Thanksgiving weekend at the Ranch

 Most years after we eat a wonderful Thanksgiving Day meal with my family we head to the ranch on Friday. Well this year was no different except we had a ton of people at the ranch this year, and Tess loved the attention for the most part. I tried to take pictures but it took her a while to warm up to most people and we are out in the country so I would usually put my phone down and forget about it. That’s an awesome sentence, wish it could happen more often.

When we got there most everyone was out at the land putting a blind up but when they got back Tess latched on to Maggie right away and would refer to her as brown dog for the rest of the weekend. She thought that Maggie was the coolest thing because she was a big dog and Tess only gets to play with little dogs. Maggie was pretty patient with Tess and would let her pet her, lay down with her and play with her but after a certain time of night it was Maggie’s bed time and she would disappear. It was pretty cute to see her try and play with a dog that was bigger than she was.

Rays boys shot a couple of deer that night and Tess was actually pretty interested in the deer, it surprised me a little. We went out to the truck and looked at them and she even congratulated the boys. It was pretty cute.

The next day we went over to the land to walk around and look at the old dinosaur tracks. The boys walked around with us because they didn’t want to be around the older guys putting up another blind. Zach had been trying all evening and morning to get Tess to pay attention to him and she would not give him the time of day. It was pretty funny. She eventually sat next to him but that was it.

While we were on our walk, Martin pulled her in the wagon and then she latched on. She walked next to him and held his hand. He helped her over puddles, trees, and big holes. She trusted him like he was her big brother. You should have seen Zach’s face it was pretty funny since he had been wanting her to play with him and she wouldn’t. Little ones will pick and choose who they like, and one day they like you and they next it’s like you have never met.

We walked back up to where the bunk house is and Tess started picking up sticks and rocks and was making a little house. Being at the ranch solidified how much this child likes being outside. Anytime someone else was outside she wanted to be out there with them, she did not want to be left inside when there was fun to be had outside.

I don’t know what she is going to do if there is ever another little person around because she wouldn’t be the center of attention. She convinced her PawPaw to play horsey with her, it got a little rough but nothing this little cowgirl can’t handle. 

I love that we get together every year at the ranch and have this whirlwind weekend of family time. You walk away from it with a bunch of stories to tell, time well spent and full stomachs. Just wish we could do it more often.

Halloween 2014

Before everything happened in October we had planned on spending Halloween weekend in Dallas, Tess and I would go to Canton with Mona, go Trick-or-Treating and spend some time enjoying each other’s company. Little did we know that by the time Halloween rolled around it would be the 4^th weekend in October that a Harris was in Dallas, Nana and PawPaw got used to having Tess around in October.

So the morning of Halloween we woke up early and got dressed and headed out to Canton. It was only Tess, Mona and I so we were able to visit some areas that we normally miss because we have a bigger crowd. We made one stop at the car to unload and then we went back for some more shopping. I was looking for stuff for the new house and Mona was just looking. I would say that it was a pretty successfully trip overall and to top it off, Tess even took a nap in the wagon.

 Tess was a strawberry this year, I think this might be that last year that I am able to pick out her costume. We went over to Marge and Terry’s house to trick-or-treat. She has known Marge and Terry since birth and sees them if not every time we are in Dallas almost every time we are there so she is pretty comfortable with them. We still have a slight stranger danger issue so I didn’t think going to multiple houses was going to work for us. She got pretty good at saying trick or treat so I think she will be good for next year.

Kevin and Ray went on their Hog hunting trip so we decided to make s’mores by the fire, these were Tess’s first taste and I think she liked them. She wasn’t too sure about how messy they were but who wouldn’t like marshmallows and chocolate mixed together?

After this last weekend in Dallas we really haven’t been back, we went to the ranch for Thanksgiving and Mona and Kevin visited us for Christmas.

Fort Worth Zoo

While we were up in Dallas saying goodbye we spent that Friday at the Ft. Worth Zoo at Boo at the Zoo. It was a hot but a good day overall. Tess loved seeing all the animals and I think she could have spent all day being carried and visiting with all the different animals. It’s funny now when we go to a Petsmart she says I want to see the Giraffes, so we haven’t yet figured out the difference and I think visiting the zoo is going to be a big part of our future with how much she talks about animals.

We started and finished with the Gorillas. We saw them from the outside at the beginning and then went inside the exhibit as we were leaving. I think we were a little close at the end but overall she was pretty intrigued with this giant animal. The big silver back gorilla was eating his dinner when we returned right before we left the zoo. Tess was interested until he started making some loud noises and then she got a little scared so we moved on to look at the other monkeys before we left.

The white tiger was up next and he was a little lazy at first but once people started showing up he got a little bit more active. I don’t know what it is about animals but they seem to have a calming effect on my child. She can’t really sit in one place and do anything for an extend amount of time except for watch animals. If an animal is up walking around or doing something she could watch them for probably hours, it’s the adults that get bored first.

We walked around and saw various other animals, the Ft. Worth zoo is setup pretty nicely with the different exhibits that mimic their normal terrain, everything flows nicely between different areas, and a wide array of animals to see. I am glad that it was a good day to be outside, it wasn’t too crowded because it was a Friday. It was more crowded than I thought it would be but I think that was because it was Boo at the Zoo.

We spent most of the afternoon walking around, taking our time looking at the animals and enjoying the sunshine. Tess is at this age where it doesn’t take a lot to empress her especially if you are an animal. There were a couple baby animals around the zoo and she loved to point out the babies and their mommas. Tess had to bring her giraffe with her and carried it most of the time. She was pretty funny when she saw how big real giraffes were.

They have a little kid area that Tess enjoyed playing around in, she wasn’t so sure about the other kids playing also but she made do. Even though she is in daycare 5 days a week she doesn’t really like to play with other kids. She likes to play and figure things out on her own. When we were ready to head out Tess got this bright idea that she wanted to push the wagon, she did pretty well and we did have to go up some big hills. It also tuckered her out which was good for all of us.  

Overall we had fun at the zoo! We met up for dinner with the rest of the Harris Fam at a Dallas Favorite, Babe’s. Tess chowed down on some chicken and mashed potatoes and gave the place a thumbs up, we would have had to have a talk if she didn’t like it!

Saying Goodbye...

A couple of weeks ok we had to say goodbye to a very special person. Clayton had a very unique relationship with his grandparents. He grew up very close and still has a lasting bond with his father’s parents. That bond is the type of relationship that I am trying to replicate with my little one and her grandparents. Clayton’s grandfather hadn’t been doing very well and was in the hospital for a couple of weeks. We got the call that he had decided to let nature run its course and we packed our bags and headed to Dallas to make sure we were able to spend some time with him and the family before everyone had to say goodbye. We got to Dallas Friday evening and headed up to the hospital and spent a little bit of time with him but didn’t stay long so that he was able to rest. Clayton got up early Saturday morning and headed up to spend some time with Granny and I headed up around lunch. To say it was a great day is an understatement. The babies all played together in the waiting room, most of the cousins were together hanging out and you could feel this peace around everyone. Each of us had our moments where we would break down but we were all there for each other, that’s what family is for. Most everyone left early afternoon to either get ready for the Aggie game or start getting dinner prepared and give the little ones some outside time because it was truly a beautiful day outside. Granny had just finished dinner and received a call from Ray that he had peacefully passed away on the night of October 11, 2014. Family and Friends gathered a couple weeks later to say their goodbyes and well wishes. I still to this day catch myself talking about him as if he is still here. I don’t think that goes away in an instance. When I realized Clayton was going to lose his grandfather I realized that there was so much repressed emotion from when I lost mine, and I think through this process of saying goodbye it has helped me say goodbye to both.

The End of Summer

August and September went by in what seems like a blink of an eye. Tess has always loved Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but Clayton and I have worried that if we bought her anything Mickey that she wouldn’t put it down. Well at the beginning of August we decided to give in a little and give Tess her very own Minnie Mouse stuffed toy and she loved it. She was so excited when we gave her the toy. She danced around with the toy and didn’t leave it at the house for weeks. Eventually the newness wore off and she could leave it at home but she has to sleep with it every night.   

 

 That next weekend the motor in our outside AC unit went out and I came home from work to a very hot house. Tess went to my parents’ house and I stayed at the house hoping that someone would come out and take a look at it. Clayton was at work that night so he was at least in the A/C. Since no one was able to come out to take a look until Tuesday. I stayed at my parents’ house all weekend and then we stayed in a hotel on Monday night. I had to fly out to Denver for the day on Tuesday. The AC finally got fixed and the house returned to its nice cool usual self.

The same weekend the AC went out we had already planned on going to the Astros game with my parents after we went to dinner to celebrate Clayton’s birthday. Clayton turned 30 on August 4^th , he is an old man now. Well the Astros were playing the Rangers in the Lonestar Showdown. They were giving away cowboy hats and Tess was thrilled to have one. The Astros won that game, which was nice since usually the Rangers win.

 The following weekend, Clayton got a new phone since his was messing up. We brought his old phone to the mall to sell it back to this new machine which happened to be right by the carousel. Tess saw the carousel and had to go for a ride. I went with her and she had fun until she realized that the ride was over and she didn’t get to go again. I got a little motion sick on the ride, I think I will let Daddy go the next time.

One of the weekends that Clayton was at work and Tess and I were home alone, she put my heels on and started walking around. I think she walks better in them than I do.

 

Clayton and I had been getting ready for a garage sale for a while and putting things away in the guest room. We left the door open by mistake and Tess found her old walker. She went in and sat on her walker and kept saying she was driving the car. She had a towel on her head which she wouldn’t take off. She was pretty cute and I couldn’t resist taking a picture

 

We went to HEB and Tess saw the pumpkins and I put her up there and took one of the best pictures we have of her. We haven’t been to a pumpkin patch since she was a baby and I had thought maybe we could go this year but with everything going on we weren’t able to go back this year. There is always next year.

 

Clayton has been working a lot of weekends so Tess and I went up to visit Clayton up at the station one Saturday. Tess hasn’t been up to the station since she was little so it was a little weird for her. We took some pictures in front of the fire truck and watched a little bit of the A&M game and then I was about to go and meet my parents for dinner when Clayton was called out on a run. Tess was not happy that Clayton had to leave so we stood out in the bay and waved at him as he left and she still as we were getting in the car was crying for her daddy. She went through a couple of weeks of some separation anxiety and didn’t want to leave any family member. It was not awesome when we went to visit anyone.

 

We broke down again and bought a couple Mickey shirts. She hasn’t been that bad, she understands when her shirts are dirty and that mommy has to wash them before she can wear them again. One day I took her picture before daycare because she was wearing one of her beloved Mickey shirts and she was extra cute because her hair was braided in pigtails. I may be a little biased but I think I have the cutest kid around.

 

 
 

Dallas

We went to Dallas for a week in July to spend some time with the Harris Family and attend the annual Firefighter Olympics. Clayton was held over so Tess and I ran some errands before she went down for a nap. She had her sunglasses on and was ready to start Vacation, I had to take a picture to show her daddy that he needed to hurry up and get home so we could start our week away.

The first night we were there Caroline and Casey were at the house waiting on us to arrive. The girls still aren’t at an age where they will play with each other, but they played around each other. They are still learning how to share. It’s funny because both go to daycare and I guess they know how to share daycare toys but when it comes to their toys at home they don’t want to share. Caroline is 9 months younger than Tess but you wouldn’t know it if you looked at them side by side. Tess is a lot smaller for her age and Caroline is pretty big for her age.

That first Saturday we were there Tess saw the bubbles and wanted to play. She plays with bubbles at daycare so she knew exactly what they were and knew what was supposed to happen. Well the contraption that was supposed to keep whoever was blowing the bubbles less messy than the normal bubble containers was not working very well. We finally got it to work but by that time she was more interested in everything else than trying to pop the bubbles.

 

 

While we were trying to get the bubbles to work Tess walked over to where Clayton was leaning against the pathfinder and was watching what he was doing and tried to imitate him and started to lean against the car also.

That night Tess and one of the doors had a run in and my baby girl had her first black eye. Tess likes to have all the doors shut, and she was moving a door stopper so she could close the door, well when she turned around the door knob her right in the eye. It looked pretty bad but I think she was pretty good after some ice and some TLC.

On Sunday we ventured out to the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, I had heard about how this museum has a children’s section that was for children under 5. I thought that was pretty interesting as most children’s museums are set up for older kids. They were running a deal during the summer because they had just opened that all military and first responders got in for free. Most places provide military discounts but rarely do places provide a discount for first responders. We walked through the other exhibits starting from the top and worked our way down. Mona and I did as much as Tess could take and when she was done we went down to the children’s portion and Kevin and Clayton met us down there when they were done with the rest of the museum.

The first thing that Tess saw was this area that had these fake flowers and I think the idea was that you could create bouquets or give your parents a flower or two. Well Tess decided that she needed all the flowers that were set out. There were quite a few flowers and the museum was busy so there were other kids trying to play also. She gave a couple mean looks as she was gathering her flowers and giving them all to her Nana. When she was done I tried to distract her with the grocery store.

We went shopping but she soon realized that her Nana had put all her flowers back, and that was unacceptable. Tess realized that the good thing about going to the grocery store was she had a basket to put all her flowers in. She started to gather her flowers again and this time she put them in her basket so that Nana couldn’t put them back, well as she was gathering I was trying to put some back so that other kids could play with the flowers. Tess caught me trying to put the flowers back and tried to hold all the flowers herself and even tried to steal flowers out of other kid’s hands. At that point I realized it was time to venture away from the flowers and try something different in a place we could not see the flowers at all.

So after we were finished with the flowers we went camping and ate some steaks and corn and sat by the fire. We played with boats in the water, we tried to build some things on the roads but mostly cleaned up the mess left by others. We went over bridges, through tunnels and down slides. And finally she had to color a little bit. She was pretty much all over the place and had a blast. I will say that this children’s area is designed with the younger crowd in mind.

Outside the museum they have a leap frog forest which includes a water feature. Tess had a fun time climbing on the frogs and playing around them on turf. The smaller frogs were perfect size for her to climb and I was able to get a pretty good shot of a smile with her sitting next to one of the big ones.

We tried to take a family picture next to one of the big frogs but we had mentioned that she could play in the water after the picture and that was our big mistake. Once she saw the water and knew she was going to be able to play in it she was over taking a picture. It’s a good picture of Clayton and I and you can see all the thoughts running through Tess’s mind of what she is going to do once she gets in the water. We gave up on the picture and took her shoes off and just let her play in the water.

Clayton’s Soccer tournament was Monday and Tuesday. We got up bright and early and headed to the fields both days. I apparently was better at taking pictures on the first day of the tournament and don’t have really any pictures from the second day. Tess played with Jacob throughout the morning and played with her iPad on her own.

The team did pretty well but Clayton and Mike didn’t like the ref from the first game and had a slight disagreement that led to them both not being able to play in the second game. This did not go over well but Clayton eventually calmed down and didn’t have any other instances the rest of the tournament. The guys ended up playing the same team they played in the first game for third place and we were all happy when they won. The other team provided some entertainment during halftime when their goalie and coach got into a fight and the goalie left. It was a tight game but in the end the better team won.

The tournament was played in the morning and we wouldn’t get back to the house till about 1 or 2 so Tess would miss her nap. On the second day we tried to take a nap in the car but she was not having it, she wanted to be out where the action was. On the way home she usually crashed at some point and would sleep till we pulled into the driveway. We would then put her down and she would sleep for maybe another 30-45 minutes if we were lucky. She was pretty tired by the end of the day.

Caroline and Casey came over to play in the backyard one day and I think the girls did pretty well. It was still hard to get a picture with both of them in it because they just won’t sit still or play with each other. Eventually they will have a lot of fun playing with each other when we go to Dallas to visit.

The last Friday we were there we went to Bedford Splash which is a small little waterpark geared for kids. Tess loved it, we started in the little kid area where there is a small slide and it’s pretty shallow so she can walk around. One of us would walk up the steps and help her go down the slide and then she would wait at the bottom for us to slide down. There were some jets that shot water up that she played with for a little while.

Our biggest mistake was introducing her to the bigger slides, which she loved. There were two slides an orange and a yellow slide. She loved the yellow slide but would settle for the orange one. Every time she landed at the bottom she would say more, she just loved going down the slides. It was probably one of the most crowded places in the park, so I guess most kids loved going down these slides. There was also a small lazy river and a bigger pool that had one bigger ride that both Clayton and Kevin went on. Overall it’s a nice park and I think Tess will enjoy it over the years.

The girls even were able to work in a girl’s night out to Painting with a Twist and we had our annual Harris Poker night. We had a lot of fun in Dallas but we needed a vacation to recover from our vacation.

First Part of July

July was a really busy month for us, every weekend we were doing something. I had a long an extra-long weekend for the 4^th and Clayton and I decided to paint the yellow room. We have been saying that we needed to paint the yellow room for a really long time but have never gotten around to doing it, well I had an extra day off from work and Tess was going to be in daycare so we spent the time painting over the awfully bright yellow in our guestroom and making it a more neutral color. It only took us 5 years but we have now painted every room in our house.

On the 4^th Clayton was playing in a Soccer tournament so we got up bright and early and headed down to the Dynamo complex to watch Daddy play some keeper. The weather was pretty nice and Tess got to wear her new 4^th of July shirt. She was pretty cute that day.

 

Before the game started Tess and Jacob were playing soccer on the field. I was trying to get Tess to run off some of her energy so she wouldn’t be so restless during her daddy’s games. She did pretty well, she mainly ran after Jacob and watched him play with the ball and shoot on goal. But she kept laughing so I knew she was having a good time.

When she was playing by herself she kept picking up the ball and carrying it and I tried to tell her that was supposed to put it on the ground and it kick it. I guess it is pretty hard to teach her one thing when all she sees is her daddy touching the ball with his hands. This might be a problem down the road when we try to put her in soccer, but for now I am just letting her practice her goalie skills.

During the games she would get restless and not want to sit still so that’s when I would pull out the iPad and she would play for a bit. Jacob saw the iPad and wanted to play also. They played for a while together but then she wouldn’t do something that Jacob wanted her too and he would get upset. I would have to remind him that he is six and she is two. So after a while the iPad disappeared.

Tess doesn’t really like excess noise, and she gets a little upset when we would cheer for a goal. I thought it was funny so I took a picture of her telling me to stop it mommy. She does this all the time, she tells us to stop singing, she tells the dogs to stop barking, anything that’s out of the ordinary she tells whoever or whatever is making the noise to stop it

 

The next week the Braun kids got together to paint my parents media room. We went with an Astros theme, and it turned out to be pretty cool. We all got their pretty early on Saturday and started to paint right away. We painted the walls Astros dark blue, have a thin line of orange at the bottom and orange shelves and painted a white screen. A fathead was later put in and old seats from the astrodome were also cleaned up and put in also. It’s actually pretty cool.

While we were painting Tess was hanging out with Oma. She found probably the only Mickey shirt in the house and insisted that she put it on, it was pretty big on her but she never wanted to take it off. We eventually got her to take it off and she had to tell her Mickey shirt bye bye but it was pretty funny seeing her in such a big shirt.

 

Next stop Dallas.