Friday, July 29, 2011

TX trip Part 4: fun in Austin

Oy....it is end of August and I am now finishing up our JUNE Texas trip! At this point I am just proud that I am keeping the blog going, even if at a slower pace than I would like. It will eventually all get on there. :) We had such a fun, fast-paced summer. I can't believe it's over. I just finished/survived (ha!) my first week of school! I need to blog the summer bdays, 4th of July, and then probably just a big ol' summer recap. It was so much easier to keep up when I was a mommy of one! But that just means my life is full and I'm out there living it.


Sooo....here we go with Part 3 of our TX trip.

The day after the wedding was Father's Day. The boys had helped me pick out cards for Daddy and Papa before we left on our trip. We agreed instead of presents we would spend the money on doing some fun things in Austin during the day. Below are the boys in their, "I Dig My Dad" shirts with Jay. They love their daddy! Holden chose the Spiderman card with great care. ;)



Holden and Papa playing with his pirate scene magnet set.

We gave Holden some different choices, and he really wanted to explore a "bat cave." We found one called the Innerspace Caverns. They are called this because at the time they were discovered, space exploration had begun. The caves reminded the explorers of outer space, only they were inside the Earth. The boys took a real liking to the headlamps for sale in the gift shop.


Holden and the Wooley Mammoth. Ha!

Papa and Hunter checking out photos of the bats that live in the caves. Their nickname is the "chicken nugget" bats because they are the size and shape of said McD's food.
Getting ready to head down in the tram to the cave entrance!

Papa and Grammy in the tram

Entrance to the cave...a little spooky! Holden was all excited
and said it reminded him of Scooby Doo!
Love this one of Holden and Daddy walking along in the cave. Holden kept hiking up his pants and I finally checked them and realized they are the adjustable waist kind and I had failed to tighten the little belt things. They worked much better after that! You can see him grabbing them in the picture. :)
My buddy and me in the cave

Stalagmites and stalactites in the cave

Grammy and Holden walking through the cave together

Scenes from our cave exploration

Baby Hunter got nice and comfy on Papa's shoulder. I guess the dark, cool cave reminded him of nap time. Papa carried his dead weight through the cave for over an hour. At one point, he was snoring with his mouth wide open! Guess he wasn't too impressed with our tour.

Can you see the little bat? The tour guide (who reminded us of Velma from Scooby Doo! Same looks and voice, took her job VERY seriously...cracked us up!) shone her flashlight on it. We weren't allowed to use flash on our cameras because it can startle them and make them flap around people's heads. Eek!

We went to my Aunt Steph's house for dinner that evening, and enjoyed cooling off in her pool.






Holden was a great helper watering Aunt Steph's flowers. He took his job very seriously. :)


Apparently Papa is the best pillow in the world in Hunter's opinion.

Second nap of the day he took laying on him. :) Papa looks pretty sleepy himself.

My aunt redid her upstairs living room area now that her kids are out of the house. She has TONS of Beatles memorabilia, and turned the room into a black and white Beatles themed room! It is so cool! I loved looking around at everything. These pics don't really do it justice.

Holden and Grammy playing Duplos in the Beatles room.



I had to snap some pics of Hunter during bath time at our hotel.


He is such a little ham!


On another day during our stay, Holden was bound and determined that we were going to find a putt-putt place. Who doesn't want to putt-putt in 100 degree heat indexes? Ha! We did find a quaint little place called "Peter Pan Golf." The boys loved checking out all of the storybook characters.






Does anybody else think the skateboard rabbit is kinda scary??

Family pic by the T-Rex!
We had to get a pic with Peter Pan, too. :)
After putt-putt, we went over to the state capital building. It was neat to look up, up, up into the round top with the star in it. Holden and I went up the elevator and looked down at Grammy, Papa, and Hunter below. Keeping with his trip theme of "baby who sleeps anywhere," Hunter fell asleep in his stroller and slept through this experience as well. We went to a YUMMY little Tex-Mex place called Serranos for lunch.

Holden had spotted a snow cone camper on our drive to putt-putt earlier in the day. Jay had told him we could stop by later. Apparently he was under the assumption Holden would forget. Are all of you moms laughing at this assumption? I know I was! As we were leaving the capital building, Holden pipes up from the back about the snow cone camper. Now here's the thing: we didn't exactly remember where it was at! Jay drove around looking that camper while Holden anxiously peered out the window. We finally did locate it. Hunter was asleep...AGAIN (we wore that boy our on our trip!) so the rest of us chilled (literally) in the air-conditioned van while Daddy and Holden braved the heat once again to enjoy snow cones. I did hop out to snap pictures.
I love that he is wearing his "Chill Out, Dude" shirt with the popsicle on it.

Very appropriate. :)
Playtime fun with Grammy in her hotel room.

We stayed at a Doubletree, and it had fountains in various locations.

The boys LOVED them! Cheap entertainment.

Love them in their little Hawaiian shirts.

Brothers
Cool chair in the lobby.


Cute boys occupying it.


Make a wish, Hunter!

Make a wish, Holden!

Busy little boys
Family picture in the courtyard.
3 generations

Cute one of my parents

Heart!

My energetic, busy, crawling, toddling, tripping, button-pushing, mischief making Hunter


My giggly, happy, enthusiastic, inquisitive, running, jumping, climbing,

snow-cone loving Holden. (Who at age 4 will actually pose for me!) :)



Friday, July 22, 2011

TX trip part 3: the wedding!

Meghan and Travis were married on June 18th, 2011. (One day before Jay's and my 7th anniversary!) :) The wedding was not until the evening, so we just had a laid-back day at the hotel. Here are some of Hunter's shenanigans in the hotel room. He is such an ornery little stinker! Into everything. I brought along the little high chair from Memaw's and so I could strap him in for meals since he DOES NOT SIT STILL.


We stayed at the Double Tree in Austin, TX. We were very happy with it, especially the warm cookie welcome upon checking in! The pool area was one level down from ours and really nice.

Daddy and the boys



Love this one of Hunter and Daddy!



Grammy and Papa enjoying some pool time with the guys.



Family pic

Pool time fun

After naps, we cleaned up and headed to the resort where the wedding would take place. I am a little biased, but I have never seen two cuter guys in suit and ties!!!! ;)


Way overexposed but I thought it was still cute of the 4 of us.

Holden in the elevator. Future heart breaker.



I love this one of the four of us! We are all looking and smiling, and somehow you can't see the sweat pouring off of us from the TX sun. :)


Jay kept Hunter in one of the relatives' suites while the rest of us headed to the wedding. The setup was beautiful! (And mercifully, very air-conditioned! Ha!) The view behind the bride and groom overlooked Lake Travis. I love the flower petals going up eat side of the aisle! On the left is Travis with a big grin on his face headed up to the front. On the right is the mother of the bride, my aunt Steph, and her son, my cousin, Charlie.


My beautiful cousin, Meghan, and my Uncle Kevin walking her down the aisle.

A rear view of the dress. Gorgeous!


Wedding moments
Holden's viewpoint. :) This was his first wedding, and I'd love to say he was an angel...but he wasn't!! He got bored pretty quickly and was doing typical mortifying boy things like blowing on his arm to make fart noises and then giggling. I was to the point that I was threatening him within an inch of his life with my teeth clenched. Somehow, nobody around us other than Papa and Grammy heard him. He got all of these compliments afterwards about what a good boy he was. Crack me up! I just smiled and politely said thank you, then we had a long talk later about appropriate behavior. It is funny now but I was at my wits' end at the time!

Right after that one of Holden, my camera battery died! I was SO mad at myself for forgetting to charge it! The rest of the pics were taken with my cell phone, and then Jay's when mine died. Lol. Not the best quality but at least I captured the moments. Below is Meghan looking gorgeous. I love her dress, the hair clip, and her bouquet.

The little wedding stinker

Family picture after the wedding-love this one! I wish it wasn't with my phone camera because it's a bit blurry, but it's still one of my favorites. I did coordinate Jay, the boys, and I, but Mom and Dad matched us perfectly, too!


Posing for pictures with our side of the family.



Pre-reception/Reception shots
The boys had a BLAST at the reception! They both loved the dance floor, the singers, and the lights. (Meghan and Travis' initials were on the middle of the dance floor.) :)
Holden was quite taken with this cute little girl. He went out and offered her his hand! At first she played hard to get, but then she warmed up and they danced together. At one point, he lost his shoe, and she brought it to him. One of the singers commented that it was the "modern version of Cinderella." ;) Holden tried to impress her by sliding and doing "the worm" on the dance floor. Takes after his daddy. They entertained everyone who was eating near them.


Reception moments


Cutting the cake! Travis was a baseball player, so the groom's "cake" was actually baseball themed cupcakes.

We wish the Pendleys all the best as they embark on married life together!

We feel so blessed to have been a part of their special day.

Arm farts and all. ;)