Sunday, April 30, 2023

College Visits

As much as I can't believe it, it is time to look at colleges.  Jane, Clare and I started over spring break with a trip to University of Tennessee.


In a random turn of events, a couple of Clare's friends were there also!



We got to see one of Clare's friends who is a student at UT.  It was so helpful to hear from a current student!


In April, Casey and I took the girls to see The University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University.


We got to go in the stadium at OU!


It was Junior Day at OSU, so there were lots of prospective students there!



Finally, Clare and I took a quick trip to College Station to visit Aggieland!


Clare has mixed feelings about all of this college business.  It's exciting, scary, overwhelming and filled with uncertainty!  And occasionally, it prompts a breakdown!


Who knows what the future holds but I have loved all of these little trips with my girls!

Graham is 12!

We started Graham's celebration with a family birthday on Graham's actual birthday!






It was a fun celebration with pizza and his choice of desserts....brookies!

To continue the celebration we took a bunch of his friends camping!  We headed to Lake Ray Roberts with eight boys.  Not sure what we were thinking?!?!    



We had beautiful weather.  When we arrived, we set up the boys' tent and then they started playing!  There was baseball, fishing, swimming, and flashlight hide and seek!



We had hot dogs and birthday s'mores!  We also had a visit from the park ranger because were a bit too loud!  Oops!





 The next morning we made breakfast burritos and loaded up to head home!  It was one of the more exhausting birthday parties, but also one of the more memorable!!!

Monday, January 2, 2023

Gig 'em!

Road Trip!!  A&M was playing LSU, and Clare had never been to College Station, so we made a quick trip south!  It was a fast trip that largely centered around the game, but she got to see some of the campus, buy some merch, eat at a local restaurant, and (shockingly) watch the Aggies beat the Tigers.




Our seats were super high up, and it was much colder than we thought it would be, but the game was very exciting and that kept our blood pumping!



Clare brings a fun energy to anything she's a part of, and this game was no exception!  


 Aggies won 38-23! What a game! 

 

New York, New York!!!

This year we had a week long fall break, and thanks to Deedee and LoLo, we took advantage!!  We had a girls' trip to New York!

New York Squad!!  Day one we flew out and hit the streets.  We logged a ton of steps, saw Times Square, did some shopping and hit up Serendipity for dinner and dessert.  We found Bloomingdale's, Lululemon, Zara, and lots of fun stores!

Maybe my favorite moment of the trip was breakfast at Ellen's Stardust Diner, where the super-talented staff sings Broadway songs while waiting tables.  LoLo made a special request for one of the waiters to serenade Sydney.  She was fairly embarrassed, but I think she secretly loved it.

We could've sat there forever.  So many great songs.


Always some craziness going on in Times Square.

Our first show was Music Man, and we were excited!!




It was so good!  We waited afterward to get an up close look at Hugh Jackman.  Jane fell in love!



We saw the city from Top of the Rock.




"I'll be there for you."

We did more shopping, went in FAO Schwartz, took a carriage ride through Central Park and just enjoyed another day in NYC.

We had a delicious dinner at Tony's and then headed to see Kinky Boots.  We had second row seats, and we all loved it.




Some other fun moments of the trip included a trip to the wax museum, the M&M store, trip to the 9/11 memorial, lots of Taylor Swift craziness in Times Square, and lots of chats and laughs in our hotel lounge area.






The trip was a smashing success.  I can't say enough good stuff about our time there.  It is a trip I'll remember forever!  Thank you Deedee and LoLo!