Labor Day weekend 2011

Happy Labor Day!

We spent our 3 day weekend in Lubbock & Abilene, visiting Ashley's MaMaw and Aunt Judie & Uncle Mike ... and then Grams, "Rachel" (Aunt Rach), Mason & Tucker in Abilene.  We had a busy weekend of driving back & forth, but we had lots of fun visiting family & friends!  (It had been a loooong time since we'd been back in Lubbock ... Kendall was only 6 months old ... wowzers!)

We got to Abilene on Friday night ... spent the night at my parents', left Cassie there & drove to Lubbock Saturday morning.  We stayed at Aunt Judie & Uncle Mike's home while we were there ... Aunt Judie is an awesome Nana to many grandchildren (and 3 great-grandchildren), so she had everything a little 2 year old girl loves ... including a tea set, dress up clothes, and a baby doll & their accessories!  We arrived at lunch time and met them at one of their favorite burger joints (and apparently, a favorite of all of Lubbock, as it stays packed around the clock!) ... and it was indeed, "mmmmm, delicious" as Kendall said, with nearly each bite!

We picked up MaMaw at her room at her assisted-living-home and brought her over to Judie & Mike's for the afternoon & dinner.  Our afternoon entertainment included lots of playtime with Kendall being the center of attention and just being with MaMaw.  Kendall was in fine form and was truly herself right away ... she had a wonderful time playing, playing and more playing!

 

 

 

Kendall LOOOOVED this special Tea Party ... her 1st real tea party, complete with "lemon flavored water" as the tea and several special treats (she got to try for the 1st time ever!) ... marshmallows, honey nut Cheerios and animal crackers (not new to her).  I think she pretty much drank the entire bottle of water, thru her tea cup ... with 55 or so refills ... saying, "mmmm. some more, please!"  And the sweet hostess Aunt Judie was more than happy to serve!

She also took quite a liking to Uncle Mike ... real fast!  She curled up in his lap several times to snuggle or read books, or watch Finding Nemo together.  If he dared leave the room, she would notice right away and start to look for him and ask "where he go?" several times until he finally came back.  She was keeping tabs on this guy!   And he was the sweetest thing to her!  Uncle Mike is a sweet man and we are blessed to have him in the family!

Sunday, we met Russell & his family ... we went with them to their church & enjoyed the afternoon at their home eating lunch together and playing.  (Saturday night, just before going to bed, a cold front blew in, causing the temperatures to drop to the 50's ... and I found us, once again, not having the appropriate clothing for Kendall ... a theme in packing for Abilene & Lubbock.  It's been in the high 90's, if not 100's, all summer, with no end in sight ... I actually thought about bringing her a sweater, or a jacket, or jeans, but Ash laughed at the idea, so I decided not to "over-pack" as I'm known for doing ... and wouldn't you know it, we could have actually used it on Sunday!  Luckily, Alison was able to find a hoodie that Kendall borrowed for the afternoon of fun in their backyard!  It was in the 70's by the afternoon & windy ... not really cold, just cool.  And we were lovin' it!)  I didn't take many pictures of the kids and none of the adults ... we just were too busy with all 4 kids and trying to catch up with each other.  It had been nearly 2 years since we'd seen them!  Grant (Russell's oldest ... who is a lot like Russell, very smart & witty) enjoyed playing with Kendall ... and was saying "we are best friends" before the afternoon was over ... ha!  It was fun to watch them together ... maybe one day they'll be best friends, as Russell and I were in our college & younger days.  (Their 2nd son Colt is a sweetheart ... he is 5 months younger than Kendall.  Their 3rd son Jett is 5 months old & loved hanging out in the midst of all the action!  He napped a good part of the time we were there and I didn't get a picture of him.)

Sunday afternoon we left for Abilene ... dinner at my parents' with Rae & the boys, too. Kendall loves her Grams so she was happy to be there with her again. We played all evening until bedtime ... the cousins had lots of fun together!

 

 

This morning, Labor Day, we had a yummy Chick-Fil-A breakfast picnic at the Mall's childrens' indoor playscape ... and played the morning away with Mason & Tucker!

 

 

 

 

We had a busy Labor Day weekend but are so happy to have been able to travel & see our family for these past few days!