Girls Trip to Fredericksburg

We decided a mother/daughter trip was in order (highly encouraged by Brad) and while we had plans for a trip last fall, we needed to reschedule, so we fit one in this May. When we looked at rentals, the best weekend seemed to fall on Mother's Day weekend. 

Mom and Heather arrived at our place and then we headed further south to enjoy a visit to Fredericksburg.

Wait, why is there a pasture of dinosaurs?
Oh we are going through Glen Rose...should we go?
Lets do it.

It is a running dialog in our family that Heather has to remind us that SHE,
in fact, was the first one to love dinosaurs, not A.J.
SO, this picture makes me so happy we stopped.
Dinosaur-loving girl stepping in a real-live dinosaur print.

Adventure-loving girl stepping in a dinosaur print.
Feel free to notice or ignore my jeans. ;)

Sisters...you guessed it...stepping in a dinosaur print.

Mom enjoyed the beauty of the trails.

Fredericksburg has an amazing Texas/German history that was so fun to learn about.

Loved this.

Hot tub each night.

History tour. Fun seeing the words in German and English.

I love seeing items from history that I've never seen before.
This was a mechanical music box, made in Germany,
and there was a slot on one side people used to put a penny in to make it play.

Something eye-opening to me was how much they would purchase items from Germany.
It never occurred to me until these tours.

Think the stove was big enough?

Another never-knew item...a Welding Sampler.
The local blacksmith created this revolving letter index to show customers their choices for cattle brands. It also included various cowbells of different tones you could choose for your cattle.

Downtown Shopping

Firepit every night.
Fireflies were in the backyard as well, which felt magical.

German Pancake

Wildseed Farms

The history of the town.

Mom and I took a walking tour and also got a chance to look inside this building.
The people used it as a gathering place for church services, school, festivals and anytime it was needed.

Pizza night.

Heather and I went to hike up Enchanted Rock.
Amazing view on the way there.

Yep. You are hiking up a rock.

Worth the climb.

Heather indulged me and brought her espresso maker.
We had an in-house barista each morning.

Mother's Day breakfast on the back patio before heading home.

Prom

 

• When we laugh together, my heart knows it's a memory in the making.

One of the blessings about homeschooling in Texas is that Texas homeschool moms have fought for this to be amazing, as well as made this SO much fun!

Prom is no different. I'm not one of those moms who really felt like my kids would miss out if they didn't have a prom, but because we have one (literally 20 minutes from home!) we are happy for the kids to go if they choose. We did tell Lorelei we wanted her to wait until her junior year, and after hearing about it for a couple of years and having a batch of friends who was elated to go, she was all about the excitement of prom this year!

These friends had so much attending prom together. I loved seeing them all dressed up, feeling beautiful and having FUN.

Make sure you don't miss Watson's bowtie.
We couldn't resist and surprised Lorelei with it when he came out that day.

These five girls were in Mrs. White's 1st grade class together, so had to get a pic.

Dessert.
Prom includes entertainment, an amazing meal and lots of dancing.
It is a very full night of fun.

After Prom Party.
Brad and I were both very excited to host this. We picked them up together after prom and then they came to our place for games and movies.

Breakfast.
Thankful for these sweet friends and these memories together.

April Adventures

Boys Movie

The boys took in the new Mario movie!

Short Film Project

Lorelei and her friends have been working quite a while on putting together a short film. The Olshevski sisters have taken on the bulk of the planning etc, but Lorelei and Sarah Rose helped edit and plan as well. 

They were thrilled to finally be ready for their first filming day! They had an absolutely wonderful time working on this, and my favorite moment was hearing them cheer with victory and excitement after a good take. This is the most encouraging and cheerful batch of film makers you will ever meet. They had a couple people suggest entering it in a local film festival, so we will see if they decide to do that as well. For now, its just a fun project with friends.

Adventure Club - Cedar Ridge Nature Preserve

We haven't had many repeat adventures yet, but this was such a beautiful hike last year I really wanted to do it again. It did not disappoint! And you know I love any chance to see more bluebonnets! Robin kept track of how far we walked this time and it was our longest hike so far at 5.7 miles! (Including lots of stairs, so we got our work out in!)

This plant looked like it had bubbles coming from it.

Evidence of beavers!

So thankful for this group!

More of natures wonders.

Had to show at least one batch of the many stairs.

Boys Weekend

The boys drove a couple hours east to enjoy a weekend of fun together. They listened to an audio book (Hail Mary), watched Marvel movies each evening, took in a robot combat tournament at LeTourneau University (Makin hopes to compete in that tournament next year), played golf and rounded it out with a stop for Makin to take in some Mario-style go karts.

Scooter Donuts

One of his favorite things to use his scooter for...using his money to buy himself donuts.

Patio Coffee

One of my favorite things about spring is the extra patio time. This particular morning we enjoyed a new flavored coffee from a friend so I got a pic. Patio mornings together aren't as common as I'd like, but I sure enjoy them when we do have them!

Senior Stahl Visit

We were very excited to have a visit from the Senior Stahls! We packed a lot of fun into their visit.

While the boys enjoyed a round of golf with Brad's cousin Tim (eh hem, and forgot to take a picture...) Grandma and I took Lorelei to ManeGait and Grandma got to see the place she has heard so much about. Later that afternoon we fit in some ice cream.

We also enjoyed going to see the Frisco HIS drama which brough us some laughs.

We enjoyed experiencing the Fort Worth Stockyards

Yep. That's Grandma. On a long-horned cow.

We took in a historical tour.
The kids and I have yet to have one of these tours that is the same.

The next day was a rainy Saturday spent at the ICR (Institute for Creation Research) Discovery Center.

Much of our time at home this visit was spent playing cards,
 including teaching Grandma and Grandpa one of our new favorite games, Swoops!

Thank you for a great visit Grandma and Grandpa!

Robot Planning

Makin has various changes he works on to try to improve his robot design. He is still waiting on a tournament locally to compete in soon.

Capture The Flag

A Frisco HIS event that Makin really enjoyed. (I really enjoyed visiting with the moms while they played Capture The Flag!)

April Date

Coffee and conversation questions at the lake. Great way to kick off the week.

Watson

Loves the wind-blown look.

We forgot to desensitize him to the bread maker...

So tuckered out he was falling asleep in her arms.

The dog ate my homework.