Three!

I can't believe Bridgette is 3!!!

We decided to skip the zoo & get back to real nature this year! There's a Texas safari called Fossil Rim Park about 1 1/2 hours away from home, so we woke up early to check it out. It's kind of like a drive thru zoo, but the animals (for the  most part) aren't caged. You pay an entrance fee, get a bag of feed & are released into the wild.

The animals just sort of roam around this huge area of land. Some of the animals are there to try & conserve the species (cheetahs mainly) and others are there because they were once pets & the owners didn't want them any longer. There were tons of deer  & antelope, emu, ostrich, giraffe & zebras (which weren't out that day.) I'll admit, I probably screamed "ROLL UP THE WINDOW" a few times, but it was really cool.

Bridgette was excited not only because she got to feed the animals, but she got to ride in "mommy's chair." Before you get all judgy on us, you're going like 5 MPH and stopping every 2 minutes. You'd get more speed in your power wheel out there people.


 That night we had a very mini birthday party for Bridgette. Her friend Ashlynn came over to play and help ring in Bridgy's new year. Bridgette has been hooked on Strawberry Shortcake lately, so her main present was a set of Strawberry & her friends with outfits to change into. She's so funny, she carries the dolls & all their outfits around in her little purse, you never know when you'll get the urge to play!

An elk! Dan got royally slimmed by it. I was expecting it to ram our car with it's humongous horns!

Hmmm... I'm hungry

Bridgette here, probably wetting her pants. I was  freaked out too.

Bridgette stayed there for probably 5 minutes after the deer left.

When they said cheetahs were going to be in the park I was very concerned. Luckily they're caged off.

Another elk, licking his lips

Dinosaur!  (said Bridgtte)

Driving lessons. She basically honked the horn & said "Oh my gosh!" the whole time. She drives with me a lot, can you tell.

Chewing his food.

Yay! Front seat!

Jack, the entire time, sleeping or laughing

Ostrich trying to worm his way in. Those things are scary.

They have real dinosaurs here people!

Yay! I'm THREE!

Yay!

Very similar to her 1st Birthday cake.

HAPPY Birthday Baby Girl!

More...

I love the convenience of camera phones! I plug it into my computer & upload the photos and think, oh man! I forgot about that! It's reminiscent of the good old 35 mm days when I'd take a roll of film, develop it 6 months later & get excited to see what was on the film (wasn't it annoying when the photos were unfocused or total junk!)

Being new(er) to this area I'm always trying to find things to do with Bridgette, and that are Jack friendly. One of the things we did recently was go to Family Day @ the Dallas Museum of Art. The first Tuesday of the month everyone is free & they have activities set up throughout the Museum's exhibits. It was a little crazy, especially since a lot of the artwork was toddler level, ancient and unguarded. I wonder how many sticky (literally) fingers touched the art that day...

Another cool thing about this outing was having the chance to visit Downtown Dallas. We live about 20 minutes north, which is close, but we don't really need to go to Dallas for many things. It is a cool city & hopefully I get the chance to explore it a bit more.

My Sister, Joan, sent this book for Bridgette. It's Pride & Prejudice for beginners. Bridgette is a smart girl & realized Jane Austen deserves her own shelf.

Papa Joe rode in the ambulance. Bridgette drove & some 3 year old boy checked Joe's heart & gave him a clean bill of health.

Dallas Museum of Art Kids' day. Those poor guards were having heart attacks left & right protecting the art from curious little fingers.

One of my sweet activity girls, Mckayla, was my helper for the day. She was awesome! This carving was amazing, it was from the height of the Roman Empire. The precision was surprising, how'd they do this!?

Bridgette being silly, she had fun making animal hats, doing story time & made tin foil crowns. She also gave a guard a heart attack by almost touching a Renaissance painting. I'm not gonna lie, I almost had a heart attack too...

He doesn't look happy, but he's just trying to intimidate you.

Man boobs.

If you think Jack is my only fat baby. This is Bridgette at 5 months (eating 1st solid food, as if she needed it.) I think she actually has more rolls than Jack.

Too Sweet. My exhausted boys.

Happy Times

 I just realized my last post was a Debbie Downer : (

Sorry Guys.

We've been doing good here in Texas. The weather is starting to cool down to 100, whoo-hoo! It's so funny because I really can feel the difference between a 108 day and a 100 day. We still stay inside a majority of the time though... 100 still makes me sweat like a beast.

Bridgette has been doing great, as long as we keep the potty training light. The musical diapers do actually work, but she still doesn't want to sit on the toilet, headstrong girl!

She absolutely loves going to nursery. Her teachers say she gets super jazzed during singing time, singing loudly & doing all the hand motions. I guess she gets that from Grandma Trudy (definitely NOT from her Dad.) She's also really excited to start preschool again. She loves to stay busy (like me) and loves learning.

Jack is huge, 25 inches & 17 lbs (My right bicep is getting pretty huge too.) I can't believe he's already outgrown his 6 month old clothes! It's so amazing how fast newborns grow.

As far as activities, he likes tummy time & any time he's in his cradle or swing he tries to sit up. There's definitely a six pack under the thick layer of chubs. He likes to sit on Dan's lap and "watch" the Olympics at night. He's is my cheerful chubby buddy & I am really blessed to have two such sweet babes.

Dan's work has been slowing a bit--Yay! He actually left work at 1 o'clock Saturday! We all miss him during the week, and I'm excited for the fall when we get to see him a bit more. He tries to get in a few racquetball games in during the week and will hopefully be able to play in the league this fall.

I started going back to the gym this past week. They can't watch children under 3 months, so I've had a long break. I almost had a panic attack leaving Jack the first time, but it feels so good to get a good workout in! I've been doing Jillian Michaels workouts and we have "dance time" where we just put on music and dance at home (picture that) , but I love putting on my headphones, lifting weights & just focusing on my workout.

 I'm following Jamie Eason's 12 week program (in case you are curious), which is different than any I've done before. She actually has you only lift weights the first month, to build muscle mass first, then adds cardio. There's also a specific diet plan that works great for me, no dairy and basically minimal processed food. I thought it would be so hard to be dairy free again, but I really don't miss it at all. I find good guacamole or hummus is a really good substitute for cheese on sandwiches or Mexican food. Enough about that though...

We were excited to have visitors last week -- We LOVE visitors, so if you want to come to Dallas, we'd love to see you. Dan's Parents and brothers David & Stuart stopped by for a short trip after their trip to Florida. It was great to see Stu again, he's been serving a church mission in Russia. Bridgette was also excited to see Uncle "Dabid" again. She still talks about him all the time, I guess he really made a good impression during his last visit.

We didn't do much, but it was fun having them here to hang out & Bridgette loved playing kitchen & "Little People" with Papa Joe. When they got here Saturday we went to a really good Tex Mex restaurant called  Blue Mesa, it was sooo good.

We held Jack's blessing that Sunday so Joe and Stu could be part of it. I love baby blessings and even though Dan was dreading speaking in front of the entire congregation it was really a beautiful blessing and Jack is lucky to have a father who loves his son so much.

 After Church we BBQ'd and just hung out and watched some Olympics. Before they left Monday we went to the Mall where Papa Joe & Bridgette could play in the kids' area & the boys could cruise for chicks.   I feel bad the trip was so uneventful, there really are cool things to do around here, I promise!

Here are some photos of the past few weeks:

Look at those chubs!

Handsome Daddy, handsome boy

This is the typical "Williamson" photo face.

Bridgette doesn't like having her photo taken lately.

Papa Joe brought Jack Eeyore.

Happy Jack

Jack fell asleep in Papa's arms, he doesn't even fall asleep in my arms!

Papa & Grandma!

The boys comparing games on their iPhones

Playing Kitchen

Puncles

Saying goodbye. It was a fun visit!