Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Fun, sun, TEXAS!

This past week we decided to take a spontaneous trip to Texas!  It all came together really fast.  Two weeks ago we took the offer from Reid's Aunt Mary and Uncle Jeff to stay at their newly purchased lake house, with them.  Reid's boss agreed to give him 4 days off.  Little did we realize that Memorial Day was Monday, so we ended up being able to stay in Texas from Tuesday until yesterday (Monday).  It was incredibly relaxing and fun.  It was a week without television, computers, and schedules.  We were on lake time. 
Part of the joy of the lake was seeing Jack enjoy his vacation to the fullest.  He did and said SO many hilarious things.  I'll do my best to recap.
Tuesday (the day after I PASSED my NCLEX, nurse licensing exam --woohoo!), we loaded up the car and left for Texas at 0400.  We stopped in Oklahoma City, at the Zoo for a few hours.  It was almost the halfway point and a great opportunity to walk around and get some exercise.  13.5 hours in a car is a LONG time!  I love zoos and I think Jack is inheriting that from me.  He loved running around and seeing all the animals.  Reid thinks zoos are all the same and he fears that I'm going to make him go to every zoo in the US.  (Maybe not all, but several)  :).  On the contrary, I saw several animals I have never seen at a zoo!  We saw Harpy Eagles and anteaters, brown bears, and HUGE buzzards.  Jack loved pointing out those animals because Diego, the NickJr character, saved the Harpy Eagle and an anteater.  It was great to see him regurgitate that information.  He was telling me all about what they eat and where they live. 
Jack at the entrance to the Oklahoma City Zoo:
 Jack walked right up to this window and tried to hug the bear:
 After the zoo, we stopped for a picnic lunch and headed out south again.  The zoo was also incredibly useful in the fact that it knocked Jack out for a long nap! 
We arrived in Canyon Lake, TX around 9pm Tuesday evening.  We were happy to be out of the car and got acclimated to the lake house.  The next morning, the adventures began.  Jack took like a fish to the water.  He was swimming early mornings with Aunt Mary, almost every day.  He spent as much time in the water as we could.  By the end of the week he was swimming from the floating island to the shore, from person to person, over to the jump rock, and every where he could.  He got to ride on a tube with his 2nd cousin Neal behind the jet ski, he was on the sea-doo (or "skied" as Jack says) with his dad, road on a boat with the neighbors, and jumped off the jump rock multiple times.  He had so much fun throwing rocks in the water and finding seashells.  He would find 2 shells together and he said, "Look mom, 2 shells together...it's a clam!"  Then he promptly broke them apart with a big rock.  And throwing rocks apparently never gets boring for a 3 year old.  Every morning he requested to "go throw rocks" or "swim with Aunt Mary".  :)
Jack loves Texas and Texas-shaped chips:
The first time we went down to the shore, Jack was so excited to get in and he just stripped off his clothes and went in, in his undies.  He also learned to farmer pee while we were there.  All week he thought it was the coolest thing to pee into the lake from the shore.  He would scream "Ah, I have to go pee" and then run to the shore and whip it out and stick his little belly out and watch himself with pride at the perfect stream.  While I don't condone public displays of private parts, this was hilarious.  You couldn't help but laugh.  He was so excited and proud.  Once he was done, he just tucked it back in and went back to the water!
My little fishy- climbing rocks, finding shells:
 This was the first time he went swimming.  He learned to "launch" off the shore and swim out to Aunt Mary:
By the end of the week he was swimming on his own (with life jacket of course).  Here he is swimming with Neal, over to the jump rock.  He learned from Aunt Mary to say, "Move out of my way water, move out of my way!"  One time he yelled, "Momma look at me, I'm like Nemo!"  I loved watching his little swimmer traits come out.  :)
 Here is a view from Mary and Jeff's lake house deck.  Just beautiful:
One day we spent the morning at the local Children's Museum.  It was really cool.  This is another thing I loved as a child and I might drag Reid to several over the course of our kids lives.  :)  This one had a spaceship, grocery store, campout, cave, ranch, bank, art room, human body/hospital, etc.  It was so much fun.  Here is Jack dressed up in a spacesuit.  He recently learned about planets and loved playing at the control desk of the spaceship:
 Jack doing a little grocery shopping:
 A family picture before we left for home.  I loved being able to experience this with my boys. 
This trip was much deserved after this long year of school-work and splitting my time between my husband, baby, and school.  It was a great way to start our summer off and lots of fun making so many memories.  On the way home Jack couldn't stop asking "When are we going back to Texas??"  So, here's hoping for another trip soon!
Until next time...

1 comment:

  1. looks like you guys had so much fun! hope to see you all soon

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