Fredericksburg Getaway - July 2014

We recently returned from a little vacation in Fredericksburg, TX. It was very interesting with these three little guys to say the least, but it was so well worth it. Making memories as a family is priceless.

We stayed at the Frederickburg Inn & Suites (thank you, Groupon!) The rooms were nice - nothing fancy, but nice and clean. The location was great! It was just a block from Main Street, so everything was within walking distance. Also, the inn was situated on some acreage, so there was room to run and play outside and a pretty little creek just outside our door. Exploring the grounds was the first order of business after checking in and unloading the car.

We had packed food and drinks for our trip, so we didn't go out to eat for every meal during our stay. But the two spots we did hit were awesome! There wasn't much open for supper on a Sunday evening, but one of the places that was is pictured below. Panda Chinese. YUM. Not only was the food here very fresh and tasty, the service was amazing. We have not been treated that well in a long time. I would totally go back to this place! I got the sweet and sour chicken meal with crab ragoon, egg roll, egg drop soup, crunchies, and fried rice. Oh, I am getting hungry just thinking about that! The servers were friendly, attentive, and quick. We were never more than 1/2 way down in our water cups, and an empty plate didn't sit on our table for long.

After ending our evening with a swim, we finally wound down enough to go to bed. After breakfast the next day, (pancakes, sausage kolaches, bagels and cream cheese, and Cherrios all made their way onto our plates) our time was spent seeing the town. We walked all along Main Street, did some shopping, and had lunch at the Fredericksburg Brewery. Great food! The boys' favorite stores were the big toy store (that had a fort and play house outside) and the joke store. The owner spent quite awhile with us showing off magic tricks. Southern especially was loving it. I think my favorite shop was James Avery. We enjoyed reading all about the history and watching a short video on Mr. Avery. I drooled over jewelry, and Southern even picked out a couple things he wanted to get me. I told him to ask Daddy ;) And, of course, Dustin's favorite stop was the outfitters store.

Fredericksburg has a lot of nice little playgrounds. I was happy to see that most of them had shade covers.

After a hot day spent walking, another dip in the pool to cool off was in order. The boys had a blast swimming, splashing around, and sliding (Remington tried it once). The inn also had a smaller pool with a volleyball net strung over it. And they had a hot tub, fireplace, and TV located outside among the lounge chairs.

We stayed in room 141. It was located just between the creek and the swimming pool - what luck!

We went to the Old Tunnel park to watch the bats emerge Monday evening. It was pretty cool. Dustin and I had been before, but the kids had never seen it (I was actually pregnant with Southern at the time), so a return trip was on our list of must do's this trip. Southern especially was super excited. The last time we saw them, the bats rose up really high in the air, and you could see them flying around everywhere. This time, they kind of just swarmed around right outside the cave opening. There were a few that darted out high, but it was kind of hard to see most of the bats with the naked eye. Luckily we had taken binoculars with us. So the boys took turns looking through them and could see really well. We were the last ones to leave ;)

Day 3 consisted of venturing further out around town.

More playgrounds, fishing, Das Peach Haus, Opa's Smoked Meats, and the Wildseed Farms.

Southern and Remington LOVED these cows. Southern wants to add one to his Christmas wish list.

On our way home, we just had to drive through Luckenbach. It was the kids' first time there. "Let's go to Luckenbach, TX..."

We had one more fishing stop as we headed for home. The boys quickly fell asleep in the car. They had so much fun - and I did too!

1 Year Old

What does a 1 year old look like?

Well, he looks like this....

Yes, we have a ONE YEAR OLD in our house. The first year always flies by, but I think it goes even faster with each additional child. It's hard to believe Baylor is already one.

Mommy and Daddy finally get to meet Baylor

Visiting Baylor in the NICU (where he stayed for 8 days)

Baylor with his great-grandparents

(And aunt, uncle, and cousin)

At Baylor's Baptism, with his Godparents

and grandparents

Look how he has grown!

1 week old

3 months old

6 months old

9 months old

12 months old

At one year old, Baylor weighs just over 20 pounds. He wears a size 4 diaper, size 4 shoes, size 12 month clothes and 18-24 month pajamas. He can pull up and walk with the aid of his walker or anything he can scoot around. He doesn't mind taking a bath with his brothers and loves to play with them. He likes looking through books, playing with balls and cars, sorting things, and opening/closing things. His hair gets curly when it's wet. He still does his bear crawl and sucks on his middle two fingers for comfort. He is very vocal with making noises and growls sometimes. He occasionally says Mama, Dada, or hi but doesn't really know how to use those words just yet. He loves baby food pouches and all sorts of table foods. His favorite fruits are pears, watermelon, blueberries, bananas, and peaches. He loves his Dracky cat.

pulling up

Dracky gets close enough for petting...

but not so close that he can't back away as soon as the excited shrieks start happening!

the bear crawl

He also likes Mommy's homemade pizza!

1,000 books and a hero cat

The boys finished 1,000 books in about 6 months. We were signed up for the 1,000 Books b4 Kindergarten program at our library, and we turned in our final reading logs last week. The boys each won a book to keep, a Whataburger hamburger voucher, and a small toy. They also got their picture posted on the wall in the library. How exciting!

On a very different note, many hours after our happy library visit, we were outside playing during the last moments of daylight. Dustin was in the front yard weed eating with earplugs in as I was with the boys in the backyard. There are two large dogs in the yard next door that bark at us any time we are outside. They are not only annoying but also very dangerous in my opinion as they attack the fence. I don't know if they are just super excited or mean trouble, but if don't think the barking and growling they do is good natured. Dustin has added extra screws to the fence and has replaced boards that have been broken, but there are constantly more weak spots being created as the dogs pounce the fence. 

Tonight we were swinging and the dogs were barking as usual. They started pouncing the fence a little, but when Dracky walked up beside us, they went crazy. I could see snouts and paws as the boards bended, and I just knew they were going to bust through this time. I was holding Baylor so I grabbed Remington and ran with both of them in my arms to the house. I yelled for Southern to run too and he passed us up and opened the door for us. Dracky stood his ground near our side of the fence howling and at one point even hissing at those dogs. I couldn't believe it. He was so brave! He was trying to protect the boys and me. What a great cat! 

Rockport trip part 2

Well our beach vacation was a success! We had so much fun. We spent two evenings out at the hotel pool. We spent one day exploring downtown Rockport. We visited some shops, the aquarium, a few piers, and drove around looking at houses and sights.

We also visited the beach in Rockport. It is Texas' first blue wave beach, and it was very clean (especially compared to Port A - more on that in a bit). The only downfall was that the sand had very small rocks in it, so it wasn't as nice to walk in as the sand we are used to in Port A. But they had little things set up for shade along the shore line, the waves were small and perfect for little ones. The shallows went on for a really long time, also good for little ones. And I loved watching the para sailers. There were so many of them. Baylor and I sat back and watched them for a good while after having our fun in the water. 

After check out (and a trip to Tackle Town), we did some more fishing in Rockport before heading off to the ferry and Port A. 

In Port Aransas, Dustin and the bigger boys went fishing again. But it was hot! So we soon headed over to the condo that the Parks were renting out. They happened to be on a beach vacation as well so we made sure to schedule some time to hang out. We spent cousin time at the pool which was super fun. But we lost Baylor's hat! :( It was a little dark blue shark swim hat that I had bought for Southern when he was a baby, and all three boys wore it. It got left behind as we made our way to the beach, and I remembered about it halfway there but figured I would just grab it on our way back. Sadly, it was no longer there when we retuned. We spent several hours on the beach and were there until sunset. The waves were nice and the sand felt great, but the seaweed was massive. I have never seen so much. There were mountains of it where they had cleared it. There was a big line of it that we had to walk in to get to the water. And the shallows were full of it (causing our bathing suits to be full of it as well)! We watched the sun go down. Remington and Baylor fell asleep on me. Then we packed up and headed for home. It was a long drive! But we made it, and we had fun. 

Rockport Trip - day 1

We are in Rockport on vacation! Dustin finished up the school year on Saturday, and he starts summer school this coming Monday. So when he was invited on a free fishing trip this week, he jumped on it. Someone at the golf course offered to take him and his two top golfers out on their boat today. We decided to turn it into a fishing/family trip combo, so Dustin rode in with the guys in the wee hours of the morning and spent the day fishing. The boys and I finished packing, and left New Braunfels after Southern's soccer camp. We made it down here with just enough time to unpack, eat supper (we tried out a little restaurant overlooking the bay), and hit the swimming pool before it was time to go to bed. 

Dustin didn't have any trouble falling asleep. The boys, on the other hand...

Luckily the two older ones are now asleep. Baylor and I are still bouncing (oh how I wish hotel rooms came with rocking chairs). I think the combination of the late nap they took in the car on the way here plus the added excitement of being somewhere new made for too much fun to sleep. 

Here's hoping we make it up in the morning for the free breakfast - that's my favorite part!