Fun with Grandma, Grandpa and Michael!

We had a great time these past two weeks with Grandma, Grandpa and Michael here in Texas! Mom and Michael got to be here for a full two weeks and Grandpa joined us for the second week. We mostly just got to relax and enjoy having people here to dote on (and help take care of) Julia. But we did a bunch of really fun things as well.

We went to the Forth Worth Stockyards again with Michael and Dad. We're pretty sure this is what people think our neighborhood is like here in Texas, but I promise we have to drive for an hour to see cowboys and longhorns!

Uncle Michael was a big help with little miss Julia. We tried not to let him get too bored out of his mind while he was here. I think the Wii, the DS, the iPod touch and texting are pretty universal forms of teenage summer entertainment, and thank goodness they all travel to Texas pretty easily! I know Julia really loved having him here though, so I'm glad he suffered through a couple of days with nothing to do for the chance for us to spend some time with him!

Grandmas are wonderful for many, many reasons, but I think one of Julia's favorite things about Grandma was the fact that we often returned home from shopping with a "special surprise." It got to the point where she would meet us at the door and ask "did you bring me a surprise?" The most exciting surprise of the week was the Disney Princess tent. These tents apparently come in two sizes... too small for a two-year-old to fit in, and gigantic. Between those two options, grandma of course selected gigantic! :) Ok, ok... I voted for gigantic as well. It is big enough for us to play in with her, which is of course wonderful and terrible all at the same time! haha. But no, I'm teasing... Julia is in LOVE with her Princess tent, and we have put it up every single day since it was purchased. The other day we both had to get our purses and shoes on and go grocery shopping inside of it. She has a great imagination, and anything that will help support and encourage that is ok by me! (Even if I have to take it down and put it back up every single day because it takes up half of my living room!! :))

Julia sleeps with many friends in her bed. (Her "girl-girl bed" as she calls it, which means "big-girl bed.") I'm pretty sure this photo has been staged for grandma, however, because she doesn't usually sleep in her Cinderella dress... nor does she ever look that happy to be put to bed!!

Grandma and Julia at Storytime at the Library. I have to admit... it was pretty nice to have Grandma sit on the floor while I sat on the bench in the back!!

Grandpa's here!!

We went out for some real Texas Barbecue. Good stuff!

We spent a day at Hawaiian Falls Waterpark. There's nothing like having visitors come to town to help you discover the fun things to do that are only 10 minutes from your house! I'm pretty sure a season pass is in the cards for next summer, because Julia was in heaven!

This child is completely fearless. I'm pretty sure she went on this water slide at least 30 times in a row.

I hate to say that she is cutest when she's sleeping (because she has plenty of wonderful times when she is awake too) but this was a pretty sweet half hour of my life! She asked to go on the "river" again, and she promptly fell asleep in my lap. So we went around a few more times and this is where Julia took her nap that day!

And here is one of the differences between women and men: The boys went and did some fun things as well, but of course there are no pictures to show for them!! :) But they did get to go to a Ranger's baseball game, and Dad and Devin got to golf at Shady Oaks CC and The Colonial, which are two of the nicest golf courses in all of DFW. Devin will probably never have the chance to golf on them again (I guess until Dad comes back...) and Dad had never played them either, so I think they were both soaking that up. Why they would volunteer to stand outside in 95 degrees with humidity for 4 hours is completely beyond me, but they had a good time, and that's what matters!! :)

Thank you Mom and Dad and Michael for coming all the way to Texas to hang out with us for a couple of weeks! We loved having you here, and can't wait until you come back!