Ahhhh, the Texas Hill Country...one of our favorite places in The Lone Star State. We thought it was only fitting to take Marshall to San Antonio for a little family vacation to begin his love affair of these beautiful hills...and cedar trees!?! We stayed at the beautiful La Cantera Resort and loved every minute of it...such a fabulous hotel with such nice people. The kiddie pool was perfect for hours of fun and mommy enjoyed the outdoor yoga classes.
Marshall enjoying the view from our hotel
We planned a nice mixture of seeing the sights and relaxing so our first outing was a day downtown at the Riverwalk, El Mercado and the Alamo...or as Marshall likes to say, "Aa-dee-mo." The riverwalk was the perfect place for a professional boat and duck spotter...and weren't we lucky to have one with us! He just thought it was the coolest, as did I when I was younger and I'm happy to say it hasn't lost its charm.
No time for smiling when there's boats and ducks around!
So many friendly people offered to take our picture at the Riverwalk, but you can't be picky in haste...hence, the closed eyes!
Creighton & Marshall on the bridge (don't know why blogger flips the pic, sorry)
At the Aa-dee-mo!!!
We enjoyed tons of great Tex-Mex when we were there, but there was one place I had my sights on the entire time and that's Po-Po's! It's in Welfare, TX outside of Boerne and it has some of the best chicken fried steak I've ever eaten! Not only is their food awesome, but the building itself has tons of history and it's literally oozing with "decor."
I feel as though Dixie should be playing in the background as you read this. :)
Did I mention decor...good thing there are no earthquakes in Welfare, TX!?!
If you ask Marshall what his favorite part of San Antonio was, he'll tell you the zoo! It was a wonderful end to our trip and we can't wait to go back in years to come!
For Memorial Day my family decided to enjoy a Rough Riders baseball game in Frisco...it seemed like the all-American thing to do! We weren't quite sure how our toddler would do, but it turns out watching baseball puts our son in a trance. He absolutely LOVES to play baseball at home, but seeing the big boys play just took it to another level.
Top 3 highlights of our experience were...
1) Austin getting picked to run in a little relay race on the field. (video below)
2) Meeting the mascots Deuce and Daisy....Marshall still talks about them dancing and being funny.
3) Marshall almost caught his first fly ball*
*Read as, we almost had a near death experience when a fly ball landed a foot away from his head, as the adults were scrambling to try and catch it from it's crazy high drop from the sky.
Marshall had such a blast that we'll definitely be heading back there more often!
The Fam
He came up with a couple of different seating arrangements.
Watching baseball with Papa
SO excited to give Daisy a high-five. We met Deuce on our way out.
This is a video of Austin's relay race...probably not too exciting for anyone to watch other than family! :)
We had a great Easter weekend this year! Besides the joy of celebrating our Risen Saviour, this holiday has become somewhat sentimental for me, since we brought Marshall home from the hospital on Easter Sunday. What a great reminder of God's promises!
We started our weekend by dyeing eggs with Vicki and the kids. Marshall did okay, but honestly he was more interested in eating his snack...too many rules associated with dyeing eggs, like the fact you can't throw them.
We went to church on Saturday night so we could spend Easter morning with Marshall's great-grandparents, Gigi and G-pa. Marshall hunted for eggs at their house and it was fun to see him more excited about the actual hunting part this year. Another great Easter with our little bunny!
The final product...just a little sweaty from the hunt.
Checking out his basket...he's already holding his new football, you just can't see it.
The Uphues family got a wild hair and decided to go camping with a couple of other playgroup families! Needless to say, it did not disappoint! We had a blast and were extremely happy that Marshall did too...because we all knew we were setting ourselves up for a potentially HUGE outdoor disaster! We ventured down to Meridian State Park, which is about 2.5 hrs south of Dallas. Here's a recap of the ups and downs of the trip.
UPs:
1) We spent an afternoon at Fossil Rim and it was fabulous! So many cool exotic animals that eat from your hand...mind blowingly cool! (Thanks Whitney for letting us use your Mom's membership!)
2) Such great camping company! Three equally brave families made our camping experience so much fun! They taught me I could successfully exist without electricity for 2 days, sleep in a tent with a toddler and smores are better with peanut butter cups! Thanks Miller's, Sawyer's and Aldredge's!
3) Marshall would say that 2 things were his favorites: being outside 24/7 and the amusement park of unlimited dirt, rocks sticks with 3 boys to share it with....well, we're working on the sharing part!?!
DOWNs:
1) Unfortunately due to all the wild fires, there was a burn ban, which meant no campfires to keep us warm at night.
2) It was unseasonably cold at night, like in the 30's...so it wasn't the most enjoyable temperatures for sleeping outside. Hence, the hats and jackets in all the morning pictures.
3) Marshall got his hand "caught" in a zebra's mouth...meaning, a zebra wrapped his big lips around M's hand, but didn't bite him. He was a little upset, but once we got to the giraffe's he forgot all about it!
It wasn't very hard to pick a theme for Marshall's 2nd birthday, since all he does is play with cars! I found tons of super fun ideas online and decided to embark on a craft palooza: traffic light centerpieces, car crayon molds and the most fun of all, wearable box cars for each child! The celebration was in the gazebo at Breckenridge Park with plenty of room for kids to room, if not for the not-so toddler friendly pond near by. But it sure was pretty!?! We had such a fun time and are SO thankful to all our family and friends that were able to join us...we couldn't have raised this spunky boy without such a wonderful group of people surrounding us for the past 2 years. We feel so blessed!
Decorating a license plate for his box car
The fleet - all 22 of them!
Yummy cupcakes from Creighton's co-worker, Lisa!
The birthday boy enjoying all the attention
The kids gearing up for their box cars...some definitely favored them more than others!?!
Hudson testing out his new wheels
Jake hoping this is a golf cart
Egan's zooming to a Rangers game!
Wouldn't you know, Marshall's favorite party spot was this patch of dirt...gotta love it!
Mia and Egan
The wagon made the rounds around the gazebo many, many times.
