You Lookin' At Me?

My dad isn't raising any baby guineas/chickens this summer.

The group he raised this spring are teenagers now, and you now how much work those pesky teens can be.

 

He did, however, have a new baby calf this week, so we thought we might get a good look at her in the nursery.

Surprisingly, mama cow didn't want to bring new baby over to squealing children and a barking, toothless dog.

 

And though Reed's request of "I want one to come up and lick my arm" didn't come true, a few were brave enough to get pretty close.

Wasn't Expecting This One

People usually look at me like I have 3 heads when I say we're going to Texas during the summer.

Don't most normal people go to Colorado for the summer, not leave?

Well, yes.

But I think I might have gotten my choice right (for one day, at least).

My friend, Aubrey, posted this from Denver yesterday.

Then Liz, who was driving through Denver yesterday, sent me this:

So I took a little picture of my own.

Check out East Texas, baby!

Of course this time tomorrow it could feel like we're sitting on the face of the sun, but I'll take this cold (yes, that's cold for Texas in June) spell!

Happy Father's Day!

While at Father's Day lunch I was showing my mom and dad all the old pictures friends and family were posting on Facebook of their dads.

Being that I'm at my parents' house, I knew I had a few oldies of my own dad.

But it wasn't until I started searching that I saw how "fashionable" my dad looked. 

So, in honor of today, we'll have a special edition of Fashion Fabulous Friday on Sunday, which we'll call...

Fashion Fabulous Father's Day!

My love of great hats was imprinted on me early.

(with my cousin, Lu)

Just check out that tie!

And if your eyes have adjusted from the wallpaper, lots of that amazing decor you see is in my own house.

The kitchen table I'm sitting on is in my basement, the pitcher on the counter is holding my own kitchen utensils, and the rooster on the table is happily hanging out with my collection.

 Does the 80's awesomeness of this even need words?

 (Taken with a Polaroid, of course.)

And here he is this morning...stylin' with a new generation.

And if you're thinking...Hey, isn't there a kid missing?

Yep, there is.

He's celebrating Father's Day on a hunt with his daddy and Grandpa in Namibia, Africa.

Fashion Fabulous Friday

Out of all the caps in my dad's extensive collection, Kyle picked this one.

Such style...and good taste, too!

VBS Like I Remember

Kyle and Reed finished up Vacation Bible School at my parents' church last night.

It was a good ol' fashioned Baptist bible school: opening ceremonies, lesson, craft, snack, recreation.

 

 

And they loved it.

 

 

Opening ceremonies were complete with pledging the U.S. flag, Christian flag, and the bible.

I was super rusty on my Christian flag and bible pledges, but the Presbyterian standing next to me knew every word! (my mom, of course)



I'm pretty sure their favorite thing of the week was riding the church bus...though, I can't blame them.
They get the love of church bus riding honestly, since when I was little, my aunt, Pam-Pam, drove the church bus for years...and I never missed a chance to ride!

 

Here's one of their cute little crafts (obviously VBS was a space theme), they're a bit fuzzy as the "moon sand" from another craft rubbed off on them.

And if you're an East Texan, it's sort of a requirement to attend all the VBS-s in town.
 Next week: The Methodists! 

A Party with my History, Please

I'm here in East Texas visiting my parents, and yesterday was the big 175 year birthday for Houston County.

It's supposedly the oldest county in Texas, but Nacogdoches claims to be the oldest city in Texas...and my mom says it's really San Augustine (where she's from) so I'm sure there's another county out there clamming they're older.

Part of the big 175 year festivities, was the unveiling of a restored log cabin that was built sometime in the 1850's.

The cabin is now on display at Davy Crockett Spring. 

 And if you don't believe me that the town of Crockett was given its name because Davy Crockett had a drink of water and (maybe) spent the night on his way to The Alamo...I've got proof.

I didn't actually get a full picture of the log cabin, or bother to retake this not so good one of the kids. The humidity was about a million percent, and we wimpy Coloradoans just couldn't take it.

They did a really good job of decorating with  period furniture, but Reed was more interested in the homemade biscuits.  (Too bad those weren't for sampling!)

And I'm so glad to see that 175 years later, flashing your underwear is still the sign of a good party...

Woohoo, pantaloons and a union suit!

Happy 175 Houston County!

"Dinner" and a "Show"

We hadn't been living in Denver too long before I started hearing about the cheese-tastic awesomeness of Casa Bonita.

It's a Mexican food restaurant, not known for its food, but for its...shall we call it...ambiance.

Jason called it 'The Mexican food Big Texan', but this place was like The Big Texan times a million.

This place is so classy that you stand in line, order your food, then pick up your food on a tray cafeteria-like style.

Which, as you can see by JR's excited face, is obviously the best way you could ever order food...ever.

I'm not sure what's wrong with my children. I swear we take them out of the house..quite a bit actually, but as soon as they picked up their trays and silverware they all started telling me, "Mommy! This is such a nice restaurant!"

The food was okay (to put it nicely) but, again, the boys thought the red flag to signal the waitress was something only the finest of 5-star restaurants would have.

This place seats 900 people and is decorated like...I'm gonna go with...tropical rain forest, with a giant waterfall where they perform shows. 

They have everything from a guy dressed up like a gorilla, to cowboys having gun shoot-outs. 

 But the boys favorite were the cliff divers.

(Yes, they dive from the waterfall to the pool down below.)

This one juggled fire batons, then did a 'fire dive'.

Witnessing the diving show has brought JR to a crossroads in his life, he's now torn if he's going to be a Benihana's chef or a Casa Bonita diver when he grows up.

Tough decision that kid's got coming.

The kids also loved exploring the giant snake cave (I think it was a snake, maybe it was a gorilla.)

And what's a fine dining experience without a trip to the game room?