A trip to CHI

Last week we took a family vacation to Chicago. My good friend Kate is having a baby in October and I helped host a shower for her there. Since James still needs me to survive we can't very well leave him behind, and, well, its just not fair to leave one and take the other. Especially when the other one is sooooo adamant about traveling anyways. 

So off we went. Here's a shot of our first flight together as a family of four: 

See, the boys are thankfully good fliers: 

Jack got us a condo near Millennium Park and all of the museums. While it was a ways from my friends, it was a great location for all of the sights we were going to check out anyways. 

 

First and foremost and the entire reason for this trip (if you ask Jackson) was to see the dinosaurs at the Field Museum. We had explained to the cub that some dinosaurs lived in Chicago and so he was dead set on wanting to see them.

 Can you tell he was a little excited? 

 James preferred the bears. He likes to think of himself as a little bear cub (he is one) and so he wanted to see what these animals were all about.

 Can you tell he was so intrigued?!!?

We ended our visit at the Field Museum with a 3D movie experience about Sue the dinosaur. We thought Jackson would love it, but as it turns out the film was just a little too scary (and SO loud) and so the boy kept asking to 'go to lunch' and 'hold him' instead. He didn't want to say he was scared so he kept yelling, "I want to go to lunch! Mi quiere sandwichito!!!!" instead. It was hysterical.  

We of course did as Jackson asked, but Jack and I couldn't stop laughing at his response.

 A little bit of walking and sightseeing later...

 ...and we ended up at the Lincoln Park Zoo. As you can tell from reading this blog, Jackson is a fan of all things animal related so he thoroughly enjoyed the visit...

 ...and so did James. He was his usual doll self :) 

 The next day was Kate's shower. It was beautiful and my friends did a spectacular job putting it together. I really hope she enjoyed it, she looked stunning!

 

Baby James and Baby Jackson were huge fans of all the Tia's that were there. My friends, Angie and Jo stayed with us at the condo and Jackson was OBSESSED with them. He wanted to play with them, sing and dance with them and he was SO excited to show them his very own bed. 

I'm so glad they put up with him and love these boys just as much as they love the Tia's. Jackson and James are truly blessed to have so much love from so many people. 

Our last day in Chi city was spent at Millennium Park where Jackson was free to run wild at the Crown Fountain. It's such a great attraction and the last time we were there he couldn't even walk yet so he definitely took FULL advantage this time around...

 James was a bit jealous of his older brother, but we promised him we'd bring him back when he can run wild. Hopefully it'll take longer for him to run though--these boys are growing WAY too fast :(

To my sweet friends--thank you for having us. To Kate--cannot WAIT to meet beautiful Noelle, and to the fantastic city of Chicago--I love you. Until next time, which will probably be sooner rather than later ;)

Baby James Earns his wings

Baby James is a lucky guy. In his short life he has has already taken more flights than he is months old. His 3rd flight is this week and he'll be 3 months old on September 4th...for those of you wondering. 

His first two flights were quick. REALLY quick. I'm sad I forgot to take a picture on his very first flight because we left in a bit of a rush out of El Paso and it was REALLY early in the morning. 

I did manage to capture his second flight though. It was packed so I didn't get any 'cute' shots but he pretty much had the same reaction on his first flight, so we can just pretend...

Turns out (so far anyways) he's just a good a flyer as his older brother. Phew...HUGE sigh of relief. Only time will tell if he manages to keep up the angel act, but he's been awesome thus far. 

He's a HUGE hit with everyone/anyone that meets him, he gets me upgrades, special services and perks. I really can't complain, it pays to travel with this boy. He's the bees knees and I just love him :).   

7 Years...

Today Jack and I celebrate 7 years of a truly lovely life together. SO much MORE to be thankful for this year with the addition to our little family.

Thank you sweetheart for loving me and giving me the best gifts a mom could ever ask for. Blessed is an understatement. Until forever...

2 Months!!!

Walking with Dinosaurs

Recently we took a walk on the wild side and purchased tickets to go see some dinosaurs. I should clarify--my dad heard about this exhibit coming into town, thought it'd be fun to take Jackson to and bought the tickets. 

Turns out it was the best idea EVER because our cub and his cubby brother thoroughly enjoyed their time with the dinosaurs. 

          
It just so happened that our favorite twins--Mara and Luisana joined in on the fun and so Jackson had even more fun than he normally would have had with just momma, dada and Baby James. 

Jackson has grown FOND of these girls. They have seen each other almost daily and the three of them are peas in a pod. He loves them, they love him. Mara and Luisana refer to him as their 'little friend, Jackson' and he refers to them as 'mis niñas'. I'm so sad to go back to Austin without them because they have really formed an incredible bond.

But C'est la vie no? Besides, we were talking about dinosaurs...

The exhibit was pretty crazy. The dinosaurs were SO life-like and even breathed in and out! Jackson was scared through a lot of it, but his dada was near by to pick him up whenever he got shaken up.

 

Sweet Baby James was terrified too! 

Can't you tell?!!?!? 

So glad my dad found out about this thing. I have to say it was a racket, (like of the Disney variety) but seeing the look on these kids' face was definitely worth the overpriced tickets, toys and face painting.

Just look at them; they had a roarrrrring good time ;) 

And the littlest cub? He was the biggest fan of all the dinosaurs we came home with. Look at him blending!

Time Out Momma

I'm still not certain what I did to be put in time out but this kid is brutal. 

Horsing Around

We've been in El Paso for quite some time now. I promise we'll be going home soon but life is just too great when I'm at my parents' house. I'm sure we're driving them a little bananas and Jack is starting to miss us so we'll be leaving soon. One day. Maybe...

But I digress. Since we've been here so long it was only obvious to both Jack and I that we would enroll Jackson in as many activities as possible to keep him busy. Activities along with almost daily play dates has made our summer FLY by. Jackson has enjoyed every single second. 

The cub has made sooooo many friends, been invited to parties, people's homes, and has even had a few riding lessons! 

Some of his new friends have been taking riding lessons for quite some time now and we asked to tag along one Sunday to get Jackson and James acclimated to larger animals. Jackson's experiences in the past with horses was that of hesitation and distrust so I wanted to change this about him because I adore horses and wanted to share this passion with my boys. 

When Jackson saw his friends running and playing at the stables he was elated and very much at ease. Score. Thank God.  

Then the owner asked if we wanted to ride! Jackson was quick to say, 'Yea!!! Yes please!" so we went along and saw how long he'd last. Turns out he LOVED riding. So much so that we have now been several times for lessons. 

 

Turns out Jackson is quite the rider. He even prefers to keep both hands on the reins instead of the horn. His teachers were quite impressed!

Baby James was supposed to get some lessons as well but he of course slept through class. Hope this isn't a sign of school days to come...

Riding lessons down. I'm sad we won't be able to continue doing this in Austin but the stable owners said we can drop by any time we're in town. My hope is that these boys get so good at riding they'll win a few belt buckles when they're older. Wishful thinking. For now we'll just enjoy our time around these majestic animals and hope that James can stay awake long enough to at least look at the horses.