Dallas Weekend

Did I mention September was a very busy month?? A couple months ago they had a raffle at our headquarters and I won a two night stay for a hotel in Grapevine, Texas. We decided to take advantage of this last weekend. We left Bethany about noon, again Zach was really broken up about missing two hours of school, and headed out to Texas. We met my niece Amy and her husband Dayne for the game. Our seats were great and we had a good time even though the Rangers didn't win the game.

We had planned to go to the water park on Saturday, but we decided the weather wasn't the best for it, so we headed to the Grapevine Mall instead. We had a very successful shopping day, finding new shoes and jeans for Zach. We hadn't done much school shopping for him yet because he is growing so fast and has still been wearing shorts and sandals to school. I can't imagine where he gets that from...... (If I ever have to work in a real office and dress up again I'll cry!) We also found some new books for all of us at the bookstore, so it was a great day for all.

After we finished at the mall we headed out to the Grape Fest to meet Wendy's Aunt Jenny and Uncle Kelly. There were lots of craft booths, wine tasting and bands to listen to. After spending a couple hours wandering around we decided to head out to dinner at Chuy's (Mexican food, go figure!). After dinner we headed back to the hotel and played some card games and read until it was time for bed.

Sunday morning we slept in and then headed downstairs for a leisurely breakfast and some time in the hot tub. It was a perfect relaxing morning. After our hectic travel schedule, it was nice to just be lazy and have some down time. On the way home we stopped at Gainesville at the outlet mall and this was a really sad stop. The outlet is almost completely empty, but I found a running shirt at the Reebok store and we got some chocolate at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I guess I can't complain about that stop too much!

Sunday was wrapped up by watching the Cowboys lose. Always a good way to end a weekend.

Introducing Bailey Marie Burns

On July 4th my nephew Aaron and his wife Amanda welcomed their baby girl Bailey Marie. Life has been so busy since then we hadn't had a chance to go see them until a few weeks ago. Finally timing worked out that Aaron and his family were going to be at my sister Jeanie's house in Andover, so we packed up the Blazer and headed out to see them.

Bailey is simply precious and Aaron and Amanda seem like natural parents. We got to hold her and spoil her lots. Zach was a little more nervous around her than India, probably because she is still pretty little. The fact that every time he tried to hold her she was fussy probably didn't help.

The weekend was spent relaxing and catching up with the family. We also got to meet Tyler my niece Melissa's boyfriend. This was great, we have never had a chance to meet him either, since he is living back in Canada now. Jeanie had a BBQ Saturday night and my other sister Marj and her kids came for dinner. It was a nice time just catching up with everyone. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Labor Day

Labor Day brings our annual ritual of going to Albuquerque for the Bernallio Wine Festival. This year was a little different because my brother by another mother Noel and his family decided to join the festivities.

We left early Friday morning and yes, Zach was crushed about having to miss a day of school. After we got to Albuquerque we ran a few important errands, such as buying salsa and Pinon coffee. After checking into the hotel we headed out to Ragin' Shrimp, one of our favorite places to eat. We had planned to ride the tram to the top of Sandia, but the weather did not cooperate. After dinner we decided to call it an early evening because Saturday was going to be a full day.

Saturday morning Noel and I got up early to do a 10 mile run. I was in the middle of my training for the Spirit of Survival 1/2 marathon and I didn't want to get off track. Noel was nice enough to accompany me on the run. Let me just say, there are a lot of frickin hills in Albuquerque and there is not as much oxygen in the air!

After a quick shower and some breakfast we headed out to the Albuquerque Zoo and Aquarium. The weather was perfect, not too hot and a slight breeze. We hadn't seen the zoo in a few years and it was a really nice day. Zach and Wendy feed the birds, and it was the funniest thing. Both of them wound up having birds land on their head, but neither one got pooped on, so life was good! I will say, the train between the zoo and the aquarium is quite possibly the slowest moving train ever. If you happen to be there, either drive between the two or get a snack and a drink and sit inside one of the covered cars. We had lunch at the Shark Reef Cafe at the aquarium and I was nicely surprised. The food was really good and the prices were reasonable. It was a very cool set up, one wall is the back side of the big tank, so you can watch all the fish swimming around while you eat.

Zach was really cute with Noel's kids, Tristan and India. He is very intrigued by India and wanted to push her stroller lots while we were at the zoo. He did a great job playing with Tristan throughout the weekend and we couldn't have been prouder of him. Tristan wanted to ride with us all weekend so he could hang with Zach.,

After the zoo Zach rode back to the hotel with Noel while Wendy and I ran some more important errands such as buying green chile and more wine. We also hit up Buffalo Exchange, which is a used clothing good store. I have the best luck finding stuff there! I got a like new peacoat for only $25. Sweet! The evening ended up at Los Cuates, a yummy Mexican food restaurant. Wendy's best friend Kim joined us for dinner and good times were had by all!

Sunday started with a great breakfast at Wecks. If you ever go there, the "little burrito" on the kids menu should really be called the plate size burrito and the three pancake plate is enough pancakes to feed two grown adults! The entire table shared Zach's pancakes and I think Tristan only ate about 1/3 of his burrito. The food was delicious and prepared us all to enjoy lots of wine later. After breakfast, we picked up our friend Kat and headed out to the festival.

We were blessed with another fabulous day of weather, although a little cooler would have been ok. The kids got to do some rides while the grown ups got to taste some wine. Overall, I think a good time was had by all. About half way through the afternoon Noel took the kids and relax on the blanket (ie play video games!) while the girls continued the wine tasting. After the festival closed we headed to Sadie's for more yummy Mexican food. It was a perfect ending to our great weekend.

Final Days of Summer

I can't believe how fast the summer seemed to go. About a week after we got back from vacation Zach come home from China. Larry's TDY back to the states did not work out, so Zach flew back home by himself. He had to change plans in Chicago, and I was super nervous about it, but he did great. We paid the unaccompanied minor fee and an airport employee helped him get through customs, took him to the room to wait and then made sure he got to his plane on time. He said it was a little scary at first, but mostly just long. There was another boy by himself on the plane from Beijing, so they sat together and chatted some.

Zach was home for about three weeks before school started. He filled his time playing with friends, swimming at a local park in Bethany and selling lemonade at a stand in our front yard. He was very cute with his stand. He sold lemonade and trading cards to people walking by. He might be a great salesman some day, he wasn't scared at all to ask everyone who was going by if they wanted to buy something. Here he is hard at work.

I hope everyone's summer was filled with just as much fun time with family and friends as ours was.

Wrapping up Vacation

After our amazing trip through the bottom of the Grand Canyon we finished out our time in Vegas playing Blackjack and going to a show at New York, New York. When we first booked our vacation I thought we would have plenty of time in Vegas, perhaps too much for the amount of money we were willing to spend! On our last night, however, all I could think was that it sure would be nice to have one more day.

Friday morning we got up relatively early and started out towards Farmington, New Mexico. Both of Wendy's parents birthdays are in July, so we were heading to take them to dinner and spend the night there. On the way there we stopped at Four Corners where we stood in four states at once. We drove a northern route, through Utah and Colorado and it was a very pretty drive. Dinner was great, went to Outback and had steak followed by a trip to Dairy Queen for dessert (This was a request by me since we don't have Dairy Queen in Oklahoma City). It was a nice evening and I know Wendy loved spending the time with her parents.

Saturday morning we headed out to Albuquerque to spend some time with friends before we had to face the real world and head back to Oklahoma City. We ate some great food, did some shopping and had some time to relax. Sunday came all to soon and it was back on the road. Although, like all vacations it ended too soon, we had a great time and were able to not leave too much money in Vegas!

Here are the last of the pictures from the rafting trip.