I decided back in the early spring that I really wanted to take the kids to Sanger during Vic's busy week of working on the budget at work. So, the day after we got back from Fredericksburg, we re-packed and drove to Sanger - just me and the kids - for Camp Erwin. I will let the pictures explain our trip!
Grace found her horse when we arrived. Mom got this at a garage sale maybe? It did not belong to any of us kids, but Grace loves it!
We finally got to see Daddy's motorcycle. Grace was on and off of it constantly throughout the trip.
One of the best things about going to Grandma and Pop's house is that they get to play with all of their toys! Most of these are from when we were growing up and some from when Pop was little.
Among so many things we did that first night, we played on Pop and put stickers on his face.
We made clay animals with Grandma.
We played with little wooden buildings that Grandma had from her craft show days.
On Tuesday morning, the 5 of us loaded up and went to the Fort Worth Zoo. Grace had kind of a cranky day. But, pictures must continue!
I did enjoy pulling her hair back into pigtails and use the little plastic hair clips that Molly and I wore when we were little!
This zoo had LOTS of animals - I decided my favorites were the hippos and the flamingos!
Finally a smile on camera from Grace - she was just having a 2 year old kind of day. But, it was a great, hot, fun, day!
When we got home, we put on those new rubber boots to finally go out to see the goats. It had been raining for weeks prior to our trip, in Sanger and all of the North Texas area. So, when we arrived on Monday, Pop told the kid we needed to wait a couple of days so the ground could dry up before we played with the goats. Otherwise, we were afraid the kids would just sink right into that mud. On Wednesday afternoon, we finally got into the goat pen. It started out well for Grace, but she didn't last long. As soon as I wouldn't pick her up for something, she just got mad and couldn't get over it all night. Atticus, on the other hand, was very glad to be able to walk in the mud and try to catch the goats and play in the goat pen.
While Grace and I went inside to work on dinner, Atticus and Pop headed out to what eventually Atticus called "My Ditch" to play. Pop said he was very leery at first of the water and mud and not sure about walking in it. But, slowly, Atticus got braver and braver to get into that water. When Grandma got home, Atticus wanted her to go with him, so he ran to the house to get her mud boots and brought them to her to join him. He LOVED playing in that water. Grandma, was a little nervous, one or both of them, would fall right in! By the end, Atticus had water in his boots and water on his rear (from squatting to check out the bugs and look for tadpoles), but he was loving this little adventure!
"Come on Grandma; just come in the water."
The next day, we drove to GG's house to pick her up and met Ana in Frisco at a park that she told us "makes her want to be a kid again!" for lunch and playing. It was a great park, but boy was it hot! I felt so bad for Ana who was dressed so cute and had to go back to work after her long lunch. But, the kids played and played and had it been 20 degrees cooler, we could have stayed a long time! There was lots to do on this playground! Instead, after we left, we shopped until we dropped at a few stores in Frisco - like the amazing JoAnn's fabric and Mardel's! And then headed back home.
That evening, Atticus spent the night with GG, while Grace and I came home to Grandma and Pop's house. Boy did Grace love having one-on-one time with us that night. So, earlier in the week, Grandma colored with Grace and Atticus. Grace had her little tiny notepad and her colors and throughout the week, she would spend time coloring. On this night, she and Grandma colored together at the table. She would also end up asking Grandma to draw things and would watch her. Her most requested item to draw? A squirrel. This is Grace's favorite animal right now. I'll have to blog that later on. And if Grandma took a break from coloring, Grace would say "Cuh-Cuh" instructing Grandma to get back to work!
Her other hilarious moment that night was at the kitchen table eating dinner. Earlier in the day, we somehow got onto a game in the car called "where's Grace?" or "where's Atticus?" and they would close their eyes so tight until we "found them" or until they gave up and said "boo!". Keep in mind that playing a game like this in the car is not too tough; they are strapped into their carseats! But, what was funny was Grace's face! She would scrunch it up so tight! So, we played that game again while we were eating dinner. Her faces are above! That silly girl!
After we colored and ate dinner, we headed back outside to play on the shop porch, the flatbed trailer and chased bubbles. Grace was eating up this night of having all the attention to herself. We ended with a bath in the bathtub and a little Frozen before she was too exhausted to do anything else. And I just want to note that sometimes, we don't have to entertain the kids with anything expensive or creative - they LOVE to just play outside on all of the things that we do not have at our house. They love to explore and see what there is outside.
On Friday, Grace and I picked up GG and Atticus from GG's house and drove into Fort Worth to go to the Museum of Science and History. From early on, Atticus was in a tired mood. The museum was really good although it had some parts that were for older kids and not a lot in the animal/dinosaur exhibit, although the dinosaur exhibit was pretty neat. Atticus just kept looking for more that was similar to the little Brazos Valley museum in Bryan that we went to recently that has lots of stuffed animals and bones. But, this museum was also very good, but will be even better as the kids get older. The only picture I got was Grace above playing in the dinosaur dig. Poor Atticus - I thought we were doing a good job of keeping busy and giving the kids down time, but lack of sleep catches up to everyone after awhile. I was frustrated with him, but also sad for him.
After we dropped GG off, we went back to Grandma and Pop's to rest until
GG came to babysit the kids while Mom, Daddy & I went to Flower
Mound to meet Ana and Charley for dinner at Jake's Burgers. The food was
good and the beer and margaritas were cold. After dinner, I really
wanted to extend the night a little...I mean - no kids! So, we went to
this little dive bar called Daddy Rabbit's and played a little pool
while listening to some really good and some really bad karaoke-rs sing.
They played some "You don't have to call me Darlin', Darlin!" and mom
played some serious pool, after lots of practice on her Ipad. It was a
really great evening and the only thing that would have made it better
was having Vic with us. :( We missed him!
On Saturday morning, Grandma watched the Grace while Pop took Atticus to Melbo & Pa's house while I went with GG and Rita to this fabulous scrapbook store that I have heard about for a long time, but not gotten to go to yet! And, it was great! It was called the Little Blue House and this sign above was too cute! It describes mine and GG's lives, when we are together! It was a lot of fun and I found way too many cute things to get to scrapbook with! Also, while we were there, Atticus was spending time with Melbo at her house playing on the Ipad but also searching outside for Bubba and eating lunch and visiting with Melbo. I was really glad he got to do this while he was there, because many times we get so busy, the kids don't get a lot of one-on-one time with everyone. And I loved that he got to also spend time with Pop driving over and back to the house. Atticus is in a stage of 437 questions everyday and as tiresome as it can get to answer over and over, it can be very fun to hear his little brain come up with questions and conversations!
On Saturday afternoon after Grace woke up, she decided to play on the piano for a little while. This piano came from our Memaw's house - who just passed away in February. Both kids love to play their toy instruments, so playing on the piano is lots of fun.
Grace is instructing me to "sit!".
Then Atticus woke up and joined us.
Lots of fingers playing on the piano!
Pop let Atticus help blow out the candle, which he loves to do!
On Sunday morning, we worked some of the goats so the kids got to play. Atticus was very invested in petting them and being gentle with them. Grace really wanted to feed them, but by the time she got feed in her little hands and got to the goat, there wasn't much left
Pop's plum trees are making lots of fruit this summer so he and Atticus picked a few.
They made another trip to the ditch after playing with the goats for awhile. But, this time, Grandma gave them buckets. Atticus really loved playing in "his ditch" and Grace did too, until her hand got dirty.
The fruits of Pop's plum tree labor.
On Sunday afternoon, the kids and I headed to Lewisville to see Ana and Charley. Their apartment complex was having a big swim party so we swam and played and ate food truck food for dinner. The kids had so much fun and after we played "don't you do that.....", Atticus would get brave and walk to different parts of the pool or put his head under water until he was really comfortable in the shallow end.
On Monday morning, we went to visit Stormy & Tabatha and Adley. Tabatha fed them lunch, they played with Adley's toys and then the best thing happened. Stormy and Tabatha were having a big load of gravel delivered to their house. So, Atticus and Adley played on the gravel mound until they were hot and tired. It was really good to see the McCuistions, even if just for a little while.
We headed to Melbo and GG's for a little while to visit, since we were leaving town the next day. Atticus and Grace played on the Ipad and IPhone for a little while.
And we did normal things you get to do at Melbo and Pa and GG's house: show Melbo our boo-boo's, play with Bubba the cat and check out Pa's shop. And while Atticus has always liked Bubba, Grace LOVES him. Bubba is pretty patient with the kids, although he would rather be taking a nap somewhere. Grace wanted to be around him the whole time and pet him and give him her sippy cup or watch him eat. She loves that cat. And I also got to not only visit with Melbo, but even got a picture of her smiling!! She smiles a lot, but rarely when I ask her to pose for a picture.
Then, we headed back to the house for our last night at Grandma and Pop's. So, after dinner, we had one more night to play with the goats. I have too many pictures, but I love love love these memories.
Snip needs a lot of attention...
I love the picture above and below because it's funny to see my kids standing in one of the same barns that I had lots and lots of goats in over the years.
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