Our not-so-relaxing Vacation

The day we got back from our last summer camp in August Beau and I decided we were taking a vacation. We took a vacation two summers ago with Elijah, but this year we decided we wanted to do something by ourselves. We decided to do something small, just to have time together to rejuvenate. We found a little Bed and Breakfast in Wimberley and thought we could make a nice, long weekend out of that. I handled all the details since Beau was busy getting the kids started back to school. When I made the reservations something came up about me being a nurse. The owner said she has a lot of respect for people in public service roles and would like to honor me with a bouquet of fresh wildflowers in our room upon our arrival.

Here is the bouquet...pretty...




Ha! Apparently she only has a "handful" of respect! I thought it was hilarious!...

Now onto the not-so-relaxing part. I started feeling sick before we ever left the house on Thursday. I felt sick the whole afternoon and evening. When we pulled into the Bed and Breakfast drive (out in the middle of nowhere) I made Beau pull over and I left everything I'd ever eaten on the side of the road! I was SO sick. I even thought at one point in the middle of the night I was going to have to make Beau take me to the ER. On Friday, Beau laid in bed watching a movie while I finally slept. That afternoon Beau drove me into town for a couple's massage he surprised me with. I didn't look or feel good, but it did help and I'll get out of bed for a massage any day! Saturday morning I FINALLY started feeling better and I was SO excited because it was just in time for my surprise for Beau...Ziplining!!

He was pretty shocked since its not my typical thing to do. I was really weak, but it was fun!!

And we're off!...

This was Beau on The Big Kahuna (longest zipline on the course)...

It may look like we're close to the ground, but that's just because you could only get a decent picture as they were coming in for their landing. Let me assure you that we were, at some points, hundreds of feet above ground (and trees)...

After our adventure we rested at the cottage and then headed back into town. The weather was awesome. We walked around all of the shops, ate dinner out on a deck while listening to some live music, got some ice cream and sat outside enjoying the night.

Beau said that was one of his favorite things about the town. There were little places to sit outside everywhere! It wasn't exactly what we had planned to wanted, but we had a great time together, just being lazy with no responsibilities for a few days!

Plan B

Last week I loaded up the kids and headed to the Y for my Zumba class like I do every Monday. Elijah was acting a little tired, but I thought it was due to our busy weekend. While I was getting Sadie out of the car Elijah was standing by the car with his hands on his knees. We started walking to the entrance:
Me: "Elijah, honey, what's wrong?"
Elijah: "I'm just a little sick"
Me: "What's wrong, is something hurting?"
Elijah: "Oh, I just have a little fever."
Me: "Well, are you okay?"
Elijah: "Yeah, I"m fine."

We walk into the gym. While I'm scanning in I hear a sound, I turn around and Elijah has puked all over the floor:
Me: "Elijah! Are you okay?"
Elijah: "Yeah, I need to go to the bathroom." He starts off toward the bathroom. I turn to tell the desk clerk my son just puked on their floor. Then he throws up again in the floor. I drop my stuff, pick up Sadie, grab Elijah's arm, drag him into the bathroom where we make it into the stall just in time for him to throw up some more! A few minutes later when he's done I help him clean up then start walking back to the car. He is arguing the whole why because he wants to stay. He says he feels better. My answer for him is "Well next time throw up in the bathroom or outside if you want to stay. You can't throw up in front of the desk and then get to stay." I know...my words of wisdom impress even me!

Long story longer...We come home and now we're bored. So I came up with Plan B...Fingerpaints.

I got the kids in their swimsuits and set up their studio...


It was a little muggy and my lens kept fogging up...

We're all dirty...what now?

Time to wash up...

Face shot...

Pretty baby...

Pretty baby, still in a daze...

Scroll down if you haven't seen the other new posts...

Guess which one...

A few days ago I could hear the kids giggling in the living room and wanted to see what they were up to.


Sadie puts it in his hand...

He mixes his hands up (not pictured).

"Okay, Sadie, guess which one"...

"Not this one."...

"You got it!!!"...

I loved it! Elijah can be so incredible with Sadie. It is a joy to watch.



Such the entertainer!!

I love this kid.

Hey Mom, look what I made!!

Before we get to that...Just another look at my cutie pie. She loves to have a bow in her hair which everyone thinks is so strange (I guess most girls pull them out).

This was Sadie a few mornings ago...

pajamas and a bow, and if I had taken a full-body-shot you would see that she has her shoes on too!

goofy girl!

I was on Etsy not long ago. They have the cutest stuff! I found this little ensemble and thought it would be so cute for Elijah and Sadie. However, it is $50!! Aimee convinced me I could do it myself and since I have more time than money I thought I'd give it a try. I haven't done the tie shirt for Elijah, but it looks to be super easy and I'll try that this week.

I went to JoAnne's and found some coordinating fabric I like and got started...

After about 2 hours (this is my first time sewing something more than a pillow or curtain) I had a dress...


As you can see its quite big on her. I followed the instructions, but they didn't say how big of a dress it would be and since Sadie was napping I couldn't really measure her.




Just the fact that it was a dress meant that she loved it...

So, a few days later I measured the fabric I had left over and it was just enough to make Sadie a dress more her size. Amy, that means I've got one more Brooklyn's size. Maybe she can borrow it and we can get some pictures of the girls together in matching dresses!!


The finished product more Sadie's size...

Not too bad for a first timer! The second one only took me about an hour.

"Mom, who's that cute baby?"

Precious...

So all the supplies to make the dress cost around $13 (and I actually got 2 dresses out of it). I still have enough of the polka-dot material to make Elijah a tie shirt, I just need to buy a t-shirt. That should be about $5. So, I will have my own Etsy outfits for around $15 instead of $50. Nice

Sorghum Syrup Festival

In June the kids and I joined a group of moms from church to go to Homestead Heritage. We had a great time and learned that every year they do a small festival on Labor Day. You can go to HH and watch them make Sorghum Syrup. If you stay all day you can watch from them harvesting the sugar cane all the way to bottling the syrup. We went for the morning and had a great time.


At HH they use mostly "old school" techniques for everything. After getting to chew on a piece of sugar cane we watched the horses turning the machine that squeezed out all the juice...



Fascinating.

We walked all around HH to show Beau all the different things to look at and all we had learned from our tour in June.

Then we stopped to rest...

And Eliljah got ahold of the camera...

and Beau was being Beau...

savor this moment. A picture where Sadie isn't eating!...

I have found that if your nosey almost 4 year old who has never met a stranger stands around asking guys what they're doing long enough you'll get to see a presentation...

but your sassy 1 year old who has better things to do won't care...

"la la tee deet, when do we eat?"...

"Sadie, come look what this man is making!"

"Is it food?"...

He had Elijah write his name on a board...

I'm not sure if this is something I should be proud of or if this is normal, but my 3 year old can write his name! So smart....

and the man used a special tool that shaves the wood so close his name came off, but it is thin as a sheet of paper...

After having some BBQ for lunch we did not pass up the opportunity for some home made ice cream...

We had a great time. I bought a gigantic jar of honey (for my allergies, can you write that off as a medical expense?) and a small jar of sorghum syrup (which I love and will be buying a larger jar next time). We are hoping to go back the weekend after Thanksgiving for their huge Craft Festival.