Our Texas Trip and Halloween!

We had a whirlwind of a trip to Texas, but oh so fun! Kinsley and I flew down the Tuesday before Halloween and Louie joined us Friday night. Kinsley hung out with Mimi (my mom) and Grandpa Marcus on Saturday and Louie and I added about 450 miles to my dad's car. Thanks Dad!! We started by driving up to College Station to see some of my sorority sisters and watch the Texas A&M/Missouri game. We won't talk about the results of that game but we did have a fabulous time. We watched the game from one of our old hangouts, The Tap (which was kind-of funny to see my big-time preggers self in a bar) and then during half-time, the girls headed over to the AXO house to bust in and take a little tour. We had so much fun reminiscing, and I hope we have a chance to do it again soon.  Here are some pics from this small portion of our adventure.

Andrea, Allison and me being silly and using my belly as the Omega in AXO.

We made ourselves at home in the AXO house and decided to use some of the signs they had lying around in our pictures. 

Our friend, Kathy's, picture and plaque were still hanging on the wall in the chapter room. It was very special to see her picture but sad to know that the current chapter members have no idea how special she was to us. 

It was definitely a hard year for us... it was the same year that the bonfire stack collapsed. Our "bonfire buddies" made this plaque in her honor.

6 of our closest sorority sisters... missing quite a few, but special nonetheless.
Melissa, me, Allison, and Melissa. Julie and Andrea on the bottom row.

Back at The Tap with my sweet hubby.

One last picture with my ladies before Louie and I hit the road for our next football game. :)

After we picked up lunch at Rudy's (yummmm!) we headed southwest towards Austin, TX. My sister was performing in the UT/Kansas game and we didn't want to miss the opportunity to see her! We were both soooo glad we made it, even though we could have cared less about the game. :) I did take off my A&M fleece for the UT game and my sister was very much appreciative.

We made it to the "meet and greet" before the game. It was so fun to see Sarah in her uniform doing her thing!

Can you tell I'm excited to see my sister?!?
Could my smile get any bigger?!?

Then came the "parade" or rather the procession of the band and the pom squad onto the field. It was loud and fun!

We had great seats... if we wanted to watch the game. Ha! The pom squad moves around for each quarter. You can see them on the opposite side line - which means this was 2nd quarter.

I snuck over to the student section to snap some up close pics of Sarah. She's so darn cute!

Posing with some of her ladies. It's funny how quickly those horns pop up on her hand when a camera comes out. She's so used to posing for pics that she automatically strikes her pose as soon as the camera is visible. :)

Our Rochester friends, Sari and Rob were in Texas the same time we were. They came and found us during the game. They, of course, UT Alums, were in orange... we were not. :)

This was a pic from 3rd quarter when she was right in front of us. So proud of you, Sarah!! :)

After our crazy Saturday we headed back home to my mom's. Thanks to my brother, John and his wife, Sarah for visiting with us for a few minutes and giving us a ride to and from the UT game. It was a huge help, especially after the game. I was exhausted and my feet were really starting to swell. At 31 weeks pregnant, my body had had enough for the day. We promptly crashed out that evening as soon as our heads hit the pillow. Kinsley had a blast playing with Mimi and Grandpa Marcus all day. They went to a pet store and to the park. She had a great day!

The next day we met my step-brother, Luke and his wife, Emily for lunch. Emily is pregnant as well and is due to have a little boy Feb 11, about 5 weeks after me. We had to take our pregnant ladies pic!

HALLOWEEN

On Sunday we "moved" over to my dad's house to spend some time with them. We were pretty exhausted from our weekend, so on Monday we took it easy and rested up for Halloween that evening. Kinsley had been practicing all week. She would knock on a bedroom door, I would open it, she would say "candy please" and I would remind her to say "trick or treat." I would hand her some pretend candy and she would say "thank you." So, needless to say she was very excited to go trick or treating for real! 

Louie's parents had recently taken a trip to China with his sister Sarah (yes, there are 3 Sarah's in our family!) and they brought back a costume for Kinsley. It was perfect! She was a little china doll and looked precious. Thanks Strykers!!

The Hartzler's joined us for Halloween as they were in San Antonio that day. It was so fun to take the kids together. We had quite the crew. It was my dad, step-mom Leigh Ann, mom, step-dad Marcus, my brother Andrew, me, Louie, Kinsley, Rob, Sari, Witten and baby Helen. So fun!!

Sari carving a pumpkin for Leigh Ann. :)

All the kids playing and Andrew supervising.

Our little China doll ready for candy.

Superman Witten and China doll Kinsley

The super hero Hartzler kids - Helen and Witten

Headed out to collect some candy!

The daddies with their kiddos.

All 3 kids - Rob w/ Witten, Louie w/ Kinsley, and Sari w/ Helen.

After about 5 houses, Kinsley got a little freaked out by one of the kids dressed up like a goblin. She spent about 5 minutes with her head on Daddy's shoulder while Witten hit up a few more houses. It didn't take her long though and was right back in the saddle shortly.

Helen took it all in from her stroller.

Kinsley's loot.

The Hartzlers!

Witten checking out his candy.

Kins doing the same.

Yummmmmm!!

I asked Kins what she was eating and she showed me. Ha! So lady-like. :)

We thought this shirt was appropriate for Kinsley because that's all she could talk about on the trip down. :)

Tuesday evening we went to dinner with our friends, Joe and Marina and Wednesday morning we had my friend Allison take some family pictures for our Christmas card. It was a great morning! Allison is so talented!! Here is a sneak peak:

My sweeties!

Wednesday after nap time we hit the road for Houston to visit Louie's family. We arrived to a yummy dinner and Kinsley did really well on our 3.5 hour trip.
We had a busy Thursday - Louie's mom, Carol (aka Grandma Shorty) and Louie had some appointments and I met up with a couple of my Deer Park teacher friends. I only got a picture with Donna, but Rachel was there too and I had a really nice time catching up with both of them.

Me and my good friend, Donna

On Friday we had a great family day. It started with a yummy breakfast followed by a train ride and the butterfly exhibit. We all took afternoon naps and had a delicious dinner with the Strykers and the Flournoys. It really was a wonderful day!

Ready for the train ride. Kinsley was VERY excited.

Daddy and his big girl.

At the butterfly exhibit. She wasn't sure what to think at first because there were butterflies everywhere. She wanted to be carried most of the time but really liked looking at the "pretty butterflies."

It was a beautiful exhibit!

Daddy and Kinsley inspecting one of the butterflies.

Garvin taking it all in. You can't tell from the picture but there were hundreds of butterflies all around him.

Shorty, Louie, Kinsley and G

Kins in the children's play area after the exhibit.

Later that evening, the Flournoy's stopped by. Kinsley was enamored with Cousin Joanna. Joanna decided Kinsley needed to be wrapped up in a blanket and should watch Yo Gabba Gabba on her iPad. She set her all up. What a great sitter! We had such a nice time catching up with the Flournoys!

The Stryker's doing one of the things they do best... cooking. Louie definitely has picked up his parents love for cooking and is the chef in our family. :)

On Saturday morning, we headed back for San Antonio - I think we put a little over 1,000 miles on my dad's car total! Seriously... thanks Dad! We had a lunch in San Antonio and took it easy that night. Our flight left the next morning at 6:50am (thank goodness for daylight savings - we gained an extra hour that night)!! Kinsley did a great job on the flights. It was nice that she had her own seat. She watched a movie the first flight and conked out for the second.  Such a sweetie!

She slept for about an hour, all the way through landing, which was very bumpy. She was a very sleepy little girl!

What a great trip!  We didn't get to do everything we wanted... like make it to Austin during a time that we could see my grandmother's friend's art show :(, but overall it was a success. Next time we visit Texas, we will be a family of 4! Craziness!!
Have a great weekend!!
Love,
C