Girls day out...

Thursday all the boys treated us to a girls day out...they took care of all of the kiddos and we hit the road!

I was a little nervous because I left Riley like this...

But it turns out she survived...they all went to Cooper's BBQ for lunch (the BEST you could ever have) and then Jason took her to see Cats and Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore! We headed to downtown Marble Falls for some shopping!

There are lots of cute boutiques and I managed to find some clothes...shocking!

We had Thai food for lunch and then headed to see Charlie St. Cloud...a good chick flick!

When we came home I found this...

Just kidding!

I just love this picture...if we would have let her she would have taken the wave runner out all by herself..no fear!

Jason was actually in the water in this pick but he's behind the waverunner...Riley does however have the kill switch in her hand and she knows how to start the machine...she was very obedient however while her Daddy told her to not touch any buttons while he was fixing a clog in the waverunner!

For dinner Lance and Barbara cooked an Italian feast and everybody had a helping hand!

Lance concentrating on buttering the bread...it is an art!

Me and my Dad

Cheers!

Lance and Barbara or "Gruncle" and "Beba", Jason's aunt and uncle, arrived on Wednesday from Hotlanta to spend a few days with us!!!

Here's Barbara and I posing for our Corona commercial!

We couldn't stand sitting out too long before we all had to get in the water...it was soooo hot!

We did some tubing that afternoon...

Crazy brothers...

Our evening plans involved eating at Tamale King...great food and great margaritas!

Des, Mom, and Dad

Jason and Frank

Lance, Barbara, and Me

The kiddos...actually Riley with her aunt and uncle...haha!

And here's the aftermath...we did some damage!

Catching fishies

Jason and Frank shot down to the coast for a couple of days to do some fishing...a favorite past time of theirs and something they hadn't gotten to do together in a long time!

The had a guide the first day and then went out on their own the second day and were joined by John, a great family friend.

Here's some pics from their fishing...

They caught some nice redfish!

Time for some grub!

They arrived home late Tuesday night just in time for dinner...on lake time that is which is 9:30..haha!

After dinner Jason fileted all of the fish...

We had a fish fry a few days later and it was all delicious!

Feeding the moos!

Riley also got to see her sweet friend Arielle while we were in TX!

Arielle's grandparents are good friends with Grammie and JoePa and the girls are just a few months apart.

Arielle's grandparents have some land and some cows and the girls have gotten together before to play and feed the cows.

The last time they played together was during our visit last Christmas and a few months ago Riley came home from school with a water color painting that her teachers had written "Arielle sees the moon" on. You see, whenever the kids do art at school the teachers ask them what it is that they drew, painted, etc. and they write it down. I was perplexed at what Riley said the painting was so we were talking about it on the way home and she said "Yeah...Arielle feed the moos"...it was obvious her teachers had misunderstood her but I was amazed that she remembered Arielle and feeding the cows almost 6 months later!

So the girls fed the moos!

Sweet Arielle...she is such a blessing and a miracle baby.

Little buddies getting the food!

Arielle didn't like getting her hands all slimey from the cows mouths but Riley was all about it!

It wouldn't be a visit with Arielle if the girls didn't ride in the golf cart with Cynthia!

Hugs!

Sweet friends!

Zoo time...

We decided a break from the normal lake activites was in store and since the boys were down at the coast fishing we headed to the Exotic Zoo near Johnson City and it was a blast!

Acres and acres of all sorts of animals, a petting zoo, and a tractor ride to feed all of the creatures!

We started off at the petting zoo where Riley was enamored with the fact that she could actually touch the deer. You see, deer are EVERYWHERE around my parents house, and while they are rather tame the do not let you pet them much to Riley's dismay. She often runs after them with open arms saying "I want to hold you" but so far her dream has not come true. This was about as close to "holding" deer this little girl got and she loved every minute of it.

We did learn a very important lesson, however. NEVER take a bucket of feed into a petting zoo. We were literally attacked by the deer and goats and even managed to let a few escape from the pen in our attempts to get in. There wasn't much staff from the zoo around so we were on our own to tame these guys and Desiree was our fearless leader!

We managed to escape the huge petting zoo pen and we were off on the tractor ride to see more animals...here's all the girls! Apparently Riley and I missed the memo about wearing green that day!

The most exciting part of the experience for Riley was the zebras...or as she calls them "Racing Stripes"...she was just in awe of them and DiDi even bought her a little stuffed zebra that she now sleeps with every night!

We saw some kangaroos...

Emus....

One happy girl!

They had two camels...one named Goober...and they LOVED eating right out of your hand!

After the tractor ride we did a little swinging...LOVE this little girl!

We found another petting zoo area that had baby goats...some even just a week old!

Riley got to "hold" them and talk sweetly to them and if her Dad had been there she probably would have convinced him to let her take one home!

The finale to our fun trip was that Riley got to ride a "horsie"...a cute pony named Mocha!

What's a girl to do after a long, hot morning of seeing all kinds of cool animals...well "ride Racing Stripes" that is!

We had a blast and went to a great little restaurant, the Chrome Cactus, and ate great burgers and sweet potato fries...yum!

To the lake we go...

Well as part of Jason coming home we were looking forward to heading to my parents house to play at the lake and see lots of friends and family!!!

We started out on Wednesday...what started out as a 6 hour travel day quickly turned into a 12 hour travel day...Southwest truly let me down that day but I'll move on!

We hooked Riley up with some Happy Feet while we waited for hours at the airport!

Riley did awesome despite all the delays we faced...honestly I think I had more meltdowns than her! :)

So we finally made it in the wee hours of Thursday morning and we made a Taco Cabana run while we waited for the next flight to hopefully deliver our luggage and thankfully it did...so with our bags in the car and Taco C in our bellies we drove to the lake.

By the time we got Riley down to sleep it was 3 am and I had already committed to working at our Austin office on Thursday so on 3 1/2 hours of sleep I worked all day Thursday while Riley and Jason played!

I got home to a margarita, a great dinner, and my bed...I was pooped!

Friday was my last day of work for quite a few days...a break I REALLY need!

So once I wrapped things up it was time to play!

Me and the hubs!

Jason's Aunt Michelle drove up on her Harley and hung out with us for a bit...they tried to get close to the deer!

Riley was impressed with Aunt Michelle's "bicycle" but wanted to show hers off too!

She has figured out the slight incline in my parents driveway...she flinstones it up to the end of the driveway, turns around, and flies down towards the garage...this girl has no fear!

Friday night we eat at Francesca's, one of our favorite Italian restaurants, and then went and had yogurt at a cute little place where you pick your flavor, add your toppings, and then weight it. I must document that JoePa's weighed the most...but none of us had a hard time eating any of ours!

Saturday Jason and I went running together, which is something that we love to do together, but I must admit this triple digit heat with humidity is not something I'm used to anymore!

After our run we headed up to the pool at Horseshoe Bay! Jason worked out and my dad had been playing golf so when they were both done they met us at the pool and Riley had her first margarita!

JoePa said it was his first margarita too...I don't think so!!!

Jason and Riley built a "sand castle" which Riley enjoyed jumping on and destroying each time!

After we played at the pool and had lunch we headed home and waited for the rest of the gang to arrive...the LoRusso clan!

They made it and we all took a boat ride!

For those who want proof that Riley's curls came from me...we both had great "boat hair" after our boat ride...like mother like daughter!

Aunt Michelle with all the "kids"

Sunday morning started off lazy for Miss Riley!

You see she had to move from her room into Mommy and Daddy's room with all the company in town and she was up for about an hour in the middle of the night trying to talk us into letting her in bed with us...we won...but we kind of all lost because we all lost an hour of sleep!

She had fun playing with her hat and being cool!

She also had lots of fun playing with Bubba!

We all are having fun playing with Sadie...such a sweet doggie!

We pretty much played on the lake all day long!!!

There was wakeboarding...

Floating...

Paddle Boating...

LOTS of playing on the water trampoline and slide...

We look happy and sweet in this picture...don't be fooled! We spent ALL day pushing each other off this thing!

And of course there was lots of jet skiing...Riley LOVES riding the waverunner and yells "Giddy Up" and squeals to "go fast"!!!

CJ jumping off the back...

We had a special treat for the kiddos this afternoon after the temps cooled down to double digits....sheesh!

This awesome water slide belongs to my parents neighbors but they let us borrow it and it was a hit!

Lastly, I leave you with my darling daughter picking her wedgie...this happens a lot when you're at the lake!

Gotta go...there's much more fun to be had!