Texas 2012

Rett and I went to Texas for a week. It was a lot of fun and nice to have some alone time. Gratefully, we have wonderful family who we convinced to keep the boys for a whole week! Thanks Grandma Teresa and Tiff for being so willing! The boys had a blast this week. And although Drake tugged at my heart strings some nights because he wanted us so badly, it was good for him too. They got to play with Grandma, Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins. They went to the aquarium. They had a super fun green breakfast Saturday. And were totally spoiled rotten. And I'm so grateful that we have family close enough who is so good to our boys! This was Zink's second winter trip to Texas. Rett went last year for a week too and I decided to tag along! It was so nice to be able to hang out together. It is funny, once you have kids, you forget what life is like before them. And I love them more than anything. Sometimes you get really busy with the day-to-day demands though, and forget to take the time for yourselves. So this was a wonderful trip to be able to be together and enjoy each others company.

This is what most of our time consisted of. Training dogs. It was really cool. Rett learned a lot. Zink looks great. Good friends and beautiful weather and wildflowers. It was so green! It's hard to imagine or even explain how the training goes. But basically, we started at 10am and would drive to different training grounds and have two or three different set ups a day. Then each dog got a turn to run the marks and blinds. Most of the dogs are run by Kenny & Marcy, the trainers, but when the dogs owner is visiting, they get a chance to run and learn just as much as the dogs. While we were down, there were two other clients there.

Here are Rett and Zink!









The dog trucks are pretty cool. The big ones can hold 20 or so dogs!





The training grounds down there are incredible. You could easily stay on one property and have enough different set ups to last at least a week. They have a great system worked out with other trainers and land owners down there though, and it's great to be able to see something new on a regular basis for the dogs. It is so green down there! It's amazing and beautiful!







The wildflowers were so pretty! And they said we were about two weeks early to see them in their full glory! I didn't even get pictures of all the different kinds, but here are a few!







In the Houston Airport, they have a bunch of things set up advertising the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. I thought the boys would like this silly picture of their mom and a giant boot!





This is something we saw while we were walking through the vendors at the Livestock Show. It was amazing and so big! It makes our local shows, like the Outdoor Shows in the Salt Palace look so tiny! And we didn't even make it to everything! Anyway, I am now on a hunt for an old saddle. This place had these for sale for $300-$500. They were so pretty! I want one for my home now! And I've heard you can find these old saddles online for $100! I'm getting one!



Rett & Jenn by some of the bronze statues at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. So fun and so big! It goes on for a few weeks and the day we were there, they said it was a record crowd day of 75,000 people! Huge! I just wish the volunteer for the photo would have gotten the background. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers!



A huge bull we had to take a picture of for the boys, cause we knew they'd love it!



And we went to a very southern restaurant called Crazy Alan's Swamp Shack Bar & Grill in Kemah. Rett was adventurous and tried some clams with cheese and jalapenos. They weren't his favorite. But they did bring around this alligator for the guests and I pet it! We sent a picture to the boys and said I pet it, and their reply was "Why? It doesn't have fur, it's not soft!". I guess they didn't think it was as cool as we did! We also went to a restaurant called M Beaux's in Anderson with the training group. He was also looking for something different there, so he had catfish that seemed to be a better choice then the clams. I even tried something new! And I'm not very adventurous with food! I had Etouffee. It's kind of a sauce that we had served over a roll. It had a bunch of chunks of veggies along with shrimp. Another favorite restaurant was Rudy's BBQ. It was kind of funny cuz they didn't even give you plates. I told Rett some of our Grandmothers would have died because it was so casual, which may not even be the right word! Needless to say, we ate A LOT while we were down there! Towards the end of the week, I was so ready for regular old home type of food. But, it was good fun!