Away

Jacob and I are in Colorado on a short pre-starting school vacation. We first visited Dillon.
There was a lake nestled in the mountains that had white sailboats. It also had a lot of sticks floating in it after Jacob visited.

The park had cool twisty seats (that made me seriously nauseous.)

Jacob visited with some of his cousins.

But the real reason we were visiting was for the BBQ contest that my brothers had entered. This brother #1 the master mind behind the contest.

Brother #2 who was his trusty side kick.

Brother #3 who just came because it sounded like fun and then got roped into a lot of work.
Lots more family was there like my Dad and another sister and her family.

We stayed in this rental house where there were like 25 totally random notes posted all over. There were so many it was tough to pick my favorites. This made the top 2 because of the use of talking bubbles.

How would it feel to think that you have to only use 1 type of toilet paper.
The other great part was that she locked her towels up.
I am trying to picture what this person looks like.
More partying to come.

BFF family pictures

Sort of Vacation

We took a sort of vacation to San Antonio.  We went to the children's museum and the Rain Forest Cafe down town.  Then we had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows and set up a tent in the backyard.  The next day we went to Sea World.  Now I am tired and I need a nap.

The fam minus Brian at the Rain Forest Cafe.  I love the vinyl upholstery. 

Grace building a tall tall tower at the museum.

Thank you Joel

A while ago I found this totally awesome fabric by Joel Dewberry.  It was tough to decide if I need the pink/brown version or the yellow/orange version.  In the end my love of orange won.

I have been storing it in my crap closet trying to decide what to do with it.  Notice the nice missing chunk still present in Merry's bangs

Finally I decided it must be an kimono inspired dress for little Merry.  I love it and wish I had one in my size.  I made a skirt for Gracie, maybe I will post pictures later.  

Summer in the city

Jacob lost his first baby tooth on the 18th. He finally got sick of me wanting to see how wiggly it was and pulled it out himself. The tooth fairy brought him 2 dollars and a note that said to brush his teeth and be nice to his sisters.

It was Ashley's last weekend here so we went down town to take a river boat ride and see the Alamo. Jacob's favorite part was the ducks and Merry liked the horse carriage that was like a Cinderella carriage. Ashley is way too cool to really care about anything.

A visit to Brother Dan's house

We ran over to College Station to help Dan build a table on Monday/Tuesday. Little Grace was so excited to find out how a level really works.

Since we were in the area we decided to go see the Blue Bell icecream plant. Here are the kiddios modeling the Blue Bell hat. Cousin Ashley even joined in the fun. I got to sample the Blackberry Cobbler Icecream. It was totally worth the stomach cramps I would later endure thanks to my Lactardness.

Trip to Seguin and adventure in canning

We took a trip to Seguin to visit Em and family and to wish Adeline a happy birthday.

Ethan and Blayne were our tour guides and took us to see the creek in 100+ degree weather. Unfortunately they forgot to mention that the creek didn't actually have any water in it. We did find some raccoon and hog tracks which entertained the small fry.

Be----layne was so kind as to pick me a bushel of prickly pears to make jelly with. After a couple of days of laying around I finally got around to it. Note to those interested in making prickly pear jam: do not put the skins down the garbage disposal as they will clog the drain and then you will have to clean under your sink to take apart the pipes and get the stinking clog out. Not that this happened only hypothetically speaking. Any way the jelly turned out pretty good except it gelled a little too much but I think Be----layne will like it any way.