Grandma Ranes Comes To Texas

We sure do wish we lived closer to Grandma Ranes.  My mom just got a new job so before she started she came out for a few days to visit us.  I always try to cram as much as I can into her visit so she can get a taste of where we live :)  Our first afternoon we went to the Galleria and walked around.      That night we found a little Thai place in Frisco that turned out to be so yummy and you can't come visit without going to Braum's!!  I should've taken a picture of Al's huge banana split.  I will never understand where he puts it or how he can eat so much sugar.

We really only had 2 full days with my mom so for 1 we went to Tiny Tot Tuesday at the Arboretum. They had their beautiful pumpkin village up, a petting zoo, and free face painting.  Alex picked out Batman so naturally Cole wanted that too.  I still look at this picture and can't believe he held perfectly still while they painted Batman on his face...lol

Great weather, but a little too hot by the end.

Cole calls my mom Bramma and it's so cute.  Bramma, Bramma, Bramma

 Admiring their matching Batman face paintings.

Alex loves anyone that will read books to him, but his favorite is definitely my mom.  Their special book to read together is Go Dog Go.  I could hear them laughing in his room when it says to the tree, to the tree.  

We went to see Gone Girl that night and of course I got us a huge popcorn and diet coke.  It was like a super intense Lifetime movie.  When I was laying in bed that night Al asked is that your heart beating?   Guess I drank too much caffeine, haha.

Her last day we went to the Mary Kay Museum in Dallas.

So many great pink photo opps

We also hit the Allen outlets, lunch at Chuys and then picked Alex up from preschool.  About an hour later they had an Ebola outbreak a few miles from our house.  Say What??  My friend posted this on FB and our kids go to the same preschool.  My friends were freaking out going to Costco and thinking they may not be able to leave the house for days.  It's been about a month and supposedly it's  contained and the people that had it are no longer in Dallas and actually survived Ebola.  So so scary.

We ended up hanging out at our house due to Ebola and the boys got to try on their new Halloween pajamas Grandma brought them.  I love when they match, so cute!!

Our visit with Grandma was too short and we hope she can come back soon.  Alex asks me all the time can we go to Tootah to visit Grandma Ranes and Grandma Cameron :)  I'm hoping someday we will have the opportunity to live there again. 

Zoo Day

My friend Alixa has this amazing zoo pass.  Anyone can buy it, but it gave us all free admission, unlimited carousel rides, free pony rides, and free tram rides!!   Best Zoo pass ever.

Places like the zoo are so dreamy when you don't have to fight crowds of people.

The kids had the time of their lives running around.

They got a close up view of the tigers.

We fed the birds and the bird lady called Cole a bird whisperer.  He loves animals so much!

We fed the Koi fish which was so weird.  Their mouths and sounds gross me out.

The highlight of the morning was feeding the giraffes.  $5 and they give you 5 pieces of lettuce or kale and the giraffes come right up to you and eat it, so awesome.

On our way home Alixa had to redeem some free donuts from Krispy Kreme that they didn't give to her on Pirate Day.  6 dozen all for us and I don't even really like donuts.

That afternoon we had the craziest rainstrom and another house caught on fire which we could see from our backyard, so awful.

I somehow talked Al into going to Costco with us, but that's because they ate while I shopped :)

State Fair of Texas

I heard the State Fair of Texas was amazing so I had high expectations. Mostly I was just excited to see the Big Tex who burned down last year due to an electrical fire.  It seems like a lot of things burn down here and I don't like it one bit!!   We got perfect weather for a fun Friday evening at the fair.

I love love love the Utah State Fair and maybe it's because I have so many fun memories of going there and you can see everything in a couple hours.  The Los Angeles fair is insanely big.  I remember thinking how can you ever see everything and that's how the Texas fair is, but its so spread out you can walk over and sit on a bench and no one will be around.  They had the kid section where you go through different exhibits and do activities.  Cole and Alex loved it.

Holy cow!!

We all got some sweet new shades by filling out some spam questionnaire.

I really wanted us to all be able to ride the ferris wheel, but the line was so long both times we walked by.  Al played the milk jug game and won Alex a life size Minion and of course it was when we first got there so we had to haul it around the entire night.

Loving on their new minion.

One of the coolest areas was the petting zoo and you could also feed all the animals which seems a little sketchy now considering they had a giraffe, camel, kangaroo, and zebra.  Seriously this place was better than the zoo.

I've never seen a camel at a fair, 1 point for Texas!!

These two kill me.  I love watching them learn and observe everything around them.  I wish I could freeze time and just enjoy their age a little bit longer.  It makes me sad to think that they will be my age someday, but please call your mom everyday when you are.  Love you two!!

Cole is an animal lover and would laugh every time a goat ate out of his hand.  I think we'll have to buy a dog when they can take care of it and clean up after it :)

I told Alex we would get him some cotton candy after he ate his healthy fair dinner and he quickly reminded me as soon as he was done with his pizza.  I've been trying to make him do big boy things like go ask for refills at Chick Fil A or go give the carnies a token and ask for a cotton candy :)

We had a few more game tokens before we left so I played the water gun game where you skirt the water in a hole and a horse climbs up.  Al told me what seat to sit at and then a bunch of older guys sat down next to me and I looked at Al thinking yeah right I'm never going to win.  I wish we had it on video because I think I surprised myself.  Alex was sitting on my lap and as soon as my bell rang I jumped up with Alex and was like we won, we won, hahah and we got to pick out another minion!!  Our last activity for the night was the big slide you ride down on, in potato sacks.  When I put my feet in the sack a big cockroach started climbing up my leg.  I threw Alex off me screaming and the Mexican workers were laughing.  Al says it was a cricket, but I swear it was cockroach and either of those is still creepy.  We drove Al's car to the fair so on the way home we had to stuff the life size minions in the back with Alex and Cole.  All you could see were these huge Despicable me Minions and people would do a double take when they drove by us, hilarious!!  It was such a fun night at the fair.  I don't know if we can top it next :)

Last year when I trained for the half I had a running buddy and beautiful Pasadena.  This year I had myself to run with in flat, hot and windy Frisco, but I did it and somehow ran my last long run which was 10 miles!!  This year I also had to totally change my stride so I didn't get shin splints.  It's a good thing I have a smart husband that is good at everything.

Meet my fabulous new friends in Texas.  These ladies have been so kind and welcoming to me.  A breath of fresh air and so much fun to be around!!  We were celebrating Lisa's 40th with a yummy Mexican dinner and dessert.  

Minions are useful for everything.  Al made them into backpacks for the boys, so silly.

Antigua 3

There are so many fun activities to do at an all inclusive. We ran on the treadmill a couple days, 6 miles for me which is the furthest I've ever run on a treadmill!!  We played croquet which I also beat Al at, but then he read up on the rules and beat me the next day.  I still think he cheated!!

A relaxing morning at the pool and this is the day we got fried!!  I can't tell you how much sunscreen we put on and how careful we were, but that Antiguan sun is strong.

We went snorkeling at a reef one afternoon.

There were these tiny jellyfish everywhere in the water and it was so freaky!!  They told us they weren't poisonous, but literally every time I put my goggles in the water they were right there.  I couldn't handle it!!

We hadn't used our room service during our stay so we ordered a ton of food our last night and watched the sunset!!  We had such an amazing view and our room was in the perfect spot.

Our favorite dinner was the sushi restaurant so we went there one last time and ordered a ton of food.

Our last morning there we went paddle boarding and Al sailed us on a catamaran.

It was such a great trip and so much fun to spend one on one time with each other.  I feel like the older we get the busier and more complicated our lives get.  It makes me smile at how simple and carefree our lives were 6 years ago, I can only imagine in 6 more :)   Happy Anniversary Al,

 I  Love You!!

Antigua 2

We signed up for the four wheeling excursion.  The guys who picked us up were 30 minutes late and then at least 30 minutes late to pick us up, the worst.   I was a little nervous to drive the four wheelers through the streets of Antigua especially since the drive on the opposite side of the road, but I hung on tight and was probably overly cautious, but I think that naturally happens when you become a mom.

 We were supposed to drive to the mountain peak in the background and have ocean views, but in the middle of our ride it started pouring rain.   I was so cold, but we had to keep driving and the puddles we were going through were so deep. It turned out to be really fun, but I think I would have enjoyed it more with sunshine, clear skies and ocean views :)

Antigua was so humid, goodness I don't know how the locals live in it. We ate at the Italian restaurant at the resort this night and it was ok.  The atmosphere was fancy, but the food was eh, probably not smart to get Italian in the Caribbean.   Almost everyone went to a bar in the resort called the drunken duck, but I was over it, haha.  I would've enjoyed it more if it was a fancy Vegas club with good music.  

Al's only request was to go deep sea fishing so we got up bright and early one morning to wait for a bachelor party to meet us, again late.  We had to drive to the other side of the island to get on the boat and then we got to feel the motion of the ocean for 3 hours, yuck.  

There were 2 other guys on our boat and when one of the lines started getting a bite everyone insisted I reel it in.  So I sat down and reeled for like 5 minutes and it wasn't easy.  

I ended up catching a huge Wahoo which is hilarious because I was there for Al to enjoy his day at sea.   What are the chances of me catching the only big fish on the boat?  Looks like we will be going again someday for Al to catch his : )   Al and the other guys caught some Barracudas, but let's just say they weren't like my Wahoo, haha.

I wish I could've taken this fish home, but the guys that work on the boat either sell it or give it to ladies in town to feed their families.  We were on the boat for about 3 hours and that was long enough for me.  If we weren't sitting outside I started to get so queasy.  There goes my dream of sailing a yacht for a week.  I couldn't believe how heavy the fish was, amazing!!

and then Al had me take a picture with it and of course I dropped it which bruises the meat, sorry.  I'm sure it was still tasty.   The guys on the other boat caught a few tunas and cut it up right there and ate it, so fresh and yummy.  They even had wasabi and soy sauce.

Als mom was so sweet and took the boys to my friend Heathers book signing at Costco.  Her and her twin sister Heidi wrote this cute book called Fairy Birds.

One afternoon we took a cab into town to go buy the boys some presents.  Another crazy flea market where they wheel and deal with you.  There wasn't any cruise ships docked so it was a little quiet, so we lasted about 30 minutes and then went back to the hotel.

On the way to our room we passed a Checkers board and played each other.  I think this is the only game I've ever beat Al at. 

A beautiful wedding on the beach.  I want to renew our vows someday!!