Great Wolf Lodge

As previously explained, for Mason's surprise birthday gift, we took him to Great Wolf Lodge in Dallas.  The Lodge was amazing and had everything a little boy could want for his birthday.   Not only did he get to sleep in a bunk-bed with his own TV, the indoor swimming area had slides, and a river, and wave pool, and great water toys!  But when Mason didn't want to swim...he was on multiple quests and killing dragons!  They had a game that took hours and hours to complete, but Mason was a Master Magi and proved he could kill dragons!  
Everywhere he went with his wand, employees would call him "Magi" and treat him with respect.  The game encompassed hours of fun and Mason's still talking about it.  In the evening there was a bed-time story and animated show.  In the morning was a nature lesson.   With the arcade, ice cream/candy store, and Cub Club...there was never a non-fun moment! 

Aryah loved the little window in the bunk beds.

The top players of the "magiquest" game were posted on the t.v. Mason's name was Magic Jewel (he came up with that on his own) and he placed in several catergories! He was really proud of himself!

The Killer Red Dragon in the background!

Victoria and her wand

The kids had to sit on this bear EVERY time we passed it.

After climbing onto this banana boat Aryah looked up and said "GO MOMMY! GOOOOO!"

Reading the book for clues...

 Daddy and Mason on the only big slide Mason dared to ride.

 Victoria loved the slides. She said it was the best part! We will have to go back when she is a little bigger so she can ride the big scary slides with Mommy!

 Daddy and Aryah. Poor baby was scared of just about everything in the water park. Especially the gigantic bucket that dropped water every 10 minutes!

The sure sign of an awesome vacation!

Mason's Birthday

Where did 6 years go?  Mason turned 6 this weekend and, according to him, "this was my best birthday ever!".  His birthday was on a Sunday, so we got up and he opened his presents. Then had a yummy breakfast and headed off to the big surprise present!  We booked 2 nights at the Great Wolf Lodge in Dallas, Texas!  At first, he was a bit confused about what he'd been given, but eventually he figured it out and was really excited.   

Mason loves those little books and he got two this time!

Mason opening a present and Tori looking crazy!

This was Mason's birthday cake...after the fall.   Mason wanted chocolate with chocolate frosting, so Ashlee made a cute cake with cars and a road and M&M's...but while walking into the Lodge in Dallas, it fell from the cart and was destroyed!  Mason didn't care though...cake is cake!  He just fished out the toy cars and we ate it anyway.

Mason and his cake...

Enjoying the cake at the Lodge.

Mason had a great birthday with a couple of Wii games, some books, workbooks, clothes, a spaceship lego toy, a puzzle, some games, etc!  Best of all was the 3 days we all spent together having fun at the Lodge.  We love you Mason and you are the BEST six year old around!

Hair blog?

So, I have been toying with the idea of making a hair blog. This could include styles for little girls, that I do on Victoria and Aryah; and also clients. I'm still just thinking about it... not too sure yet. But in that spirit I thought I would go ahead and post a little sample of what I might do.

This style turned out very cute and was pretty easy, although time consuming. The advantage though was that it lasted 2 days, so I got a "day off" from little Miss's hair.



 It consists of 4 french braids. One down the middle, one on each side, and then an upside down one in the back. Little Miss thought the upside down braid was very funny and giggled the whole time I was doing it!

To do the upside down braid I sat on the floor and had her lay on her tummy with her head in my lap. It was pretty simple.

 After you do the braids and secure them with a clear elastic you will have 4 little pony tails that join in the middle. Take the hair from each one and pin them in loops with bobby pins. You can arrange the loops in whatever place you think looks good, but try to cover your elastics with some of them.

This hairstyle even survived gymnastics class!  It would also be really cute with a big flower tucked into the loops somewhere!

I decided to do this after I had created the style, so I don't have step by step pictures. If I do go ahead with the blog I will do more step by steps. If you want step by steps of this style leave me a note in the comments and I will redo it!

Victoria's Words

Victoria called scrapes, skerps.   Whenever she falls, she cries, "I got a skerp!"   Daddy loves when she says that, so he was trying to get her to say it and asked, "Tori?  Do you have any scarps?", to which she replied, "nope, go fish!". 

While at HEB, Victoria saw corn wrapped in the husks and exclaimed (at the top of her voice), "what is that?  That looks weird!  I would never eat that!"  So Daddy picked one up, pulled the husk back and showed her the corn inside.  Tori burst into laughter and continued to yell, "HEY!  There is corn in there! Why is the corn hiding in there?  That's silly corn!"

University of Texas

We got two tickets to the first football game of the season for University of Texas vs Rice.  So Mason and Daddy went to the game.  It was super fun!   It was our first game and we had a fun experience!  

Since we had to park far away, we took a bike taxi to the stadium.  Mason LOVED this and waved and yelled at everyone as he biked by.  We were passing the Texas History Museum right when I snapped this picture.

This was the stadium as we approached it.

Our first stop...the First Aid station.  As we walked through the gates, I looked over and Mason had blood all over his face and shirt.  He had a bloody nose, and though it wasn't a big deal, this was the first place I saw where we could clean it up.  They cleaned him, gave him a drink, and took good care of him.  He actually asked if we could go back during the half-time...

Mason learning how to do the Longhorn cheer!  Ashlee colored his hair purple...not sure why, but lots of people said he looked awesome.  Next time...we'll do orange.

Daddy and Mason at the game.

Texas Flags that Mason loved.

The game was pretty loud and had cannon's blasting throughout, which, of course, scared Mason, so that was a bummer.  But otherwise, it was fun to watch and cheer!  Mason thought all the tackling was funny.

After the game, we stopped and got ice cream (of course).