Back To Work!!

It's back to school time!! I typically love this time of year with all of the excitement, but it's sad too. You see ever since Madie started school I don't see her as older when she has a birthday now it's whenever she starts a new grade, which is 3rd this year! This year was a lot more exciting for all of us. See when we had our house built we bought right next to where there would eventually be a new elementary school. In the meantime though, two full school years, I had to drive twenty six miles round trip twice a day to take her to school, and it was a huge pain. Well, the wait was so worth it and us deciding to build where we did is so paying off. We drove from our driveway to the parking lot and it was .2 miles, yep not even half a mile! Also we walk everyday and from our door to the door of the school is six minutes, but I can make it in four if I really tried, and we are loving every minute of it. For some reason we never felt "home" yet because the school was missing, I know kinda silly, but now it feels great! Also the staff is amazing! At meet the teacher the principal decided to surprise the kids with a special visitor, which I knew for two weeks since I am a chair on the PTA, and it killed me not to say anything. So right at the time meet the teacher starts you see the staff round the corner chanting "everywhere we go, people wanna know, who we are, so we tell them, we are the mighty mighty Longhorns" then what do you know the principal rounds the corner saddled up on a longhorn. It was awesome and set such a good tone for the new school year, they continued to chant as she rode it up to the corral where the kiddos were able to pet it, and take pics. She then welcomed all of us to "the ranch". It was very exciting!! Madie has been back at school four days now and she is loving every minute of it, I am just sad I can't sleep passed 7:00am anymore!! Oh and check out the pic of Payton. She misses Madison so much when she is gone, so even though it was great for Madie, Payton really struggled all week. She would ask all day "go get sissy, ride my car". When we would pick her up she would run and say "Sissy I miss you"! It was so sad and so sweet!

Wrapping up our Vacation!!

Okay so it took us about five hours to get to Hot Springs, Arkansas from Branson, Missouri. We got there and we pretty much knew there wasn't a lot for the girls to do there but while we were passing through we wanted them to see it. So we went up the observation tower, and looked at the views. I would like to add I am soooo terrified of heights!! Anyways at first I was not about to go on the upper level that wasn't glassed in but with much begging, and being made fun of I did. I am glad I did because we got the best pics up there. Then we went to where the locals fill up their containers with the water. I was floored at how many people just kept showing up with big Sparkletts containers, and they would have like four of them. So Madie wanted me to fill up her bottle water with it, and she actually drank it hot. I would love to have something like that around here! Then, we set off and drove about an hour and a half for the real reason Bryan wanted to go to Arkansas. We went to Murfreesboro for the Diamond State Park to dig for diamonds. Both of the girls loved it, they never have that much dirt to play in for hours! It was so hot out there but neither one of them complained they just dug continuously. Madison was all serious about finding a diamond, and well Payton was just playing. Then we headed out, and before we even left the park we decided that when it cools off a little we are planning a camping trip back because their facilities were beautiful. Me and the girls really wanted to stop at a hotel to stay the night, and take a hot shower, but Bryan was more in the mood to finish the track home. So we arrived home about 2:30am on Friday morning. All and all it was a great vacation that went off as planned. We took so many good pics and I wish I could've posted more but it only lets you load so many! We are already excited and planning our next vacation!!

Our Road Trip

Well, about March we found out that Branson, Missouri had built the largest museum in the world, The Titanic. So seeing as to Madie is a huge history buff, and is so fascinated with the Titanic it was a no brainer that we needed to go check it out, and if made it so much easier that one of the timeshare locations is there. Her and Bryan can sit and watch the History channel for hours, YUCK! Anyways, we left on a Friday afternoon and it took us about 8.5 hours to get there, of course stopping at every state welcoming sign.The first day we just just hung out at the resort, swam, and did craft time at the activity center. Sunday we went to Ride The Ducks, which took us through the entertainment district, through the Ozark Mountains, and into Table Rock Lake. While we were in Table Rock Lake the girls got a chance to drive the "Duck". Did you know that an entire town is under Table Rock Lake, kinda creepy?!Monday we decided to go to the fish hatchery, and it was surprisingly very cool. They release 750,000 trout into the lake each year. The girls got to see all the stages of conception, feed the fish, and look at all the equipment needed to produce the fish. I was kinda grossed out but Madie was all ears to the tour guide. We then went to check out a bunch of the cliffs and stuff at the dam. All of the views were amazing! Tuesday was the day for the Titanic, and Madie was stocked!! I was excited and then we got to the line and saw a sign that said we couldn't take any cameras in, DANGIT!! I sooo wanted pictures because words just can't describe how beautiful it was, all the detail, all the artifacts, just all of it. The museum is an exact replica of the Titanic, built exactly half scale. When you receive your boarding pass you also receive a card with the name of a passenger, and all the details, what class they were in, why they were on the ship, and where they were from. Through the ship some of the artifacts were the only 3rd class menu in existence ( found on an unidentified body), a watch found on a body that stopped at the exact time the ship sank, letters people had written, the machine used to signal for help, and so much more. When you go up the second level you actually go up the grand staircase which was gorgeous. They had a thing where you put your hand in the water and it's the exact temp it was that night, and you see how long you can stand it. I lasted 15 seconds, and my hand was literally hurting, the passengers only lasted 15 minutes in the water. You can also walk out on "the deck" and they have the air set so you can see how cold it was outside that night too. Then you get to tour a room with props from the movie set. At the end they have a room showing footage from when they found the Titanic. Then the very last room you walk in and there are all the names on the wall, and you find your name on your boarding pass to see if you lived or died, kinda creepy. I highly recommend making a trip to see it! Then, that night we went and had dinner on the Branson Landing, it's an outdoor mall on the river, kinda like the Riverwalk. They have a nightly show of water, lights, and fire that were all in sequence to music. Now on to Wednesday, we went to a place called the Butterfly Palace, and it too was gorgeous!! You first watch a 3D movie about the stages of a butterfly then some doors open, and you enter the "rainforest". There are over 1,000 butterflies just flying freely in there, and they would land right on you and just stay there. They were beautiful and a lot of them you don't see around here. They were very careful not to let them out, you had to go through three doors, and make sure none were stuck to you before entering the next door. Then there was a rainforest maze of mirrors, and we went through that twice. There was also a room of what I call creepy crawlers that are common in the rainforest. There was a royal blue and black frog, and the largest cockroaches I have ever seen. Then we went back to the condo and swam. We got up Thursday morning and I cooked a big breakfast and we made our way to Arkansas, Bryan was insistent we visit there before coming home.

Finally Her First Haircut....

I know I am posting a little late, but better late than never!! On July 7th we took Payton to get her first haircut, yes finally over 2 years old and it was time! Kinda strange Madie had one before she was a year, and Payton was bald forever. She didn't really need it because of the length, but because there was so much baby hair on the ends, and it was so dry. She did so awesome, I was very surprised. Most of you know Payton is so shy, and won't talk to anyone she doesn't know, so we thought it was best if Madie went first. The lady was so good with the girls, and got Payton involved in cutting Madie's hair, I think that helped so much. So then it was Payton's turn, and I still wasn't convinced that I wasn't going to have to pin her down while she screamed. She sat in the red race car, and the lady let her spray her with the water bottle, and of course Payton loved that, she sprayed all of us with it. So then the lady talked her into letting her spray her hair. Then, Payton sat there and let her cut away, she just sat there and kept saying "Hannah Rocks...Hannah Rocks". It's funny I was sooooooo stressed about this and she did perfect. It's funny because Payton's hair was so blonde that she had to cut off a little extra just so we would have enough to save. She probably won't need one for the next 2 years!