Memorial Day Weekend with Grandpa E

This year for Memorial Day weekend Grandpa E came in town to visit us. Eli and I had been out of school for a week at this point so we were already in full summer mode. The first thing we did with Grandpa E was go out to dinner with him at a local restaurant. Eli loves spending time with Grandpa E when he comes in town and always has lots of fun when he's here. 

Grandpa E loves fishing (so do we), so we made sure to take him fishing at our local community pond one day while he was here. He lives in the big city so he doesn't get to do things like this very often and we all had a great time. 

The fish weren't very big, but we enjoyed catching them no matter their size!

Eli caught the most this day out of all of us. He was a machine!

After a morning of fishing, we were all starving so we washed up at home and then headed to the Malt Shop. They have the best milkshakes in town (and the crunchiest ice) and we couldn't wait to have a cool treat. It was a great end to a fun weekend with Grandpa E!

Summer Bucket List Days 1-7

Each summer Eli and I make a Summer Bucket List of all the things we want to do while we're on summer break. Most of things we list aren't elaborate or even expensive but they give us purpose while we're home for 2 months. Each night he crosses off the things we did on our list that day until we're all finished. We count up how many days we're out for summer vacation and then try to list something for each day. This summer I chronicled our adventures on Instagram and I loved looking back at all the collages I made of the summer fun we had. 

The night before summer break started Eli and I sat down with our markers and made 

Our Summer Fun List for the summer. It was as long as our refrigerator! 

Day 1: We visited The Sno Co., a local snowball stand that sells THE BEST

snowballs around! 

Day 2: We rode our bikes to the library to do some reading and 

then came home and spent some time by the swimming pool. 

Barkley even joined us for some fun. 

Day 3: We took Barkley for a walk, played basketball, got ice cream at the 

coffeeshop downtown, bought some new books from the local bookstore, met Grandpa E for dinner, and had frozen yogurt for dessert! Whew! Day 3 was a BUSY day!

Day 4: We went back to the coffeeshop with Grandpa E (his favorite place when he visits) and then shopped a little downtown. Eli found this How to Build Paper Airplanes book and Grandpa E bought it for him. 

Day 5: We went fishing that morning at our local pond. For lunch we took Grandpa E to the Malt Shop and then came home to do some swimming. 

Day 6: (Memorial Day) Grandpa E had to leave but before he left he and Eli did some science together. Eli loves doing science experiments with him!

Day 7: We met Zue-Zue for lunch at Johnny's and then went bowling with the Atkins family.

Yay for the program "Kids Bowl Free"! We all had a blast! Eli asked Cooper to come home with us and these boys spent the afternoon swimming in the pool.

Thanksgiving in Texas-Wilson Thanksgiving Meal

The next day we started out by going to Krispy Kreme. Eli and I were quite fascinated by the donut making process and watched the assembly line for a long time. It was the perfect way to start our day. After Krispy Kreme we picked up Grandpa E and headed to Cabela's so Eli could pick out his birthday present from E. After looking around the entire store Eli decided on a bow. He tested it out in the store and was in love. He couldn't wait to get home to practice. 

 

I dropped the boys off at Grandpa E's house and then I headed to the store to get food for our Thanksgiving meal the next day. I found a little slice of heaven when I went to the freezer section. Most of you know about the Blue Bell famine of 2015 and this was the first time for me to see Blue Bell in stores in months. I was just a tad excited!! I showed great control and only bought one half gallon of homemade vanilla. I didn't know when I would see Blue Bell again so I made sure to document this very important historical day. 

The next morning I started cooking all the sides (Josh's dad ordered a Honeybaked Ham for the main dish) for our Thanksgiving meal while the boys went outside to watch Eli practice shooting his bow. After a few practice shots, he had it and was hitting his target every single time. 

My little turkey hunter :)

Josh's brother Ian and his family came over around lunch time and I forced everyone to take family pictures before I would serve food. Hey, when you are part of a family who hates pictures desperate times call for desperate measures. 

Ian and his daughter Sophie

The Wilson men

Ian, Tasha, and Sophie

The Wilson Family

We ate a delicious Thanksgiving meal and then went to the park for the kids to burn off some energy. 

We spent the rest of our Thanksgiving day sitting around the fire pit talking and hanging out together. It was great to catch up with Ian, Tasha, and Sophie. The next morning we had to come back home but before we left I squeezed in a quick ten mile run at a local park. The St. Jude half-marathon was quickly approaching and I knew I needed to put in the run time. The park I went to was so beautiful. Even though it was very chilly in the beginning it quickly warmed up and ended up being a great day for a run. 

We said good-bye to Grandpa E and to Texas and headed back home. It was a great visit and I can't wait until we can see him again! 

Thanksgiving in Texas-Legoland Discovery Center

This year for Thanksgiving we started our week long break a little early and went to visit Grandpa E in Texas. We wanted to spend some time with him and with Josh's brother's family before Thanksgiving. We left Thursday after school and got there late that night. Friday morning we woke up and after a yummy breakfast at Waffle House we decided to take Eli to the Legoland Discovery Center. 

We bought our tickets and waited around for a few minutes before they let us in the doors. Eli was very excited to go. He is very much into Legos these days.

I think if Eli had to name which part was his favorite he would probably say building the Lego cars and getting to race them. I tried not to think about how many germy hands had touched these exact Legos. Let's just say that Eli washed his hands REALLY WELL when we left that day!

Eli raced cars, went through the Ninjago laser game to test his Ninja skills, played on the playground, and rode on the Lego laser gun ride twice. We certainly made the most of our time there! 

I thought the mini mock-ups of famous spots around the Dallas area were pretty neat looking. 

We watched a short 3D Lego movie featuring the Lego hero Clutch Powers, rode the laser ride one more time, and then left the Lego Center. My overall review would be that it was just okay. Eli had fun, but the price you pay for the experience you get wasn't that great in my opinion. Hopefully one day, we'll be able to go to the real Legoland and experience that!

We left the fun center and went to the Lego store so Eli could pick out a souvenir. He decided to build his own Lego man from the video we watched before going into the Discovery Center.

Our visit to see Grandpa E was off to a great start!