Labor Day Weekend

Sutton, Adelyn and Berkley age 3. Mason 4, Callahan 5 weeks, Quinn 21 months

Labor Day was our first chance to get out of town as a family in a long time. I was ready for a change of scenery, since I hadn't left since June. It's become some what of a tradition to head to Dallas as soon as we can after our boys have been born and this trip was wonderful in so many ways! Wednesday after school we headed to Baird. We had dinner out with Granny and Grandaddy so they could love on Callahan and we really enjoyed our time with them. What a blessing it is for my boys to really know their great grandparents. Thursday we had breakfast on the ranch porch as a family of five and then headed out for Callahan's first ranger ride. In true Vestal boy fashion, he fell asleep within minutes. The grass is really grown up everywhere on our property thanks to the wonderful rains we've gotten and the lack of us being able to be there the last few months to drive the roads. We almost got stuck in a pasture of wild sunflowers that used to be our road. We quickly were able to back up, as the weeds were twice the size of the ranger. Ryon worked on the skid steer a little that morning with the boys and then we headed to Fort Worth.

We stayed at the Omni in downtown Fort Worth, it was a great place. It was really nice with great restaurants, starbucks and a pool. Thursday night we had a bbq at Don and Amy's. The crew came over for dinner and the kids ran wild for hours. All the kids are a bit older now so it was nice to see them play and interact and it was really minimum work on us parents compared to years past. The Burch's and Vestal's are wedding planning already :) 

Friday Ryon and Daniel played golf early in the morning and I enjoyed breakfast at Starbucks on the street outside of the hotel with all my boys. We headed to a park to play for awhile. The boys had a great time being somewhere new and obviously the park was a lot different than what we have here. It was so humid so everyone left hot and sweaty. We met Ryon at the hotel restaurant and ate before going down to the Stockyards to see the Cattle Drive. I must say, I was really looking forward to this since we've never been and I knew the boys would love it…and I was so disappointed…there's like 20 longhorns that walk by. Not that exciting….unless you aren't from Texas I suppose. I was expecting a lot more! So after that we all went walked around for awhile. Mason rode the mechanical bull, the kids jumped from one horse game to the next, we went in lots of shops, and we ended up eating at Risky's bbq. 7 kids total…we actually did great! The kids were all hungry and we were outside at a big table and we all really enjoyed ourselves. Overall, this was my favorite night and I felt like the adults and the kids really had a great time. Saturday we set aside to spend some time at the pool. I woke and got a facial…amazing. Then we went to the pool, but there was not one drop of shade. Nothing! This was a problem for Callahan and a problem for Ryon who didn't feel all that well after spending too much time with Daniel out late the night before, haha. So Ryon took Sutton and Callahan up to the room for lunch and rest while watching Tech play and Mason and I stayed with Kandi and her sweet Reid for the afternoon. It was great catching up with Kandi as I haven't gotten to in way too long. Saturday night we walked down to an Italian place as a family and had dinner together. Overall it was a wonderful trip, we had fun as a family and seeing our friends. 

Sunday we stopped at the Lake House to see everyone. Mason and Sutton got on the ski trainer and went round and round on the lake. I was very skeptical at first but the boys did great and Mason was doing no hands, and trying to jump the wake, and looked so big and confident out there. They are such great little athletes and catch on quickly! Monday we spent the morning at the Ranch before heading back home to prepare for school and our week ahead. It was such a great little vacation for us!