Joy Ride

In keeping up with our annual back to school date, Shawn and I headed to Austin yesterday for what is one of my favorite dates yet!!!

We started at Rocket Electric Bikes and they are located super close to the trail that goes around Lady Bird Lake so we decided to ride that trail.  It was 12 miles longs but with electric bikes, I knew it wouldn't be too much of a challenge.

It was SO MUCH FUN!!!!  I would estimate that I peddled about 1/8 of a mile of the 12 miles!  I had the bike going as fast as it would most of the time and it was just plain fun!!!!

And then this place happened.  I did something I haven't done since elementary school....I wrecked the bike!!!  I was trying to turn around in a tight space with gravel and Shawn says he thinks I pulled back on the throttle accidentally and I just wiped out....like face to the ground wiped out.  Thankfully I wasn't really hurt and no one(I hope!) saw it.  I just got back up on the bike and was a little more careful with the turns!!!

A man from Denmark who had just moved here, took our picture!  I got to welcome him to Texas!

Super cool bike sculpture we saw along the way.

It took us a little over an hour to do the trail.  Then we headed to the first food truck we ever went to and one that we love dearly!!!  As usual it did not disappoint!

We finished the date with of course, Amy's.  No better way to end a date!

1st Day Interviews

Levi's 1st day 2nd grade from Emma Montandon on Vimeo.
Ava 1st day of 5th grade from Emma Montandon on Vimeo.
Elle First Day 8th grade from Emma Montandon on Vimeo.

Treat Yo' Self

I took off from Shipt today to have a day all to myself.  What did I do all day???  Here ya go:

Started off at the Dermatologist getting a signed piece of paper for Levi's nurse at school so she can give him his mosquito ointment when he needs it...he's still very allergic!  Blah.

After that I headed to Joann's.  I needed to hunt down a pattern and fabric for a Christmas gift for the girls....it's going to be EPIC.  (It better be...I spent a lot of $$)

Next, I headed to Michael's to get some spray paint for a project I'm almost finished with.  The plan was the spray paint today, but the can said to spray it in low humidity in room temperature....neither of those things is remotely close to what it feels like outside right now.

Then I met Shawn at Cane's, which I dearly love, for a quick lunch date!  It was funny...both of our shirts were subliminal messages to the kids...Shawn's said "Go Places" and mine said "That's All Folks!"

Then I had for a daily trip to HEB to pick up a random assortment of things I needed at the house.  I was in and out QUICKLY!

Headed to the carwash next, to wash off all the salty grime from our time at the beach last weekend.

Back to home finally, to make my traditional first-day-of-school chocolate chip cookies.

Then I made dinner, a big time favorite for all the family.  I knew this would be a good comfort dinner for all of them.

Up to my room to take care of the laundry I was too lazy to put up earlier this week.  It felt good to get it all put away finally!

With about 15 minutes till time to go pick up the elementary kids, I plopped (literally) onto the couch and watched a show I didn't care about, just to give my brain and body a break.

Shawn came home and went with me to pick up the kids.  Oh how I didn't miss the car line at school.

And then the real stuff began.  Hugs. Stories. Papers. Dinner. Showers. Cleaning Up. Zzzzzzz

Teacher Let the Mules In

Today, the house became quiet and still again, after almost 3 months of straight up chaos.  It was a little unnerving for at least the first 27 seconds.  It's been a great day today for everyone!  Here's our pictures from the first day of school.

2nd Grade

5th Grade

8th Grade

After school cookie!

H2 O-yeah!

It's hotter than ....almost anything here so water is the only answer at this point.  On that note, we have been to the pool, lake and beach in this past week.  Our friend John invited us to the lake this past week and of course we jumped at the chance!  I just love riding around on his boat and watching the sunset!

Friday, we left to see our friends that moved away.  Fortunately they moved to the beach so we left VERY early Friday morning and spent time with them, before turning back around Saturday afternoon and coming home!

Finding the tiny bit of shade

All the hermit crabs!!!

Sweet Brookie and icecream.  Two of my favorite things!

Friends for life!!!  

  Love for life

3 girls, 3 boys

This is how I do oceans.

3 days of summer left....what else can I pack in???

Camp Grandparent

This was our 7th year to do Camp Grandparent!  It is a week that the kids AND THE PARENTS look very forward to each year.  I would say that the kids are as excited if not more, than they are for Christmas.  It's a BIG DEAL.  So while the kids are away, Shawn and I get to have lots of fun too!!!  Here's the highlights of our week without kids!

We started in Corsicana on Friday!  We met up with Gramme and gave hugs and told the kids bye!!!  We all peeled out of the parking lot as fast as we could....headed in opposite directions. ha!

Shawn and I always stop at Vitek's in Waco on our way back home.  This is all that was left.

We seriously vegged the rest of the day.  We watched afternoon TV and took naps and did nothing and it was glorious!

On Saturday, we went to the Domain to try a new taco place called The Velvet Taco.  We love trying new places and we love tacos and this place was unique and pretty good...Shawn loved it dearly!  They had a shrimp and grits taco that was pretty good!  After that we headed to Amy's Icecream and it never disappoints.

On Monday, we drove to Caldwell to witness the adoption of our friends newest son!  It was wonderful to be a part of.  We were in a roadtrip state of mind so we headed down to San Antonio to hunt down some Mexican style shirts for me.  We found some great ones!  On the way home, we stopped at Baskin Robbins for ...more icecream of course. 

On Tuesday, Shawn found a place called Krause Springs that was SUPER cool!!!!  We had a great time there and only wish I would have brought a raft to float on!  We even ran into a girl that we taught at Camp Blue Haven these past two summers and hung out with her and her family some!  

I declared Wednesday, "Me Day."  I didn't want to go do anything.  I just wanted to be at the house all by myself all day.  It was glorious.  I truly LOVE being at the house by myself!!!

Thursday, we went to Via313 for dinner and took it out to Zilker Park to watch the Wizard of Oz and it was wonderful!  It wasn't over until 11 pm...and then the LOOONG drive home.  We got home around midnight and were exhausted but it was a great day!

On Friday, we tried out a place called Full House BBQ which is a food truck here in town.  This place is right next to our church building and it was REALLY good!  I'm sad that I haven't found it till now!!  After lunch, we witnessed 2 more adoptions with the same family from Monday!  They adopted their 2 older sons!!!  That was also wonderful to be a part of!

Saturday morning, we left bright and early to pick our kids up in Corsicana from Paul and Carolyn.  I was a little nervous and a lot excited to have all my chicks back under my wing!  After gathering all of their stuff from grandparents, we headed for home.  We decided to try out Twisted Root and it was GREAT!  Other than the floor feeling like a fly-paper trap, the inside of the restaurant was cool and the food was good!  The kids were very excited to be back with us and we were happy to hold them close again!  Here's a picture in front of a mural at Twisted Root.

Saturday afternoon, we all headed to the library to load up on books one last time.  At some point Levi came over to me and sat in my lap and was VERY content to let me snuggle him.  

Elle's favorite things about CG straight from her mouth: "sleeping with Gramme, playing dress-up with Nana, painting with Poppy, Playing with Mamaw's shoes, swimming with Papaw"

Ava's favorite things about CG straight from her mouth: " I liked going to the bird area at the zoo with Nana and Poppy, I liked relaxing and swimming with Papaw and Carolyn, and I liked going swimming with Gramme because she swam with us and her coffee cake."

Levi's favorite things about CG straight from his mouth: "Going to the waterpark with Poppy and Nana, Watching the Jungle Book with Gramme, and going to the pool at Aunt Cindy's with Papaw and Carolyn and also getting a cookie with them while we were waiting for Mommy and Daddy.