My sister and I stood in line to meet them behind some girl who had painted enormous oil portraits of each of the band members. We had nothing to give. Except our love. We were nervous standing in line and then when we finally met them, I don't even think I really said much. But they called us "sugar" or "sweetie pie" or "darlin'" or something like that. And they signed my CD cover. They were really nice.

Please also notice that during that time, I got my braces off. I am so glad I got braces!

Dan and I also saw them (again, thanks to my parents) during law school.

And now back to the rodeo.

Dan got us front-row seats! It was amazing! Yes, there was a gate that was kind of in your face, but no biggie. Plus, our seats came with food - hot dogs, chicken fingers, soda, candy, ice cream bars, etc. All you could eat. Too bad we didn't know that because we ate a burrito before we got there. But that didn't stop me from having skittles, an ice cream bar, and snickers. Dan had a hot dog, two ice cream bars, and some snickers. We had to get our moneys (monies?) worth, right?

The rodeo was awesome. They did barrel racing, calf roping, buckin' bronco riding, bull riding, mutton bustin', and more. At one point, horses brushed against our gate as they ran by and threw dirt and horse hair all over us. Action-packed, I tell ya.

(Nothing going on here - just showing what our view was like.)

I thought Rascal Flatts did such a great job! Since they're celebrating 10 years together, they did a lot of their oldies (but goodies): Prayin' for Daylight, Everyday Love, Broken Road, and my personal fav: Fast Cars and Freedom. Oh, it was so great! And you know that weird lady at the front of concerts who dances and sways and sings every word? Yeah, that was me. NO ONE was singing. NO ONE was dancing. Except me and a pair of 18-year-olds girls who were about to faint from swooning. I really wanted to stand up, but I didn't think the people behind us would appreciate it.

 

At one point, though, I waved my hands around frantically and was belting out the words (Fast Cars and Freedom) and Gary pointed at me. It was great. Then he looked at me like, "Hey, didn't I meet you 9 years ago in Maryland?" Yes, you did.

I didn't mean for this to turn into an "I love Rascal Flatts" post. I just had such a great night! It was so fun to go out with Dan and do something a little bit different. I think I liked the rodeo so much because it wasn't like a movie, where you can't talk, and it wasn't like dinner, where that's all you do is talk and stuff your face. (Although I did stuff my face.) It was a good mix of watching things, but still interacting. And I loved every second. Can't wait until next year!

Spring has sprung!

The weather was beautiful yesterday so I took the kids down the street to take some pictures of the beautiful redbuds. I don't think these pictures quite captured the colors, but whatever.

One of our azaleas is blooming, too. I LOVE the weather during this time of year in Houston. March is one of the best months here.

And after taking pictures, I rewarded my patient kids with a walk to the park.

Here's photographic proof that Afton can sit up.

{Smiling at her daddy.}

And we took the plunge and gave Sam a summer haircut.

Before:

After:

At first I missed the lovely long locks, but this new cut has grown on me. He's a cutie!

Since we don't really have any soft flooring downstairs, we bought a jumperoo for Afton so that she can hang out while I make meals. She usually really likes it and just figured out yesterday that she can bounce around. I love her gummy smile. I'm going to miss it when she gets teeth!