Weekend Vacation!

We left for a weekend getaway today after Mike got off work.  Mark, Angela, and Jayden are meeting us in San Antonio for a weekend at Sea World!  Mike was driving (so I didn't take his picture)...but here's me excited to have a weekend getaway!

Here's Brody excited about seeing his cousin and going to Sea World...

And here's Barrett...just chillin'...

The drive to San Antonio was full of excitement.  Yes, we made 3 stops (on our 5 hour journey...1 to eat and 2 potty breaks), but the boys did really well on the car trip.  The big excitement happened when we hit San Antonio.  Just 8 miles from the hotel (which is AWESOME!!! - Thanks Ann!!!) we ran into some unavoidable construction.  There wasn't an exit that we could take, so we had to sit and wait.  It took us 1.5 hours to go .5 miles turning our 5 hour trip into a 6.5 hour trip!  They have 4 lanes of highway traffic going down to one lane to exit and use the access road (which is also under construction and has gone from 3 lanes to 1).  It was frustrating to be soooo close to the hotel yet move only inches closer every minute. 

We finally arrived at the hotel and now the boys are sleeping soundly.  We're all excited about the fun that awaits us at Sea World tomorrow!

For the record book

I think I'm ready to say that Barrett's (daytime) potty trained!  Even though he's woken up dry every morning for the past week, I'm still scared to put him in undies at night.  I'm perfectly fine with one diaper a day...just so I don't have the middle of the night wake up for a wet bed. 

I've started venturing out with him in underwear and he's been telling me when he needs to go potty (and will hold it until we get there)!  He only had one accident our entire Kansas trip (and that one was my fault).  He even gets out of the pool to go potty! 

The only difficult part is that he's so small that he can't get on or off the potty by himself!  It's ok.  I don't mind helping.  In fact, I love listening to him talk while he goes potty.  I also love how every time I get him off the potty he says, "Good job Barrett!"  Guess he's proud of himself too!

Verification

On Monday, Kristin (the adoption director with Covenant Kids) called to tell us that we are officially verified!  This means that all our paperwork and home study have been approved and all training and other requirements have been fulfilled.  It took much longer than anticipated (8 months rather than the 3-5 they projected), but we're finally there. 

So what does this mean now?  It means now we can just pray and wait.  It could be tomorrow or it could be 2 years from now, but (hopefully) one day we'll get the call telling us that a birth parent has picked our family to be their child's forever family.

Grapevine Vintage Train Ride

I'm going to preface this post by saying that I took over 115 pictures of our train adventure and was able to narrow it down to 20 for this post.  So 20 may seem like photo overload to some of you...but it could've been a LOT more! lol  Now on to the post...

Yesterday Barrett left for a weekend vacation with Daddy Steve and Namaw to Huntsville, Alabama.  Daddy Steve is teaching a conference in Huntsville next week and since Barrett's still under 2 years old (meaning he can fly free) they wanted to go a few days early and make a memory with him like they did with Brody when he was almost 2.  (They took Brody to Colorado Springs in '08.)  This meant that Brody was an only child for the weekend!  Mike and I wanted to do something special with him, so we bought tickets for a vintage train ride from Grapevine to the Stockyards in Ft. Worth.

The train ride was a surprise for Brody and I think it about killed him that we wouldn't tell him what we were going to do!  He was really excited when we pulled up at the train depot and parked.  He asked, "Are we going to get to ride on a real train?!?"  (I guess the little train by the Ft. Worth Zoo doesn't count as "real"?)

We waited on the platform for the train to arrive.  You should have heard the excitement from all the kids when the train came into view!

Brody and Mike watching for the train.  (I really posted this picture so you could see how hot my hubby is!  He and Caleb have been working out a lot lately and I love how defined his guns are now!!)

Our attempt at a family picture.  I know Brody has a cheesy smile and you can probably tell that Mike just said, "Enough pictures already!"...but this was the best I could do!

On the way to the Stockyards we ran into a little problem...train robbers!!!! 

Brody was a little worried when the outlaws boarded the train and started demanding that people hand over all their money.

We told him that they were just pretend outlaws and after they handed him some fake money and a Deputy badge he was excited about the adventure.  He asked me to tell him some stories about a real train robbery...so we spent some time telling stories of the Old West.

The pictures below show some of the beautiful countryside we passed on the trip.  I'll be honest and say that I expected most of the ride to be through the countryside...but instead a lot of it took us behind stores, through alleys, and overlooked peoples' backyards.  However, if I only post the pictures of the pretty sights...maybe that's how we'll remember it?! 

As we pulled into Stockyard Station we joined the hustle and bustle of Saturday afternoon shoppers.

We browsed through several stores and I fell in love with this hat!  It looks sooooo cute on Brody!  The bad thing is that is was $30.  I know that may not seem like a lot...but Mike and I just couldn't bring ourselves to spend $30 on a hat (instead we spent $5 on a pop gun that Brody enjoyed a lot more than he would've enjoyed a hat...but still...isn't it just too cute?!?)

It was a very warm summer day in Texas, so we decided to get a snack and something to drink at Riscky's BBQ.  Just as we finished our snack, we noticed people lining up on the street out front.  We joined the crowed and learned that we were waiting for the longhorn cattle drive.

We did some people watchin' as we waited.  This lady caught my attention and I couldn't help but take a picture.  Doesn't she look like she has a cool story?

The event we'd all been waiting for...

Then it was time to head back to the train station. 

This time when we heard "All Aboard!" we bypassed the more open train car (with wooden seats) for the train car with smaller windows and plush, padded seats.  It was much more comfortable...but I would recommend a train ride in the fall, winter, or early spring rather than the heat of the summer!

The sun might have been warm, but it made for some neat pictures!  We splurged on some taffy at the candy store in the stockyards and that held Brody's attention for a while on our return train ride.

Even though it was hot and the views out the window weren't as majestic as if we'd been on a train ride through the mountains, it was a great day.  We had so much fun spending some alone time with our oldest son. 

 

We had one more surprise in store for Brody after we left the train depot.  Tyler and Ann live very close to Grapevine.  They were hosting a dinner for their small group and had invited us to join them.  Brody was so excited when we pulled up at their house.  We had fun seeing them and getting to know some of the people in their small group.  Brody had fun playing with the other little kid there and of course with his uncle and aunt.  It was after 9:30 before we headed for home and we knew Brody was worn out.  He was fast asleep in the backseat within 5 minutes. 

 

What a fun day!  I love my family!

Jeep Family

I guess some of you would be interested in see the reason for our trip to KS!  We stopped by Caleb & Audria's on Thursday night to show them our new Jeep.  They have 2 Jeeps (a Wrangler and a Liberty), so Caleb set up the camera to get a "family picture"!  We were just missing Tyler & Ann's Jeep Cherokee and my aunt Cindy's Liberty & Cherokee...

Proof I was there too...

I just realized that I wasn't in a single picture from our trip to KS!  I wanted to give you proof that I was there too...so here's a picture I took of myself when we pulled into our driveway Thursday evening.  I was soooo happy to be home!  It was a long drive home on Thursday...but we made it!  The boys and I had a fun (unexpected) vacation to Kansas. We can't wait to see Grammy again in a few weeks for Barrett's birthday!

Randy & May - Wednesday in KS

We left the square on Wednesday and stopped by Randy & May's house for a visit.  Randy pulled out pictures from his scouting days with Mike and May went to work spoiling the boys (notice the HUGE sucker on the couch beside Barrett and the package of Oreos on his lap!  The sugar high they got as a result of May's love kept them up for quite a while once we got back to Grammy's!)

Randy also showed us the quilt he had made out of his Boy Scout shirts.

Rod (Grammy's boss) stopped by to visit while we were there.  The boys got him to play paddle ball with them (another gift from May).

 

Around the Square - Wednesday in KS

After we had pizza, we decided to walk around the square of Mike's hometown.  Brody and Barrett crawled around for a while on one of the benches that Mike made for the square when he was in high school.  It's always neat for me to see these benches and know that Mike made them!

Mike was excited to see (in the pictures when we got home) that there were finally some flowering vines growing on the trellis.  That was in his original plan, however, this is the first time we've visited and actually seen anything growing on them.  The purple flowers were beautiful!

Before long the boys found something more interesting than a bench...a toad!  They chased the toad around for 15-20 minutes.

Every time they touched the toad it made whoever touched it jump (of course it made the toad jump too) and then everyone would die laughing!

A picture of Barrett's belly laugh from the back (notice how he arches his back and sticks out his belly to laugh really hard!)

Brody laughing so hard he was almost crying!  Barrett looks ready to pull out his six shooters and just shoot the toad!

When the toad finally eluded the boys, we crossed the street to the park in the middle of the square.  There were many things there to get the attention of little boys...

When the splashing in the fountain got intense, we took the boys' shirts off so they'd have something dry to wear home!

Brody decided to run down the sidewalk to the fountain...

then Barrett wanted to run with him.  Notice Brody has his hands in the the "I didn't push him!" defensive position and Barrett is looking back and me and Grammy to make sure we saw that Brody pushed him down!

One time when Brody ran back to the fountain to splash he fell in head first!  Thankfully he caught himself before he went all the way in...but he was soaked!!!

 

Much to the boys dismay, we finally decided it was time to go. 

 

Hudson Cream Flour - Wednesday in KS

When we got back to Grammy's house after the zoo, it was time for Barrett to take a nap.  I decided Brody could skip his nap and go do something fun with Grammy.  First they went to the park to play and then they went to the flour mill in Hudson to go on a tour. 

One of the supervisors there is a long time family friend.  Randy was Mike's Boy Scout leader and could tell hours of entertaining stories about adventures he's had with Mike. 

Grammy said that Brody was on shy mode at the flour mill.  He didn't talk (and from the looks of the pictures didn't even smile).  That was actually one of the first things he told me about the flour mill..."I didn't talk to Randy."  When I asked him "why?" he replied, "Because I didn't really know him."

The pictures are not proof, but he said he really did have fun!  He brought home some bags of flour and said that Randy told him I was supposed to make cookies with the flour and then blog about them.  I haven't made the cookies yet...maybe after we get the house back in order (how is it that being gone for a few days makes it so hard to catch back up on housework?!)  I was very excited about getting Hudson Cream Flour.  I always bought Hudson flour in KS and was befuddled when I went to the grocery store for the first time in TX and they didn't carry it!  I wasn't sure what to buy!

Barrett woke up from his nap just minutes before Grammy and Brody walked in the door.  Everyone was hungry so we headed to the local pizza joint (Humble Pie) for dinner.  The boys were excited to eat pizza!

(Side note:  I just noticed Barrett's right eye in the picture below.  Wow.  Please keep his eyesight in your prayers.  We go back to the dr in August.)