Brenham

Last week while playing at Mimi and Papa’s house Papa had a great idea. He wanted to go to the Blue Bell factory with the boys!! Sounded great to me, for some reason we have never been . Can you believe that!? We tried to go one time when my parents were visiting but we had no clue they didn’t do tours all the time. We pretty much went to an empty building.
YEsterday we headed out to Brenham. Papa had his friend give us a special VIP tour. The boys were really interested in watching all the machines and how the ice cream was made. Nolan kept yelling “Ice Cream Truck” at every machine. He then saw a picture of popsicles on the wall and it was over. From that point on all he would yell was Popsicle , Popsicle
Nathan was very serious as usual taking it all in. He had a great time. When Mr. Steve tried to take us behind the scenes Nathan panicked. He doesn't like loud noises and it was pretty loud with all those big machines. Nolan saw Nathan panic so of course he decided he should too. We quickly headed back out to the quiet area we had just left!
After the tour we got to pick out an ice cream treat. Nathan picked a crazy looking concoction called Krazy Kookie Dough. It was all different colors and quite bright. I snuck a taste and have to say it was really good!
Nolan split butter pecan with me and pretty much sampled everyone else's.
When the ice cream was gone Mimi took the boys into the gift shop and bought them all kinds of goodies.
When we left Blue Bell Papa drove us to the Brenham airport to eat. It was so neat! They had an old time diner where the girls wore poodle skirts. The best part of it all were the planes everywhere. As we were leaving one was getting ready to take off. We got to watch it start up the engines, drive down the runway and take off! The boys were so excited to watch it and Nathan said that was the first plane he had ever seen fly like that!
After the airport the boys were pretty pooped. Papa took us through town to show us the old Blue Bell factor where he worked when he first started. WE also drove by a neat fire truck museum that had an old fire truck carriage out front from the late eighteen hundreds.
The boys had a blast and first thing this morning Nathan was up wearing his blue bell had serving up ice cream to everyone. Nolan has been running around telling everyone about ice cream trucks every since.

San Antonio with our Friends.

A couple of weeks ago our friends Claire and Madeleine came into town! They were hanging out in San Antonio with family and invited us to come visit. You know our answer was YES! We loaded up and headed out to San Antonio . The boys did a great job on the way and it seemed like a pretty fast trip ( except for the 45 minute wrong way I went ) .
We meet the girls at Claire’s grand parents house where we swam and meet our other friends Hogan and Henry!
The kids had such a great time. Nathan and Claire always pair up and seem like they haven't missed a beat. After swimming and visiting we headed to the hotel to check in and get settled. The room was very nice and had a living room and bedroom separated by doors. It was perfect for my guys who like to have their own space. I put Nolan’s crib in the living room and locked all the doors. Nathan and I went into the bedroom where he fell asleep pretty quickly. Around midnight I heard the front door trying to be opened . I jumped up and guess what I saw? Nolan had gotten up and decided to leave the room. Thank goodness I know him and made sure the top lock was locked! I had a feeling my little escape artist would try to break free. The next night we switched rooms. Nate and Nolan slept in the bedroom and I did border patrol in the living room.

The next day our friends came to the hotel to hang out with us. They had a nice little children's pool that they could all run around in . Even the little ones got in on the fun and had a great time. We spent the rest of the day with our friends and then Claire and Madeleine came back to our room to rest with us. Katherine is a real baby whisperer! ha ha ha . She somehow managed to get NOlan and Madeleine to sleep in the same bed. While she was working her magic Nathan and Claire relaxed and watched a movie. Nathan even gave Claire his Holly Shiftwell car. If you know Nathan that is a pretty big deal!
After everyone was well rested we meet back up at this fun restaurant that had a huge play area for the kids. Needless to say after all the running and playing their was no battling at night time.
The last day we decided to meet up at the zoo. The kids were so excited. The moms not so much..... it had to be at least 120 degrees! ha ha ha. The boys had a great time hanging out with their friends and seeing the animals. When it was time to go it was very sad. I always feel so bad at the end of our little trips. Nathan doesn’t really know what is going on until after we leave but poor Claire does. Her little eyes get watery and I about loose it. :( I told Nathan we can go visit her this winter when it snows at her house! He was very excited and told me all the different pieces of clothing he would need for the snow. Nathan has already drawn a picture to mail to Claire of them skiing on a mountain.


Claire made this picture for Nathan that he is holding in his hand. Soooo sweet! When we got home he showed daddy and it straight to his room for safe keeping.