Kid Fish

I can still remember the Kid Fish tournaments my mom and dad took my brother and me to when we were little.  They were always held a ta  large pond in the country.  My dad loves to fish, so it was always nice to spend time with him doing one of his favorite things.

Recently, the Kid Fish tournament has been held at the Blue Bell Aquatic Center.  This year I thought Brazos would be old enough to participate in the event, so we loaded up the fishing pole and headed to the pool.  I was super excited to see hundreds of fish swimming in the same pool that my kids swim in during the summer months.  I was also anticipating the look on Brazos's face when he caught his first fish.

Well....the event was fun, but to be honost, it didn't live up to my expectations.  Brazos was sent to the kiddie pool to fish with the six and under age group.  There were about fifteen kids dangling poles into the water all hoping for the five fish that were swimming around to bite their bate.  Yes, I said five fish. 

Brazos was excited to see the fish, but that excitement dwindled as the moments went on.  He held his fishing pole for about the first five minutes, but lost interest quickly.  Matt ended up holding the pole most of the time, while the announcer kept saying on the mic, "Parents, this is for your children to fish.  The kids need to be holding the pole."  So when a fish came close to the Brazos's bait, we would try to convince him to hold, or at least put his hand on the pole.  He wasn't interested.

Matt decided to buy some live minnows from a small booth set up beside the pool.  This had to be Brazos's favorite part of the event, catching tiny fish with a net in a small blow-up pool.  {I used to catch Brazos with the fly-swatter dipped in the fish tank trying to catch Scoot the turtle.}  The rest of the event he was more concerned about the two tiny fish in his Ziplock bag that the big catfish swimming past his feet. 

After about an hour of trying to encourage Brazos to fish, we decided to call it quits.  It was fun, but I think Brazos needs to be a little bit older to have the patience to fish.  I can't blame him though.  Fishing isn't my favorite thing to do.  I wish I enjoyed it more, but I just get so darn bored waiting for that bite on the end of my hook.  Maybe Brazos takes after me in this category, but I really hope he learns to like fishing so he can spend lazy weekends with his Papa just waiting for the fish to bite.  We'll just have to try again next time.

It's funny how Sandy used to want to be held all the time, and now that she can crawl, it's completely the opposite!  She wants to be set free on the ground so she can go, go, go.  She has become such a wiggle worm and she pushes against you just so you know she wants DOWN.  I let her crawl a few times on the concrete around the pool, but you can guess where she wanted to go...to the water.  Since she was so unhappy being held by the pool, I took her to the playground so she could crawl around at her leisure.  She did more sitting and watching the bigger kids run around her, but she enjoyed being free from my arms for just a few minutes.

I also let her play in the mirrors in the bathroom after changing her diaper.  She really likes to look at herself in the mirror.  Even her teachers at Mother's Day Out comment on how she enjoys playing with the mirrors at school.  I don't blame her.  A pretty little lady is staring right back at her.

 

And that's our 2012 Kid Fish adventure.  Better luck next time.

Oh, Brazos...

Sunday after church a lady from our congregation pulled me aside to tell a story.  It's a pretty cute and amazing story....of course, I'm biased and love the fact that it's about my adorable son.  {Okay...it was a bit hard for me to say "adorable" because at the moment his nose is covered in green boogers and he refuses to let me clean it.}

This lady from our congregation was at a funeral with her family, specifically her son and daughter-in-law.  She mentioned to her son that it was time they start making her some grand-babies.  At the mention of kids, they started noticing the children running around at the funeral reception.  They picked out one little boy and started commenting on how cute he was.  The mom {lady from our congregation} said, "He's cute, but not as cute as this little boy at our church.  He has the curliest hair.  He'll open the door for people and give your high fives.  I just love watching him during the church service."  {This family once told Matt and I thought we make the cutest kids and should make a whole slew of them.}  She later mentioned that his name was Brazos, and then the discussion began on how unique his name was.

After the funeral, the daughter-in-law and son began their drive home to Austin.  Along the way they took a detour to Round Top to do some antique shopping.  They went into a small shop called Indian Creek.  While shopping they noticed a cute little boy running around the shop.  As they began the "cute" comments again, the clerk joined in the conversation and said, "He's cute, but not as cute as this little boy who came in here the other day.  He sat and talked to me and we took pictures of each other.  Here, I still have his picture on my phone."  She pulled out her phone and found the picture of the cute little boy and as she held the picture up for the couple to see she stated, "His name is Brazos."

The couple looked at each other and knew what the other was thinking...What's the chance of hearing about a little boy named Brazos?  Could this be the same kid my mom knows?

The daughter-in-law asked the clerk to send the picture to her phone.  Once she did, the daughter-in-law messaged the picture to her mother-in-law with the question: Is this the Brazos you know?  Of course to the mother-in-laws amazement it was!  Then the story was shared between the two of them on how they found his picture and so on....


Gosh, I didn't know my son made such an impression on so many people and what a small world it is! 

Also, just a tid bit that blew my mind.....I made the comment to Matt that we should sign Brazos up for modeling and that we could make some moola.  Of course I thought Matt's reaction to this would be No son of my is going to be a model.  No way.  You know what he said...I think we would have to do a lot of driving.  I guess he could always go to Houston for that.  What!!!??!!!  I sat in disbelief for a second or two.  But if you think about it, Brazos does know what he likes fashion-wise.  While were at this Indian Creek store in Round Top, my mom wanted a bracelet.  Brazos kept telling her no and pointed to a different one he liked.  When she picked it up to purchase it, he kept putting it back on the shelf.  Who knows what's in store?  Maybe just one day you'll see Brazos on the next OshKosh advertisement......but don't hold your breath.  Men often forget what they say and agree to.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Thirty years ago today God decided it was my turn to walk {or at least lie and then walk about a year later} on the earth!  I'm so glad he did!  And he sent me to two wonderful parents and a loving family!

Once again...I love birthday parties, so I decided to throw myself a dinner party!  My parents, grandparents, good friend Stephanie, and mother-in-law joined in the festivities with me and my little family.  I'm so glad they all came to enjoy dinner and desserts!

I baked "Nacho Supreme" pasta, corn on the cob, and rustic french bread.  Yum!  And I made myself a birthday cake and apple pecan pie! Even more yum!  AND....I bought myself some York Peppermint Patties.  Super yum!!  A sweet day!

Happy Birthday to me!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

30 Rocks!

So this Wednesday I will turn 30 years old!  I love celebrating birthdays and I've been wanting to have a big celebration for this milestone. 

A few weeks ago I came across the Junk Gypsies webpage and was reading their past blog entries.  One of the entries was about the Junk-o-Rama Prom that they've been hosting the past few years during Antiques Week in Warrenton.  I love having a reason to get all dressed up, so I definitely wanted to go!

I decided that since the event was only a week before my birthday, this could count as my big birthday celebration.  I told Matt that if he dressed up with me and took me to Junk-o-Rama Prom that it could count as his birthday present to me.  I was shocked when he easily agreed to go!

The weeks leading up the event were spent with ideas running through my head of how to dress up.  I had an idea but I just wasn't sure where to find all the goodies.  Luckily, within a few days before the event I found everything I needed.  I made my skirt and bought my shirt at Round Top and found my boots at Maurices.  I rummaged through my grandparents closets and found Matt a vest and my great great grandpa's old fiddle for a photo shoot prop.  I found an adorable ruffled onesie for Miss Sandy and I found a shirt for Brazos at a garage sale.  We were ready for the Junk-o-Rama Prom!

Before heading to the Prom, I asked my mom to take some pictures of my family all dressed up.  We loaded up the car and headed to town to pose on the railroad tracks.  I think the pictures turned out AMAZING and I will cherish the unconditional love my family gave me that day playing dress up with me.

Here's a few of my favorite photos:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After taking pictures, we all ate a wonderful meal at Nathan's Bar-B-Que, and then Matt and I were off to the prom and the kids were off to movie night with Granny.

 

The prom was held in the Junk Gypsy's tent on the Zapp Hall field.  Christmas lighst were strung to light the night and a funky groove band played the night away.  The bass player would occasionally light his instrument on fire!  The Mexican food restaurant that is set up at my cousin's house "Sommerfeld Place" served drinks for the crowd.  I tried seeing if ElGene and MaryAnn were outside enjoying the music, but I think they were tucked away in their beds just on the other side of the house walls.  Several photo booths were set up and lots of costumes adorned the guests.  It was quite an event! 

 



 

Texas State Railroad

Today we continued our fun on the rails at the Texas State Railroad in Rusk!

 

 

During the month of October the railroad is having a themed train ride - "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpking Patch".  Brazos has the movie, so we thought he would really enjoy this special event.

 

The morning started out early.  We left the house at 7:00 am, although we were shooting for 6:30 am.  We drove for three hours to Rusk with only two short stops for potty breaks, breakfast, and buying Sandy a new outfit because she poohed on herself.  Our goal was to make it to Rusk by 10:30 so we could drive through the Cherokee Trace Drive Thru Safari before our train ride.  We made it to Rusk by 11:00 and started searching for the animal adventure.  Our GPS wouldn't recognize the address and we couldn't get internet signal for Mapquest directions.  We stopped at a local hotel to ask for directions, but unfortunately the girl told us that she had lived in the town her whole life and had never been to the drive thru safari.  So after driving around for two hours searching, we just decided to get a bite to eat and find something else to do.

 

We found this great little restaurant called Legends Old Time Burgers.  The food was delicious and they made homemade french fries just like our local restaurant Santa Fe. Yum!!  After ordering our food the girl told us, "The beans are over there."  We looked at her in a confused manner wondering which of us ordered beans with our salads and hamburgers and she told us, "Oh, it's all the beans you can eat."  A restaurant with an unlimited buffet of beans! 

 

Rusk claims to have the longest footbridge in the nation, being over 500 feet in length.  The bridge was built in 1816 for country folk to get to town when the creek flooded. Of course the bridge has been rebuilt and maintained since then. We found the bridge thinking it would be a great release of energy for Brazos to run all over the bridge.  I was imagining something a bit larger, but the quiant bridge did just the purpose of letting Brazos run with freedom after sitting in the car for five hours.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our train departed at 2:30 so it was time to head to the Rusk Depot!  When we arrived we saw the beautiful red train parked on the tracks awaiting it's cheerful passengers.  I went inside to retrieve our boarding passes while Brazos found the toy trains to play with.  It wasn't easy pulling him away from his beloved Percy.

 

 

 

We finally convinced Brazos to head outside to see the big steam engine.  Matt was a bit disappointed when all he saw was a diesel engine, but it was still big and upclose, so it would do.  A worker told us that the steam engine had just left to head to the Palestine Depot.  Oh well.  It didn't matter to Brazos, he was in awe of the train parked in front of him.

 

 

 

 

The conductor yelled, "All aboard the Peanuts Express!"  Brazos was such a big boy and handed the conductor his boarding pass.  We loaded the train and we were off!

 



 

 

 

Our ride lasted about twenty minutes, and then we pulled into the Pumpkin Patch.  A handful of Halloween characters welcomed us as we unloaded the train.  They really were a friendly group of people, and they made you feel like they were so happy YOU came to visit them.

 

 

 

We had an hour to roam the pasture filled with fall activities for the kids.  There were hay rides, a petting zoo, small carnival games, a train bounce house, a roller slide, funnel cakes, and of course the pumpkin patch. 

 

Brazos first hopped in the bounce house, but as soon as a kid dressed as Spiderman hopped in, Brazos froze and was done jumping.  He had never seen Spiderman before and the kid was covered from head to toe, so Brazos wasn't sure about how this kid's face looked.  Jumping time was over and it was off to the next activity.

 

 

I love those facial expressions!

 

There was also a sandbox filled with deer corn.  The kids jumped inside to dig for small prizes.  Brazos dove right in while Sandy wasn't quite sure what to do.

 

You want me to do what?



 

There was also a local man playing his guitar and singing kid songs for everyone's entertainment.  He did a great job and he thanked us all for coming and said, "When the weather turned cold I thought I would be cold and lonely today, but it turns out I'm just cold.  Thank you all for coming!"  One of the workers tried to get Brazos to do the Hokey Pokey with him, but Brazos wasn't in the dancing mood.

 

 

 

 

The final excitement for the stop was to let the kids knock on each door of "Trick or Treat Street" for some trick or treating.  Brazos was very excited to get candy and small toys, especially from Scooby Doo.  Sandy even got to meet Snoopy!

 

 

 

Our hour of fun had ended and it was time to board the Peanuts Express to head back to the Rusk Depot.  Brazos enjoyed his twenty minutes of staring out the train window watching all the forest trees go by.  {The train runs through the Texas Pineywoods Forest.} 

 

When the train stopped Matt and I decided it would be best to go straight to the car to begin heading home, but our little man remembered what was inside the depot...TOY TRAINS!  He threw a short fit, but we finally got him strapped into his car seat and we headed home from another fun day on the rails.  ChooChoo!!