I'm baaaaaack

Well, technically, I have been back since Thursday-just enjoying my little hiatus.

The girls and I traveled to Fort Worth last Monday, June 1, to celebrate my sisters 30th birthday.

Yep, just me and the girls. 6.5 hours in the car, just the 3 of us.

It was surprisingly not too bad. One day, I might even try it again. But, not for a while. I like being the co-pilot and letting someone else captain.

So, we arrived just in time for the big party-

So excited to see the birthday girl, Aunt Marty. (Why does Nora ALWAYS insist on putting her hand beside her mouth whenever she smiles for the camera?)

I have a million pictures just like this one...me, my sister, and my cousins. Can you guess who was blessed with the "tall" genes? One guess....

Yummy, doesn't that cake look wonderful!

I know of two little girls who were dying to get there little hands on it.

My dad drove up from Austin for Marty's party. Oh, that is where she got her height. Hello, where are my tall genes?

Yummy, chocolate cake!

Our second day in Fort Worth we had planned to spend poolside. Sadly, the weather did not want me to work on my tan. It rained all morning, so we headed to an indoor play area, Incredible Pizza. I had never been to an Incredible Pizza before but was very impressed! It has everything. The only drawback was that 1/3 of the Fort Worth schools decided to have a field trip on the same day and the place was PACKED. At least the toddler area was free from public school children.

Thankfully, on our 3rd day, we were able to spend the day at the pool! Both girls loved it and Nora is already asking to go back.

Of course, one of the best parts of going to Fort Worth, in Nora's opinion, is getting to spend time with her cousin, Bailey. They are quite the pair! I love watching them interact. They are both 3 and play really well together. I enjoy getting to hang out with Bailey's mom too!

My step-brother and his wife have two children, Trooper (2) and McKayla (newborn). Drew is in the army and overseas right now. Trooper had been spending a few weeks with my mom and step-father and our visit overlapped some. He was such a cutie and Elyn really enjoyed getting to play with him. He is such a good boy and just went with the flow. And from the looks of this picture, really enjoyed getting some ice cream.

My mom and Nora contemplated a trip off the diving board. I think they decided that it would be better to wait and do that when her daddy was able to make the trip, later on this summer.

On our way home, we made a small detour to visit my friend, Ashley, and her 3 children.

Elyn and her daughter, Lucy, are only 10 days apart. It was amazing for me to see the difference in them. Elyn is so much taller. Lucy is so sweet and petite!

Sweet Lucy Lemaster.

Future college roomie?

Nora had a good time playing with Ranger. Ranger is 4 months older than Nora. Again, it was neat to see the difference in the two of them. In their case, Ranger is so much taller than Nora.

Ashley has a newborn baby, Sawyer (who didn't make a peep the whole time we were there and is precious-sadly, I have no pictures to prove that). Even though she has a newborn, she served us all lunch. And got my girls a present. She was definitely a fabulous hostess! Her yard and house are great!

Here we all are: Ranger, Lucy, Ashley, Sawyer, Nora, me, Elyn (who looks thrilled to have her picture taken)

It was a great, quick trip to Texas. We were glad to go and glad to get back home to Matthew. Our first full week of summer starts today and we are thrilled!