Family Reunion

Our 4th of July was spent up in Missouri for a Yungclas family reunion. This is Gary's-mom's-dad's side of the family...if that makes sense. It was full of lots and lots of family,  running, playing in the river, getting dirty, a big fireworks show, getting to know new people and catch up with the local ones we don't see as often...overall a successful road trip and a good time was had by all!

We left around 9 am Thursday morning and arrived close to 3 pm. The drive up went pretty well. We stopped about halfway at the ever-so-healthy McDonalds to get out and grab a bite to eat...Caden fell asleep shortly after, which we thought was perfect timing for a good nap the remainder of the way but false...it was only 30 minutes and he was confused/not too happy once he woke up. I eventually crawled back there with him, fed him some yummy chips and played some Thomas to cheer him up.

  Road selfie that Gary was so excited about and a quick stop at McyD's halfway through.

 

That's the tired-about-to-fall-asleep stare...and then poof. asleep. and then poof. awake and not one bit happy about it...until I crawled back and, lets be honest, he just wanted some company... 

Once we arrived we got all our stuff into our room and walked down to the campsite to see who else was down there. Gary's aunt and uncle had a campsite right by the river with a few 'steps' down to a little spot that was just perfect for Caden to play in. It had a big log sectioning it off and leaving it at just the right level for Caden to play in. He loved throwing and playing with the rocks down there and it's always so fun to see him explore new areas and just get dirty and enjoy his surroundings. We hung out here for quite a while the first afternoon and a good amount of time the next morning once some more cousins joined the party.

So pretty and peaceful at this spot. Loved seeing him play in the water, throw and build with the rocks just getting all dirty as a little boy should.

 
Day two was Fourth of July! Made some yummy french toast in the room, got our cool Fourth of July clothes on, had to change shortly after to go play in the river-we hung out at that little spot in the river most that morning with some cousins and had a great time there. We even saw a bald eagle swoop down, hang out on the branch you see above Cadens head and then do a big swoop around an area before going out of sight-talk about Happy Birthday America! Pretty cool to see.

 

 

Gary and I got put in time-out on the bench outside of our room after we laid Caden down for naps and bedtime while he fell asleep. Darn the luck. It was nice little catch up time for us. This mad scientist bird came and hung out for a little bit...just hopped on over, hung out, did his business and then left...the nerve.

Night three was planned for a big fireworks show, but that didn't stop them from happening later on Fourth of July of course. And even though Caden stayed up late, all those 'pop! pop! mommy!!' kept little man up until I laid him in bed with me and then shortly he would out cold. Couldn't help snap a picture of how cute he was and that little leg folded over the other one. So peaceful seeing him sleep.

Day three was a bit more tricky because the older cousins that he loved to chase and keep up with went on a float trip with the family (as well as Gary and his cousins/aunts/uncles) so that entertainment was gone, Caden was over the cool river spot, the playground they had was good to have...but I would say a tad over his age and could use some good TLC any day now..so we did what we could entertainment wise then I pulled in the reigns and took us in for some good a.c. and dvd time. It was much needed and he was just a bit spent and needed a break from everything to refuel for the night ahead.

Refueling with a.c., Mickey and Pringles.

 

Playing with glow sticks before the big firework show. He loved running around with his cousins.

 

That evening we had our big family steak dinner-yummy!- and a fun, huge firework show at the camp grounds just up the road to cap off the night/weekend. It was fun and nice to see everyone. I'm glad we took on the road trip challenge with a two year old--my brave sis-in-law took on the trip with three kiddos, so extra props to her and another cousin came all the way from Texas with two kiddos--brave women!!

Fun times, and the always 'glad to be home' feeling once it was all said and done. Glad for Caden to be back in his own room-get him back on a more normal bedtime and be back in our own bed. Ahhh..nothing better than good family time and then a good return to our humble abode.

Now...who's going to plan the next one, hopefully sometime before another 15-20 years has passed?! :)

Sweet Summertime

Maybe more of a bittersweet...lots going on, and nice weather but for some reason I just can't talk my work into paying me to be home during these months...odd.

Caden is obsessed with trains. Loves, loves, loves balloons. Lives for our evening walks and loves to be outside...unless you get a good Thomas episode going for him then he'll sit on down for the whole thing. He's got great attention span-we even have a good routine of reading a few books before bed and he loves it. Sits through as many as we'll let him. I think we're going on week three of having to read The Little Blue Truck at least once. We've got that one memorized people.

Balloons and Thomas. These balloons have made it on a few car rides even, others...not so lucky.

 

 Stinking adorable. Melts my heart every time. Love these two so dang much.

 

 Watching the train on the way to daycare and beating up on daddy.

Gary and I went on a date night this past weekend. The last two we've done we tried to do something more interactive and both times it's been so fun. First we did dinner/bowling and this time we did dinner/All Stars. I took the challenge of seeing if I could survive in the batting cages. (this is a huge fear of him-playing ball in general. played on summer as a kid, got hit twice and was donzo. I flinch nearly every time I think somethings going to hit me.) The place only had fast pitch softball/baseball up and working. what. really!? almost backed out but stuck with it and hit TEN balls! It's a start...and it was fun, oddly enough. Scary, but fun.

Only snapped one quick selfie outside of Olive Garden. Sooo good. Best salad ever, best Bellini peach-raspberry iced tea and yummy pasta AND a cute date...love it.

 

After the cage of doom we played a round of mini golf and then hit up the games inside for a bit. Showered our abundance (ha.) of tickets on some little kid at the ticket counter-maybe it didn't make her day like I had hoped, but I'm hoping her level of prize options at least went up a little!) We need a Dave and Busters here. I think it would be awesome. I've only been once and a long time ago-but it's just something different and fun to do so I vote that someone builds one, puhleaze.

This weekend also had lots of sun so we busted out the kiddie pool. Caden needs his cousins to come play in it with him-which may be an issue due to space, so maybe one at a time...but I can't get him to get too crazy with it yet. Oh well, baby steps. Got some good relaxing time out there and kept it simple which is always fun.

 this gem is from my nephew Wesley's birthday party a few weeks ago-obviously not the kiddie pool:)

 I think Caden could fill and dump/pour buckets all.day.long if we let him. over, and over, and over...

 Coolest pool buddy out there.

Celebrated our cute little nephew Huck's first birthday, talked my mom into coming and sitting 'poolside' with me Sunday and Gary's parents 40th anniversary this weekend so got a good share of family time in for sure!

Next on our list is a Lee family reunion over the 4th of July...road trip!!!

Until then...

DALLAS

Some of my college girlfriends and I had a little reunion last weekend in Dallas. Three of the six that went live there, so luckily we has comfy places to rest our heads during all the naps we took. Wait, what? That was in my dreams. It was fun, relaxing, we tried new things, had some time out on the town--good times had by all. Pretty cool place too; they live in uptown Dallas and it certainly provides many fun, inexpensive (or expensive-you're pick) things for you to do. The gals all live within walking distance so we got a good feel of the place and lots of steps in-bonus!

I will always have a special place in my heart for these fun, crazy girls-even if I can't keep up with them as much anymore. These sweet gals are always full of laughs and up for a good time-love these ladies! (And a special thanks to Jamie for driving and Ashlynn for sharing her bed and humble abode!)

Lots of cuteness and selfies below-just to warn you...

 

 

 

First night was full of relaxation in the courtyard, showing off the lack of grilling experience we all have, and lots laughs looking back on our college days and how brilliant we all were back then :)

 

Then, the girls 'treated' us to yoga in the park. About 30 minutes in, Ashlynn and I looked at each other and contemplated sitting the remainder out, but we hung in there and it was fun. Personally, my first time doing yoga at all even-it was fun and funny so a win/win.

 

 

 We hit up a yummy restaurant for brunch after yoga then spent the afternoon by the pool before cleaning up and getting ready for an adorable little tapas restaurant in downtown Dallas. It was full of unique recipes all of which were super yummy-it's always fun to try fun places like these, glad these girls get me out of my comfort zone to do so!

Just feast your eyes: fancy philly cheese roll, meatballs, bruschetta, calamari (yep. and actually yummy too), fancy fries (not really, but I can't think of the name that makes you realize it's not just fries..?), etc. Good stuff, people!

 

 

Ideally, we could have gotten small bits here and there and made this eating last an hour or two-savoring all the different things...but we definitely failed to do so and stuffed our pretty little faces within minutes. After-the girls took us to this cute bar. Loved the setup of this place. Has a simple fun location downstairs, and the second level has a big casual patio area then with a large inside area full off different areas and furniture so you can still 'have your space'. It was cute and fun and we need one here. 

 

I swear our eyes weren't evil and glowing that night, as far as I'm aware, but I'm also too lazy to get a different picture at this moment, so you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.

 

Moral of the story: Make new friends, but keep the old, some are silver and the others gold.

 

I'm assuming gold means they rock compared to maybe some silver friends-so in my books, these girls are for sure my golden girls. Love 'em!

 

 

Recent Happenings

DATE NIGHT

Gary and I scheduled ourselves a date night. Long overdue. It's been months. It's so easy to get caught up in the busyness of the days and lose track of getting that good one on one time. My parents already had my sisters kids for a sleepover, so we added Caden to the mix-he got some good cousin time in and we got a little break from Thomas the Train. let's be honest. Thomas is on all.the.time it seems and he and his train friends are kind of whiney...

We went to yummy Bella Luna. It helps me greatly to have pictures with menus, and they have none. So beyond the normal indecisiveness, it was multiplied. I tried something new, which usually I stick to what I know, and it was good, but wouldn't get it again. Lesson learned. Stay.in.bubble. Gary is always trying new things and at the end half the time says 'eh, it was okay.' While I'm like 'I've eaten this same meal here at this place for the last million years and it's good each time.' okay, it's not that bad, but still-at least I'm satisfied! Still, it was good, just would stick to their pasta next time.

Afterwards we went bowling. We have some movie tickets we need to use, but wanted to save it for another movie and I'm glad we went bowling after all-I think we needed that interaction together versus just sitting in front of a movie screen. It was so fun. We laughed, teased, and bowled our hearts out.

 

 It was a given when Gary got the cool shoes that he would do better. It's all in the shoes. He played around on the third game since best out of three was not his choice-so I had to snap a picture of me scoring higher than him even if it wasn't completely fair.

I love this man. I love that he can act immature and silly with me at home or in pubic. I love how honest and thoughtful he is. He's such a fun and thoughtful husband. I won the jackpot people. For real.

Shortly after picking up Caden, guess who we got to watch....THOMAS!!! You do what you gotta do, people. Caden has three of four teeth left that are coming in. They seem to be coming in like snails too-so slow and bugging him so much. Once they're all in-we'll have no teething excuses, but for now, we do. We definitely do.

two different Thomas occasions...and I promise, he doesn't always just watch tv...but yes, he usually likes to stand that close no matter how often we tell him to back up.

Caden is all over the place. He's saying so much. I love the way he says Thomas when he sees him. How he tries to repeat all the things we say, especially the last word. He loves to be a little helper. Just a really fun stage. Also a really stubborn stage too--but can't win 'em all.

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, so until next time, enjoy these two tidbits of cuteness:

Reading to himself in bed before getting up and insisting on having his own hamburger, despite only taking a few bites. It was one of those pick your battles moments.

 

Happenings

Here's what's been happening around our household...

 

 Caden was so helpful in putting together his new swing set. Little handy man, handing us pieces of wood when we 'needed' them, helping set the boards down...luckily, both grandparents helped in occupying Caden so we could get some good time in on finishing this fun addition. And he is loving it. He loves slides and loves to swing-it's been fun to see him play on it. Now, just need to add some cousins out there to run around with him!

 

 
 

And look. Bonus for me for being such an awesome carpenter! Yummies...

 

Cute little cousins sharing a chair at Bethany's dance recital. She was adorable and Caden did great hanging out through it all. (he may have taken a short cat nap in the middle..)

 

Zoo time with friends. Caysen and Caden are less than a week apart and it's so fun to see them interact. This is the whole 'learning to share/play nice' stage, so why not learn along side someone else in the same boat?! Love these two boys!

 

Caden and daddy time. He's such a mooch. Always getting bites from us when we are eating something. Love these two. Gary's a great dad-it's so cute and fun to see these two together.

 

 

This poor guy got an ear infection and both eyes infected this week. Oral and eye drop antibiotics...and the eye drop once are not cool, people. Not cool at all. The first picture just cracked me up. He stood there like that for so long...too funny. I know he's a boy, and it's typical stuff, but man, sometimes I just can't help but think he is ALL boy. and I love it.

 

So glad he's getting better, back to his old self AND just in time for the weekend! Yahoo! Family time this weekend for Mother's Day and a bonus of my dad cooking wings---cannot wait!! Enjoy the weekend all! Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

 

xoxo