Fort Worth Stock Yards

This morning before we all headed out for the day we had an impromptu photo shoot!  All the kids were dressed to the T’s and looking adorable. 

Paige & Quinten

The Munro Family

All the Grandkids
Can you believe we got all 6 to look happy at once?  Well, this was like photo 100 and we had bribed them with chocolate?

Today was a fun day.  Kim and Jason took us to the Fort Worth Stock Yards.  I didn’t have much idea what to expect.  I had seen pictures on the Hutchison Blog when they had gone last summer, but still wasn’t sure what to expect!

To give you all an idea of what the Stockyards are I included the overview from the official Fort Worth Stock Yards website.

“The Fort Worth Stockyards is the history book of the livestock industry in Texas. Each chapter is represented by the original bricks and mortar, the wood corrals, the men, and the music that are all still a part of the the Stockyards today.

The Stockyards possessed a wide variety of people, there were cowboys, cattlemen, bartenders and bankers. The Packing houses brought skinners, butchers, and bookkeepers to the area. The horse traders, hog dealers and harlots mixed with harness makers and mule dealers.

From the time following the "War Between the States" through the decade after the Second World War, the livestock industry was a huge part of the Fort Worth and Texas economy.  Its employment base and dollar volume affected many lives."

We arrived just in time for the Cattle Drive where all these cattle come moseying down the road.  It was pretty cool.

Kim and I kissing a cow

The Girls & I stuck in jail

How cute is this…a rat sitting on a cat, sitting on a dog!

The girls asked a cowboy for a rose…should Julia & Alec be worried?    

What a fun place!  What a fun day!  Another day of fun tomorrow, to bad the weather is dropping and will be 45* and rainy, sounds like home.

 

We’re HERE!

We made it to Texas!  We weren’t sure what to expect for the flight and it wasn’t looking good when we first got on.  Annika freaked out when she had to walk over the threshold onto the plane which then scared the other 3.  All were hysterical as we boarded!  However, after the initial hiccup the flight was fantastic! and all 4 kids did really well!  Couldn’t have asked for a better outcome!

All the Munro’s at Seatac


Everyone was mesmormized

 
Julia and her girls on the plane


Connor & Alec


Aiden & I


Our pack mule


All the luggage and stuff :)

We arrived at Kim’s brother Jason and sister-in-law Kim’s house last night around 8pm.  The kids were wired and had a lot of fun exploring the house and playing with Cousin Paige!

Today we all “slept in”.  I put “slept in” in quotes because while they didn’t get up until almost 9am, it was technically only 7am at home!  Oh well, felt like they were!

We spent most of the day playing outside.  We started at their neighborhood park where everyone had fun, especially playing on the swings!

Paige had fun pushing the girls in the swing

 
Cute baby Quinten (3 months)


Connor

 
Paige


Annika


Aiden


Kim was getting the girls giggling so hard, I wished I had the video camera with me! 

After the park we came back and played in the driveway.  The kids really enjoyed the sidewalk chalk, especially after I agreed to lay down and they could trace my body.  Once I did it everyone else did too, Julia included!

 Julia being traced by the kids

 This is my body

It’s bedtime, hip-hip-horray!  It’s taken me like 2 hours to get the post done with distractions and camera issues, so I am quite ready to conclude it!  Another day tomorrow, need to rest up!

 

More Vacation Prep

Tomorrow morning I am off to Texas with the Munro’s for a week of fun and sun!  I came up last night to help out with the last minute packing and other prep. 

Today started out really great.  I shared my normal room with MacKenzie and amazingly she didn’t wake up until 8:45am!  Can you believe that?  The girl ALWAYS wakes up by 7am, how did I get so lucky!!  Anyway, after we all got up I helped Julia get the kids all packed and then the girls went down for a nap.

I graciously (see I can be nice) offered to take the kids out this afternoon.  We started out at McDonalds where we had treats and the kids played.  After McDonalds we still had a couple hours before we met Julia & Alec for dinner.  I figured I would take the kids to the library, wasn’t very thrilled about that idea because it didn’t sound like much fun for anyone but it was stormy out so we didn’t have much choice.  Anyway, while driving to the library we came up to the stop sign right by the bowling alley and the kids started pleading to go bowl – what can I say, I’m a softie – we went!  I have gone bowling with them before so I had an idea what to expect.  The kids did EXCELLENT and we had a great time.  Oh you want to know the scores…..

Winner: ME (106) ~ 2nd: Annika (78) ~ 3rd: Connor (77)
4th: Aiden (72) ~ 5th: MacKenzie

Winner of the funniest story has to go to Connor.  As you can see from the score above, Connor got a strike…the one and only strike.  However, he was devastated that he got an “X”.  He could careless that an X (strike) was the best you can do in bowling…he wanted his SECOND turn to roll the bowl down the alley!  He was quite ticked!  Pretty funny though!

After bowling we went for Mexican for dinner and then I took the kids to all get their haircuts before the trip tomorrow.  I think they turned out pretty darn adorable!

    

Our plane leaves for Dallas tomorrow at noon and we’ll be on vacation until the following Wednesday!  Check back to see our fun trip and the kids’ first airplane ride!  I’m very excited!!

 

Madison’s 4th Birthday

Craziness that Madison is 4 years old!  She’s grown up a lot since she was born (shocker – huh!).  Last year for her 3rd birthday, I did a look back at Madison’s last three years!  She’s so big now!!

On Saturday (her actual birthday) we had her family party.  She requested homemade pizza so that’s what we had!

The Birthday Girl


Making her pizza with Grandma

As you can see Emma enjoyed her pizza too!

There is nothing like birthday celebrations with little kids, they are so honest and excited!  Madison was no exception, words cannot express how she felt!  Just look at these pictures, these are just a few of the gifts she got, but the expressions didn’t really change!!

A Princess Tiana Barbie from Alex

A jump rope from mommy & daddy


A baby doll outfit from Grandma


Money from my parents….she wasn’t happy about this one!  She actually burst into tears!

However, the rest of us found it hilarious!  My grandma was crying she was laughing so hard!

Luckily we had cake right after the money debacle, that made her happy once again!  Oh her cake was Tiana from Princess and the Frog.

 

And a few miscellaneous photos from the day that were cute!

    
Emma and my Daddy

      
Emma loved the ribbon!

Check out Jaime's Blog for more pictures of Madison’s big day!  Plus this week is a very special one for Maddie at school!  Check out what we were up to last night :) 

Happy 4th Birthday Madison Sophia!
I love you!!

I’m off to the Munro’s this evening to help them pack tomorrow, because on Wednesday we’re heading to TEXAS!!  YAY!!!

 

Madison's Birthday Gift

Yesterday was Madison's 4th birthday!  FOUR!  Can you believe that?  I hope tomorrow to make her birthday post, but until then I wanted to talk about her gift...she got a WII for her birthday!  Yes, the FOUR year old got a WII!  Granted everyone else has been playing it, but none-the-less she got a WII!  Both of us tried the WII out at the Bostron's while I was babysitting in January (see HERE and HERE for a couple posts about our WII playing). 

Madison is surprising good, she beat me fair and square at Mario Kart.  She's so cute she will happily tell you "It's okay Cori to hit those bad things" or "don't worry that you fell off the cliff"!  I watched her play WII Golf with Zak and we all played the Toy Story Mania game!  She has really good hand-eye coordination!

Once Madison went to bed tonight, Jaime, Brandi & I battled at Mario.  When I first played last night I couldn't stay alive.  They kept telling me Madison was better at it then me!  I was a bit worried that I'd suck again tonight,  I started out BAD but amazingly WON!  We ended up tied 7-7-7 games won when we played the final one...and I WON the final game!  Yep, I'm proud!  Apparently, I am not a failure when it comes to WII!  Ugh...this WII thing is really addicting!!

Happy Daylight Savings (haha)! 

Forgot to Mention....

Brandi mentioned that I failed to mention that we saw some celebrities at LAX while waiting for our flight home from the cruise.  I didn't stop by and say hi or ask for an autograph (thought about it), but we did get some pictures, but Brandi has them on her camera so I can't share them right now!  Anyway, sitting together right by us at LAX was Scott Foley and Malcolm-Jamal Warner!  They were sitting together chatting and (apparently) waiting for a flight!  Guess they weren't invited to the Oscars' because they were flying out of LA and no into it!

Scott Foley most recently has been in Courteney Cox's Cougar Town.  He also was in The Unit and Felicity.







Malcolm-Jamal Warner is best known for playing Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show.







Pretty cool to see celebrities!  I've only met Captain Kangaroo and Paul Reiser!  I've now doubled that statistic :)

Have a fantastic weekend!!