Angel Fire - Summer 2016

I was looking back at last year, and apparently I made THREE whole post about our trip to Angel Fire, and this year I barely have enough pictures for one post. Ooops

In case you want to see last year: One, Two, Three

 

Well this year, we had a smaller group. Mom and Dad spent nearly a month at Angel Fire towards the end of the summer.

 

I had asked Leslie if one of the boys wanted to ride with us out there early on Friday since she was coming from San Antonio late on Saturday. Well, I figured Noah would because he loves special time with his Ampa, but she let Zay choose and he said he wanted to go with us.

I was a little nervous he would be bored with us, and I think he was. LOL

 

We got there Friday evening and watched the Opening Ceremony of the Rio Olympics.

I just love the Olympics and this particular year I was super excited and we watched a lot of it!

Mom cooked a delicious German meal. Unfortunately, I was pretty sick and couldn't eat.

But Cecil loved it!

 

Saturday, we hung out at the condo to get 'acclimated' to the higher altitude and again - I'm sure Zay was super bored with just us adults and Connor.

 

Ampa loves to pick on Connor everyone and it was sweet because Zay was super protective of Connor and would 'team up' with him against Ampa. At one point Ampa had Connor in the chair and Zay was using a mirror to shine the sunlight on Ampa from the couch.

That Zay - he is so clever!

 

Ampa picked up Angel Fired Pizza for dinner Saturday and then

Leslie, Noah and (surprise!) Riley arrived! Yay!

 

We watched some more Olympics and played lots of Guess Who and Backgammon.

 

Sunday morning we spent lots of time playing outside.

The boys played catch with the Frisbee and Football,

Zay and Riley played pretend campfire, and Grams came up with a game of

getting a rock to stay on top of the tree trunk you see below.

It was actually pretty fun and competitive. ;)

 

I also used this time to take some 18 month of pictures of Connor.

I had planned to take great pictures of him with the beautiful scenery in the background,

but it just didn't happen. I just felt so sick.

 

We went to a little Farmer's Market they had set up. It was super cute.

There was face painting and lots of cotton candy.

The weather was beautiful and it was just nice to be outside with the gorgeous views.

 

We tried to get Connor to be the fourth ninja turtle, but after one swipe of orange to his face - he was NOT having it! So Leslie completed the squad.

 

 

Cecil, Mom, and Leslie took the boys to fish. I'm guessing the boys are waiting on Cecil here.

That's how I feel too when I have to wait on Cecil. ;)

 

 

 

These two god brothers play so well together. They are both so imaginative and creative.

 

 

And apparently very brave!

 

They caught a few crawdads.

 

 

Connor and I had to go home to nap. Please excuse the horrible picture of me.

But I wanted to remember how he fell asleep with his blanket in his mouth. LOL

 

Finally after he was in a deep sleep, I was able to turn over off my hurting hip,

and try to take a little rest myself.

Please note his attempted turtle mask. :)

 

Connor is very finicky with Ampa. Sometimes he is happy to snuggle. Sometimes he is NOT.

 

Monday, Cecil and Dad played golf while Leslie and I took the boys to the park,

and to play tennis. Grams stayed home with Connor while he napped.

 

We spent the afternoon at the condo. Mom, Leslie, and the boys played outside in the

trees behind the condo.

Connor joined them after I got super sick. Then, after a little while I was feeling better and joined them too. They had a big blanket set up and it was so nice to enjoy the outdoors.

 

After a nice dinner at the country club, we tried to beat daylight and headed

back to the park to play again. This time, Connor was able to play too.

The boys played for about an hour. They started with Cecil pushing

them on the merry-go-round. Connor loved the slides.

 

All the adults left except Cecil and I because it was so cold.

I really wish we could have brought the weather back home with us!!

 

Tuesday morning, we got up bright and early and headed home.

Connor rocked himself on the footrest a few times while we were there and he was especially sleepy Tuesday morning. Noah covered him with his blanket - so sweet.

 

And with that - AF Summer 2016 was a wrap!

Being sick just makes everything harder, but I'm glad we got some

nice quality family time in cooler weather.

 

 

 

 

 



Magnolia Take 2

In May I went to the Magnolia Market in Waco with my friend Michelle.

We had a great child-free girls day.  

I realize I still have not blogged about what I bought there. Ooops. Maybe soon.

 

Well in June, our little family was headed down to Austin to celebrate Michelle's kids' birthdays.

We left on a Friday and stopped in Waco at the Magnolia Market.

Cecil is a fan of the show Fixer Upper too and I know he was excited to visit.

If you remember from last time, I reported that Michelle and I both agreed we were thankful we didn't have strollers or toddlers with us inside the busy store. Well - this time we did.

We loaded Connor up in what I thought was our most narrow contraption and headed to the Silos.

 

I think he was excited to get out of the car.

 

Look at those clouds. It looked like it was about to rain.

 

The Silos.

 

First we got something to eat for lunch. I couldn't really eat much since I've been so sick.
But Connor (who usually turns away meat) actually ate some of the meat from Cecil's taco.

After eating, we headed to the newly opened Seed and Supply Store. On our way through the gardens, we spotted a couple friends.

Connor loved looking at them.

 

The Seed & Supply store was TINY and CROWDED. I was the only one that went in and I didn't stay more than 2 minutes.

 

 

I love the simplicity of the white shed and natural wood doors.

 

And a close up of a fairy garden. They sell these houses and supplies in the Seed & Supply Store.

I just love this wooden teepee and mushroom stools.

We asked someone to take a family picture of us by the Magnolia car, but Connor
could not stop pointing at the green grass and balls. :)

We finally let him play and he was in heaven.

He just carried this ball around for a long time and watched everyone.

I set up the 'corn hole' game to see if he could understand the concept and he pretty much did.
He didn't throw the bean bags, but just placed them inside. :)

 

He got excited when a little boy came to play too, but that didn't last long. LOL

Cecil got a picture of me with the silos. Cute, huh? *eye roll*

My boys playing on the grass.

 

After awhile we decided it was plenty hot and time to go inside the store.
It was much more crowded than the last time I visited.
Also, the second (lower) level of the store was totally not air conditioned.
Whaatt?
I don't know how they are going to survive the summer like that.
I hadn't noticed it the first time I went, but it was definitely hotter a month or so later.

 

It was much more crowded and, as I suspected, no fun to try to maneuver with a stroller and/or toddler that wanted out of the stroller.

Somehow I was still able to manage to choose a few things to buy ;)

 

We took a family picture outside the store and then headed to the truck.
I found out who owned the parking lots close to the Silos that I had written about last time.
Its the Baptist church - so we felt good about giving money to them for parking. :)
I'm sure they are making a TON!

Look at that sweaty hair! I tried to get Connor to eat more before we got on the road and buckled him back in to the car seat, but he wasn't really having it.
The boy is just not much of an eater.

All in all - it was a fun visit and I'm glad Cecil got to see Silos with me.
Connor definitely enjoyed the outside grass area and it was a nice stop on our drive to Austin.
I'm certain we would not go back until the weather is cooler. I don't want to go anywhere in Texas until the weather is cooler though.

I still want to do a post about all the things I bought there. Fingers crossed. ha!