Tour of Texas....Stop #1

Bryan and I have always been a little intrigued with Texas. It has so many big cities, little cities, and beautiful scenery!! We feel very lucky to live here! It seems as though we can drive five minutes from our house in either direction and explore something beautiful. I always have to get out of the house on Sundays....I am not a person that can sit and veg for an entire day!! So, every Sunday we take a ride so we don't go stir crazy. Today we drove up to Grapevine, which is really just the city next to ours. Grapevine has a lake, conveniently called Lake Grapevine. It was so beautiful. I really had no idea how beautiful the Dallas area is. It is gorgeous! So, we have decided to tour the many cities of Texas. Some may be far....some may be close. We want to document our journeys not only for our family and friends who wonder about us occasionally :) but for ourselves as well.

On Saturday, which happened to be conference, we decided to take a drive. We didn't really have the time to go too far so we decided to explore Waco. It is about two hours south of our house and it gave a good opportunity for a great nap for our boys. It was a beautiful drive full of rolling fields and tractors.

Waco itself was in Bryan's words "garbagewipe". It was super rundown and very old. There was no one on the streets. It was the big rivalry football weekend between University of Texas (Go Longhorns!) and Oklahoma University. The Sooners won this year. So we figured everybody was at home watching the game. Waco is also home to Baylor University. We didn't realize that there was a game going on while we were there. That also could have been the reason for the deserted streets. We didn't take any pictures of the city because to be honest, we were nervous to get out of the car. There were bars on every window.

We did find a little restaurant to have a late lunch at. The restaurant was Buzzard Billy's. It was located on the Brazos River that flows through Waco. We decided to eat out on the deck. The weather, for Texas was quite nice. It was about 80 degrees. Kael just liked being out of the car. He is not big on being in the car. He is not really into being in high chairs either, but it was better than being in the car I suppose.

Bryan an d Kael out on the patio. We realized that this was the after-game hot spot for Baylor University.

Peyton just liked being by the water...as long as the sun wasn't in his eyes, he hates that!

He helped the ladies at a near by table feed the pigeons bread.

They then figured out that the turtles that were in the river down below liked the bread crumbs.

When he ran out of bread crumbs, he used his french fries to feed the turtles. I guess they didn't mind the ones that were doused in ketchup.

These are the turtles that he was feeding down below. I think that the french fries with ketchup attracted the catfish as well! Peyton had a ball!

Me with my boys. That is a little glimpse of Waco behind me. It is much bigger than what you see though.

If you just saw this part of Waco, you would think that it was a beautiful place. However, the downtown part of Waco was a little rundown. I am sure they have nice beautiful parts of Waco though.

Buzzard Billy's was a Cajun swamp themed restaurant. Peyton loved all of the water.

He is actually smiling for a picture, I can't believe it. This restaurant actually had real alligator heads for sale. We almost bought one for Peyton but we didn't want it to give him nightmares. Although it did inspire him for one of his imaginary friends. He now has an imaginary crocodile friend named Kyle Busch.

We then stopped in Corsicana, Texas. It is just outside of Waco. We wanted to try out the famous Colin Street Bakery. It was delicious! Bryan had to try out there white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. The cookie was almost the size of Kael's head...I guess everything really is bigger in Texas. I had their chocolate chip cookie...it had pecans in it...yum!

Peyton had a chocolate frosting cookie. He loved it. He also thought that it would taste better with salt and pepper and Tobasco Sauce, we thought differently. We eventually talked him out of putting such condiments on his cookie! This place was really good! I loved it...notice the rolling pin light sconces in the back...so clever!

Overall it was a great Saturday drive with yummy food! I would never consider Waco as a vacation hotspot, but it was alright to spend a day in!

Stay tuned for more of our Tour of Texas!!

My Boys.....

I LOVE my boys! I just had to put these two pictures on here because I LOVE them!
You have no idea how hard it is to capture GOOD pictures of these two!

Kael is a good smiler. It doesn't take much to get him to smile. The tricky thing about Kael is, is that he NEVER holds still. It is so HARD!! He is such an active little guy...already crawling at almost 7 months! I am glad I got this picture of him in his little cowboy hat. He now takes off any hat or anything that is on his head. He is such a sweet little boy!!

I think that I have said this over and over that Peyton HATES pictures!! He will not smile for any picture...which makes me a little crazy, I am not going to lie! The other day a couple pairs of shoes arrived for Peyton that I ordered offline and he was so EXCITED!! He was so excited that he got a package!! He couldn't wait to see his NEW shoes!! He thought that they were so awesome!! He was so excited to show them off....thus the reason for the big smile....and the picture!! He had to call both of his grandmas to tell them about his new shoes!! He even put the cell phone up to his new shoes and said. "Look at my new shoes." I love when he thinks that they can see through the cell phone!!!

I LOVE them!!

Pumpkin Patch.....

Our ward has a play group that meets every Friday morning. This particular Friday we went to the pumpkin patch in Flower Mound. It was a cute little farm that grew pumpkins and had a lot of cute activities for kids! They had a hay tower, cute painted characters, bouncy houses, and a hay ride.

Of course Peyton had to climb to the top of the pumpkin pile.

At the bottom of the pumpkin pile.

Hmmm...which pumpkin to choose?

We had to get a wagon to help pull our pumpkin because it was 22 pounds. Peyton picked a hummdinger!!! He also chose a little one for Kael!

Climbing the hay tower!!

The peek-a-boo pumpkin.

How does this work?

We had to check out the bouncy houses. Peyton had to go to the big kids bouncy house. I wasn't sure if he could make it up the ladder or not......

I continue to underestimate the strength of a two year old!

The little kid bouncy house....he loved it!!

Fun!

We love Mr. Fredrickson, and we LOVE "UP"!

Ahhh...Russell is my favorite!

Peyton also loves NEMO!

He couldn't believe his eyes...Buzz, Woody, and Jessie. He had to touch them! He LOVED them!!

It was a cute place and so fun to go there with Peyton! We left Kael at home with Daddy. Bryan has Fridays off of school so it was a perfect play date for mom and Peyton!! Besides, Kael HATES being in the Baby Bjorn and the stroller for longer than five minutes...he hates everything, but we love him! Anyways, Peyton chose a BIG pumpkin and a small pumpkin for Kael (so sweet). So we get up to pay for the pumpkin and they were a dollar a pound! I couldn't believe it. It cost me $22.00 dollars for Peyton's pumpkin. Is that normal? I guess I just don't buy pumpkins at a pumpkin patch often enough to know how much they charge....I thought that was a little pricey! I mean I thought that the pumpkins at Sam's Club for $8.00 dollars were pricey but boy was I wrong. Oh well, I guess you live and you learn....next year we will be buying our pumpkins at Sam's ;) It still was a fun place to go!

I loved it, when we got home Peyton ran up to Kael and said, "Kael! I missed you! I brought you a prize!" He then showed Kael the pumpkin he picked out for him! It was SO cute!!

The Dallas ZOO...

Sorry for the picture overload! I have my camera back and I have a ton of blogs to catch up on! Besides, we have two grandmas back at home who love to see pictures of their grandkids!

When Bryan's Mom came out to visit we decided to take a trip to the Dallas Zoo. We were lucky because that particular day was half price day at the zoo. However, it was like 95 degrees with 85% humidity....needless to say, it was HOT! We were dying!!

Our family in front of the waterfall sign. This zoo was awesome! I mean I am used to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. This zoo puts that one to shame!!

Mammow at her favorite place....anywhere with animals!!

I think that this picture is hilarious!! He is giving loves to the possum statue. He was funny at the zoo. We went and saw the Lemurs and one was laying on its back asleep and he said, "Hey look at that raccoon, he is dead. He is laying on his back, Mom. I think he is dead." It was hilarious. He called and told everyone that he saw a dead raccoon at the zoo. His two aunts in particular (Megan and Jana) were concerned as to why there was a dead raccoon at the zoo. We had to explain. :) I am surprised they weren't dead from the heat! :)

Happy Kael....even though it was SOO HOTTT! We had to take a lunch break inside! We had to cool off.

Discovery Kids had some bouncy houses up for the kids. Of course Peyton had to check them out. And of course he would want to go in the one that all of the big kids were in. He got halfway through and turned around and came out.

Peyton had had enough of the big kids obstacle course!

They did have a bouncy house for the little ones, he loved it!

The penguins! I love penguins!

Peyton loved to be at eye level with the penguins!

So this zoo has a few little places where you can go in and eat (and cool off). We were so hot that we stopped and ate at the first one that we saw. It was too bad because we stumbled upon this eating place where you can eat right next to the lions! How awesome is that? We were at a table taking a rest (from the heat) and having a drink and there was a lion like six inches from me! It was awesome! Peyton LOVED it....and so did Mammow!

lJust hanging out with the lions!

He had to show everybody that there were lions just on the other side of the glass. :)

It looks as though I left my six month old among the lions!

He liked watching the lions but he liked playing with his toes better!

They have acres for the elephants, giraffes, zebras, and antelopes to roam....just like in the savanna! I love that they can roam like that...what a great zoo!

Peyton watching the elephant take a bath, he loved it!

Look at the landscaping...so cool! Hogle Zoo is an embarrassment!! :)

Peyton couldn't believe his eyes, a giraffe!

They also had this cool building that looked like a tree hut overlooking the savanna...with comfy chairs to sit in. I thought it was a good idea...and so did Bryan!!

Kael finally fell asleep!

Well said! And for a Zoo's restroom, it was pretty nice. You know how sometimes when you go to those places it smells like the giraffe cage inside? This one was actually nice, I mean granite counter tops nice. I was impressed.

Peyton liked the elephants. I had to show him at first that this was indeed a statue and that it did not move. He wanted me to pet it first. :)

And of course...what would the zoo be without a ride on the carousel? It is always followed with a a crying fit for another ride. But at two dollars a pop....our carousel rides at the zoo are limited, someday he will understand! :)

Even though it was hot, it was a good time! I thought that it was an awesome zoo! We will definitely be revisiting this zoo again I am sure!!