Family Night at the Ranger Game.... Ella's First one!

On Saturday the 17th, we headed to Arlington with the kids to the Ranger game. Carter was, as usual, so excited to go.... I think he's been 4 or 5 times now. And Ella had never been, but she was excited too! She is quite familiar with the Rangers from the TV (imagine that!), so she seemed to sort of understand where we were going. We left to head out there a little early so we could grab dinner before going to the ballpark. We ate at Boston's... this has become sort of our before game go-to restaurant. We walked in and sat at the table, and Carter said, "Hey, I've been here before with Daddy and Travis!" (That was about 4 months ago... good memory!) So we enjoyed our dinner then went over to the ballpark. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was about 90 degrees on the walk in from the car, but once we were inside and got to our seats (in the shade!), it was so comfortable, not at all like the baseball weather we're used to! It was definitely the perfect night and the perfect game to go to! Ella noticed the field and the players right away, and was really fascinated with it all. She also loved all the music they were playing, and was dancing to every short snipit that would come on. Every time it would go off, she'd say "MORE! more dancing!" Probably withing about 15 minutes of us being there, Eric got her up into his lap because she was dancing non stop and he said, "Maybe they'll put her on the big screen!" Literally before he could get that sentence out of his mouth, I looked up, and THERE SHE WAS! Well, there all 4 of us were, but I was focused on Ella because she was just happily dancing away. Carter saw all of us, and himself, too... so he thought that was pretty cool. He asked me right after that, "Mommy, are we gonna be on that big TV again?" Some people spend years doing silly things and dressing up in hopes of making it onto the park's big screen..... and all Ella had to do was show up looking cute in her pink Rangers shirt and red curls and shake her groove thing. Hard to top that first time park experience!

A few pictures at dinner.

Each of the kids got a Rangers wrestling mask upon entry at the ballpark. Kinda weird, kinda awesome :)

 Love this!

 Made it to our seats, and checking out the view....

 .......not bad!

Had to sneak a pic of this cutie during the National Anthem :)

 

 

 Haha!

 Ella was loving the peanuts we brought. Eric couldn't open them fast enough to satisfy each kid, so at some point Ella got tired of waiting and just started gnawing on it, not even caring about the shell.

 See the hole? Gross!

Carter was probably most looking forward to the promised cotton candy. Ella had never had any before, and I'm pretty sure she thought it was amazing.

 

Both the kids were well behaved and really seemed to enjoy the game. It was such a fun family night... and we look forward to lots more of these in the years to come! 

Back to School Pictures 2013

One of my sweet photograper mommy friends had a cute idea to get the boys together last year for some back to school pictures, and even more fun, to make it an annual tradition! So we did what anyone would do..... dressed them in coordinating outfits and set up a photoshoot! ;)

Here are a few of this year's pictures of our boys, all 4 years old. 

Taken by Laura Tye. :) 

 And for fun, have a look at last year's. 

They've all grown and changed so much!

And a few more Laura took that include all the younger siblings. :)

While we were there (also, because I color coordinated their outfits!), I thought I'd try to snap a few pictures of my two babies. That didn't go so well. Ella was pretty uncooperative, so this ONE, right here, is about as good as it gets, folks. 

 Can you tell that she is saying "Noooooo!" in this picture?
Well, she is. :/

 And it's alllll downhill from there.....

 Serious drama queen here...

I mean, there's not even any tears!! Rotten girl. ;)

Hill Country Vacation - Part 2

The second half of our trip was spent just the 4 of us in San Antonio. We spent 2 days at Sea World, and the rest of the time enjoying the amenities at the resort that we stayed at.

Carter enjoyed all the little kid rides. Can you find him below? And Eric's there too, with a blue hat on :)

Riding with Mommy

Ella was over the moon about the carousel. She requested a "purple one" every time.

Time to see Shamu

Very excited!

Taking a look at the dolphins, or "golphins" as Ella would say

Carter loved everything about the aquarium

 

Here he is making his shark face.... haha!

  Day 2 at Sea World started with carousel rides. LOTS and lots of carousel rides. :/

Carter was excited to meet Franklin

But he was most excited about riding Journey to Atlantis. Eric said he was a little nervous at first, but handled it like a champ, and of course, came off the ride saying how awesome it was! And the best part was that there was literally no line, so we were able to ride several times!

Eric and Carter in the back row.

Carter and Mommy in the back row.

Taking a break from the ride to get splashed

And they got to ride in the front row the last time.

After that excitement, we headed over to the Sesame Street water park area. The kids had fun, but it was crowded so they were good with about 30-40 minutes of playtime before they were ready to move on.

Later that evening we all enjoyed the lazy river back at our hotel.

 

More fun in the pool with Daddy!

Last night there, this little babe was exhausted. Couldn't resist this cute shot of her lounging before bed. I'd have to say though that this would definitely be the best way to end a wonderful family vacation! Our kids are still talking about all the fun we had. I'm so grateful for the time with family, but as always, we were all happy to be back home, too! :)