Lost Pines Summer Vacation

WARNING: This is a very image heavy post! :)

We had a nice little family getaway this summer to Lost Pines. We always, always have a great time when we go there. This makes our 3rd visit!

Here are some highlights from our trip:

Ainsley got her toenails painted at the Wild Hare Youth Spa.

Collin got some time to relax with Daddy.

We found a really neat-looking moth. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the wings looked similar to dog ears. Ainsley was in love with this thing!

We journeyed through the Butterfly Meadow and Hummingbird Garden and strolled all along the resort property, which are things we hadn't done until this visit.

We took a horse-drawn wagon ride around the resort, courtesy of two Percheron Draft Horses named Julius and Caesar. The couple that heads this operation up is so very interesting, full of information and as friendly as can be.

Collin snapped our picture while we waited for the ride.

We went to a little presentation called "Don't Mess With Texas Animals" that was really interesting. They had a few different live animals as well as many different pelts on display. Collin is smiling, but still looks a little unsure in this picture of him and the baby gator.

This was a first for us. The kids got to sit on T-Bone and RibEye, two Texas Longhorn steers that are actually saddle trained and ridden. They are cared for by the same couple that does the horse-drawn wagon rides.

Pony rides! This we had to pay extra for, but for the excitement it gave the kids, it was worth every penny!

Relaxing on Riversong Lawn, waiting for the nightly movie. So much fun. They provide popcorn and beach towels, and everyone just sprawls out and has a great time.

All throughout the day there are planned activities, some for the whole family and some designed more for the kiddos. The Camp Hyatt counselors are amazing. They have such energy and are great with the kids. This time they did one called "Worm Digging." They sprinkled plates with crushed oreos and gummy worms, and then sprayed whipped cream all over the top. They were to "dig" for the worms with only their mouths. I thought this would be Ainsley's kind of thing, but she had a full-blown dramatic crying session instead. To my total surprise, Collin was totally into it!!

Collin's favorite thing about Lost Pines is the water slide.

The lazy river! This has to be at the top of our list of favorite things to do there.

Making sand angels on the beach...

A little late night dancing by the pool...

And what better way to end any fun vacation, than to meet up with some wonderful friends!!!

The End :)

Happy 6th Birthday Collin!

Collin's birthday was actually back in May, but because I've been having so many issues with Blogger, I'm just now getting to make this post!

This year we celebrated Collin's birthday about 4 different times. First was at Nana's house. She made him a cake that looked like a dirt track with a motorcycle. We did a mini birthday party with his cousins since they wouldn't be able to make it up for his party.

Nana's birthday gift to Collin - a guitar!

Birthday morning: a DS from Mommy and Daddy!

The evening of his birthday, Mimi and Bebaw took us all to Chuck E Cheese, which of course was Collin's choice. He doesn't think there is any greater place than this.

We had Collin's big birthday party at Powersports, a gym in College Station. The kids just love this place and it's great for parties. They get to run, jump and get all that energy out.

Collin chose a Monster Jam theme for his party this year. I found a lady on ebay (I think) who made the neatest invitations that look like an actual event ticket, except with all of the birthday information on it. Jennifer Galvan made the monster truck cake. It turned out so cool!

Happy 4th Birthday Ainsley!

*Blogger has been acting really buggy for me lately, and I have a few old posts that I need to finally get up!*

My sweet Ainsley turned FOUR in July. That just doesn't seem right.

We took her to get her toenails painted on her birthday, and she was in absolute heaven. Definitely a girly-girl who loves being pampered.

This year, like last year, we gave her a swim party. It has just been too darn hot to have an outdoor party without a big pool to jump into and cool off. She chose to have a Jasmine party. I was unsure at first, and tried suggesting maybe having a different princess theme, but this child is strong-willed and will not be moved! It's not easy finding things with the Aladdin theme on them, but in the end it all turned out really cute.

At one point before we left to go set up for the party, I wondered if we would even be having a party that day. It had been a really busy morning already, and we were rushing to get through lunch. I was trying to quickly clean up in the kitchen, and I heard a loud gut-wrenching thud. Ainsley had fallen out of her chair onto our tile floor and landed directly on the left side of her head. It scared us all half to death. In the end, she only had a little redness and bruising at the top of her left cheekbone, thank goodness!!!

This gorgeous cake was made by Jennifer Galvan. Her kiddos go to the same school as Collin. And yes, it tasted just as amazing as it looked. However, I don't think my picture really does it the justice it deserves!

Excited to blow out the candles...


We decided it would be a whole lot easier on everyone to wait and open gifts at home. It was just so hot and everyone would rather be in the pool than sitting in the heat watching gift after gift be opened. It was a good decision.

Ainsley had been asking for a Jasmine dress for her birthday. If anyone asked what she wanted, that was her response. I guess in Ainsley's mind, Jasmine is a princess, so she should wear a dress. But the images you typically see of Jasmine are of her in a pair of poofy "genie" pants and a halter top. Luckily, my mother had just gone on a Disney vacation with my sister and her family. I asked her to please bring back a Jasmine costume for Ainsley's birthday. She could NOT have been happier to see it!!!

A look at the past 4 years...

Cover Girl (and Guy)....?

There is a local magazine here in Bryan/College Station, called AYC - Active Youth & Community. They are currently having a Facebook contest for their August cover. All pictures submitted to the contest had to be of children, and taken by the uber-talented Sarah Giles of Butterfly Chaser Photography within the past year. We were in luck because we did a session with her in May! I decided to enter a few pictures of the kids and see what would happen. Well, one of their pictures was chosen as one of the finalists! How exciting!

The contest is open until Sunday at 10pm. Winner will be chosen based on the most number of "Likes." To vote, (you must have a Facebook account) go to the AYC Facebook page by clicking on the above picture of Collin and Ainsley. Then you must "Like" the AYC page before you can "Like" the kids' picture. Does that make sense? If you'd like to vote but don't quite understand what to do, let me know and I'll help!

Thanks for the support. So many friends and people I don't even know have voted so far, and it truly is so appreciated. I am NOT one of "those moms", if you know what I mean. My kids are precious to me and I just think this would be an awesome thing to have in their baby books! If they win, sure that would be really cool! And if not, that is OK too! On behalf of Collin and Ainsley, I feel honored just to have their photo chosen as a finalist :)

Graduation Day

This morning, my sweet 6-year old boy graduated from Kindergarten. I was certain that I would cry through the entire thing, but somehow I made it up until the very end. They played a slideshow of pictures of all the grammar school students throughout the year, to the tune of that Darius Rucker song, "It Won't be Like This for Long." Seriously, I lost it. I have a hard time hearing that one on the radio on any given day, much less my baby's kinder graduation!

The kindergarten classes recited a poem, a Bible verse, and sang a song. Then they were each given an award (certificate) for their Godly characteristic. Collin's was patience. Still trying to figure out where he got that one from.... :)


I am SO, SO, SO proud of Collin. He has matured so much over this past year. Much more than I would've imagined possible. He has made lots of sweet friends and is excited to go to school. I am so thankful for our BCS family.

We stopped at Shipley's for a late breakfast after graduation. First time Collin has EVER eaten a sausage cheese kolache. Guess he's going to grow up after all, even though I have specifically asked him to STOP getting bigger! ;)

Museum, Monster Jam, etc...

In January we went on a weekend trip to Houston. Ainsley started to get a cough and was a running a low-grade fever the day before we were to leave, so I took her to the doctor to get checked out, just in case. He couldn't really find anything wrong, other than a touch of an upper respiratory infection. We continued on with our plans, hoping everything would line out and she would be fine. The evening we got to Houston, we went to Rainforest Cafe for dinner. The kids thought it was the neatest place.

Later that night Ainsley began running fever of 102 and was just plain MISERABLE! Crying...whining...coughing...whining...crying...you get the picture. It was just awful. We had big plans to go to the Houston Children's Museum, and it turned out just being Collin and me, with Jeremy staying back at the hotel so Ainsley could rest up and hopefully be better by the evening, when we would go to Monster Jam. Let me back up and say that we were there with friends, so I wasn't totally alone with Collin. The museum was awesome and Collin just loved it. I think we could've stayed all day if we had the time!


It seemed that Ainsley was feeling better after resting up most of the day back at the hotel with Jeremy, so we went on and took her to Monster Jam with us. Well, that didn't turn out to be such a good idea. She was burning hot with fever most of the time we were there and was just plain miserable. We stuck it out as long as we could, with me outside on the balcony with her much of the time, trying to keep her mind off of how bad she felt. I just could not bring myself to leave because Collin was having such a blast watching the show. Here are a few pictures from Monster Jam.