Pumpkin Patch

A few weeks ago we thought it might be fun to take Andrew to a pumpkin patch this year. I don't think we really knew what we were getting ourselves into. We found one that was a little ways away, but it looked like it had lots to do, so we thought we'd make the trip. We are glad we got there early and after an hour it was so packed, we decided to head out. Talk about craziness. We had fun, although we'd already bought our pumpkins for cheap at our favorite store Aldi. So we just went for the pure enjoyment. Andrew was a bit too little for a bunch of the activities, but in a year or two I'm sure we won't be able to stay just one hour. :o)

Andrew was way more interested in the hay...could
have cared  less about all the pumpkins.

Into the mouth it goes...

The look on his face is priceless.
"ugghh dad I meant to do that!"

They had some huge pumpkins...pricey too. Most that size were $25-$30.
Really who would pay that much when you can get the same
size at Wal-Mart for $4.00

Just waiting for the "Great Pumpkin".
(That's Andrew's face he makes anytime the slightest breeze
goes by...it's hilarious how it catches him off guard.)

Andrew just wanted to walk around the whole time. 

Andrew and his favorite pal.

The Stars at Night are Big and Bright....

Deep in the HEART of Texas!

That's right, I'm truly feelin' like a Texan. Especially after a day at the State Fair of Texas here in Dallas. We had so much fun, were completely exhausted and filled to the brim of all the fried foods we could eat. Warning....picture overload!!! We had lots of fun taking all sorts of pictures....especially of the crazy fried food.

Big Tex...a welcoming face to the State Fair of Texas

Sadly today we found out that this happened to Big Tex....glad we at least got to see him before the fire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/20/us/fire-destroys-big-tex-icon-of-texas-state-fair.html?_r=0

Petting the goats...they were cute and very friendly.

Family Picture before the Bird Show

Despite his facial expression. I think he enjoyed
seeing all the animals.

Had to get a family picture with these beauties!

Butter Sculpture...yes that's entirely
made of butter behind us. 

One of the coolest things we did was see the bird show.
Stephen got this up close and personal pic of this owl.
No zoom on the camera, we really were that close to it . 

Like father, like son

Grandma excited to pet the horses

Borius....one fat pig.
Kind of reminded me of Charlotte's Web and I'm not gonna lie...I
did glance up to look for a web saying "some pig"

Yep. Big Tex. He really does talk and move his arms

Stephen drooling a bit at the car show.

Now on to the food pictures. I've never seen so many unusual fried foods. We tried to take pictures of most of them to document the experience. Along with these we also tried deep fried cheese curds and Texan firecrackers (mini burritos). Both Stephen and I agree that the cheesecake was definitely our favorite!

Deep Fried Pecan Pie

Deep Fried Cheesecake 

Deep Fried Oreos

Deep Fried Cactus and Deep Fried Bacon Cinnamon Roll

Not just any old corn dog...A deep fried corny dog.
 Seriously the best corn dog I've ever tasted.

Red Velvet Funnel Cake

Deep Fried Peanut Butter & Jelly

 And I didn't quite have the guts or appetite to try this...

You read that right...deep fried alligator. Maybe one day or maybe not.
Only in Texas! :)

Grandma & Grandpa

We had been looking forward to Grandma & Grandpa Holden coming to visit for a very long time. We were so excited they'd come and it was wonderful to have them here. They were a great help with Andrew and it was so nice to just hang out and relax. After living in Chicago we seemed to make the trip to Michigan to see them almost monthly for one reason or another.  It had been since Mother's day since we've seen them....which I'm sure Grandma would agree is way too long. :)
We got in lots and lots of Grandma and Grandpa time, which was number one on our "To Do" list.

They also helped us around the house and yard. Grandpa "the Engineer" fixed our front door and fridge door, which I'm so grateful for. We also got some much needed work done outside.  The guys cut down a whole bunch of limbs from our huge trees outside our house, while the girls trimmed and weeded around the yard. We also took a day and went to the State Fair of Texas...but that deserves a post all of it's own. We were sad to see them leave at the end of the week, but excited that we'll be out to visit for Christmas. I guess we must have played and relaxed too much...because I was hoping to get more pictures of Andrew with Grandma & Grandpa. Oh well...here's the few we got!

Storytime with Grandpa

In front of Big Tex at the Texas State Fair

Grandpa helping Andrew ride the tractor

Testing out Andrew's new cowboy hat with Grandma

A Visit from the Herbst Family

We have had a whirlwind of visitors the past few weeks. We were so excited and had been waiting anxiously for family to come visit. While they were here, we soaked in all the family time, went from one fun activity to the next and enjoyed every single minute of it.

My sweet sister, her husband and two oldest kids came to visit from Utah. We LOVE the Herbst family and LOVE that they would come and play with us. And play we did....we played so hard for 5 days straight and we packed it all in.

We picked the gang up from the airport and headed straight to see the temple. Then we couldn't wait much longer and had to dive into some good Texas BBQ.

Love this! Andrew cuddling with Aunt Camille!

Daddy & Andrew at the Temple

Day 2:
We headed over to Fort Worth. Fort Worth is known for being the city of "Cowboys and Culture" After spending the morning at the Fort Worth Stockyards, we felt like true cowboys.

The Herbst Family

Met our First Long Horned Cattle

Saw them in a little cattle drive around the stockyards

Even got pictures with one

Deep fried pickles were a favorite!

Found out that EVERYTHING truly is bigger in Texas

Love my Sister

Day 3:
We had planned to spend a day at Six Flags, which is just a few miles from our house. It was the one thing my sister's two boys were looking forward to so much. We pre-bought tickets to save a bit-o-money and woke Saturday morning to pouring rain. Well, we were not going to let just a little rain scare us away! We were up for an adventure, so we scrounged up a few jackets and went. We learned a few things...

Lesson #1: Jackets are pretty much useless in a Texas rainstorm. So we bought a few ponchos, to keep us somewhat dry...well, maybe we were past that point, but it sure helped us from staying soaked to the bone.

Lesson #2: When it's raining, there is virtually no waiting in lines. We loved the fact that we could ride a bunch of roller coasters with absolutely no wait. Got a whole days worth of roller coasters in just a few short hours.

Waiting for the batman ride

Lesson #3: Riding roller coasters in the rain gives a whole other dimension of scariness. as you are screaming for your life with rain pounding on your face in the process. Once in a lifetime experience and a very memorable day!

Trying to Stay Dry at Six Flags

Andrew was such a trooper and didn't complain a bit. I'm sure with that look on his face says it all about his experience at six flags....he thought we were totally crazy!

Since we were soaked to the bone and had scored some free tickets to a rodeo, we decided to skip the all-night-roller-coaster-riding and get our cowboy on.  The rodeo was incredible, probably the best one I've been too. Truly some home-grown cowboys performed that night. We had a great time AND stayed nice and dry in the indoor Cowtown Coliseum.

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favorite Rodeo picture of the night

In our matching cowboy hats! 

Day 4:
Decided to take a day trip to the great city of Austin. Which just happened to be a half-way point between us and Houston. Where my little brother and his sweet wife drove up with the kids to meet us for the day. We had a fun time exploring the eclectic town of Austin.

Celebrated Matt's Birthday

Toured the inside of the state capitol

All the kids were so excited to run up the huge staircases, we could
hardly keep up with them. Love this little guys smile!

It wouldn't be the Texas State Capitol without a few
 stars. They had stars EVERYWHERE!

Out front of the capitol

Of course my little nephew was excited for the fact that everything had his name on it.  Growing up, he has always wanted to go Austin, Texas after his name. I think he was on cloud nine that day.

Nate and Austin in front of Austin's Pizza

We also drove around the University of Texas and felt some longhorn pride. We found that they had a decapitated statue of which we couldn't pass up on the photo opportunity.

Day 5:
The last day we just kicked backed, relaxed, caught our breath and enjoyed some cousin time....oh and enjoyed season two of Downton Abby and some yummy kolaches.

Reading Time with Andrew

We love our Cousins!

Our Texas Cowboys