Bayou Bend Adventures

The Padillas and the Morgans took a trip to Bayou Bend to see the beautiful house and gardens.  One Sunday a month is Family Day and they have demonstrations and a tour of the home.  The kids loved running through the gardens and climbing the huge trees and eating all the cookies & lemonade they could get their hands on.  The kids even learned to file the bark off branches to make their own walking stick (what a perfect "toy" for our kids!?).  We walked all the garden paths and the kids enjoyed shaking the terrifying suspension bridge as we walked across.  Great way to spend a day making memories! ;)

The Bunny & The Bennetts Come to Town

The Morgans were thrilled to have Aunt Lori, Uncle Cody and Lauren join us for the Easter holiday. The four ladies had lots of fun girlie time going to get our nails done, having lunch and going to see Mirror Mirror.  The guys had their golf time and a few fun home repairs. We even got some adults only time when the Padillas joined us for an adventure to Alamo Drafthouse to see Hunger Games and consume mass quantities of adult beverages (well at least this is what the boys did)!
On Sunday, we had a lovely Easter brunch followed by a backyard egg hunt, Easter dinner and a confetti egg fight (notice that Aunt Lori never spilled a drop of her beverage).  Even Maggie got in on the fun!

Noon Years at Lulu's 2011

One of our most fun holiday traditions is the Noon Year celebration at Lulu's on New Years Eve.  There are tons of activities for the kids: crafts, face painting, sand castle contest, magician, beach ball drop and best of all noon year "fireworks" which consists of TONS of large bubble wrap rolled down all the aisles of the restaurant and then jumped on by the kids after the countdown!
Cody & Tim usually leave the condo around 9am to get us a good table and Lori & I bring the kids around 10am, grab ourselves a Loopty Lu (because its never too early to start celebrating) and take the kids around to the different activities.  Then we switch with the guys who take them around for another exploration or to watch the magic show, while Lori & I enjoy another tasty drink and some of the best fried okra!
Fiona, of course, never ceases to provide us all with comedic relief: While standing in line for face painting, Fiona was trying to decide what she should ask the face painter to paint: lion?, dragon? skull? "All fabulous suggestions!", I say, "But she may only give you a few things to choose from!"  Fiona scowls.  When her turn comes, the lady says "I can do do flowers, a butterfly, a rainbow or swirls."  To my complete surprise, my daughter yells "Yes, SWIRLS!!!".  "Wow!!", I think. "Maybe she is becoming more girly.  When the masterpiece was complete, I take a picture of both kids: Liam with his skull and Fiona with her swirls.  Fiona asks to see the picutre and her reaction was priceless: "WHAT!?!  That doesn't look like a squirrel!!??"  Yep...that's my girl...was probably thinking she would be sporting an awesomely rabid squirrel on her cheek.  Sigh...
Couldn't ask for a better day!  Cheers!!