Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Labor Day

For Labor Day, we headed south to the Big Bend Region of Texas. For me, it was heading home. I was born in Alpine, TX where my father was a professor at Sul Ross University. We lived there for the first five years of my life. We moved right before I started kindergarten and my sister started third grade. We have a lot of memories of Alpine. My sister loves animals and used to catch horny toads and tarantulas. It was fun showing the girls were I used to live.

After we left Alpine, we toured around the region and camped in the Big Bend Ranch State Park. The state park only had a dirt road in that took an hour to get to our site. There was no cell reception and not many bathrooms. It was pretty primitive. We saw a ton of animals. There were tons of jack rabbits which are really fun to watch. The desert is beautiful too.




We hiked around the state park and then went over to the national park for more sights. Both parks were beautiful. As it was the desert in September, it was really hot. Poor Grace had terrible allergies the whole time.







As we were driving back from the national park, we noticed rain clouds and that they looked like they were close to our camp site. We were concerned that all of our stuff was wet so Wes drove in high. We didn't have cell reception so as soon as we did, Wes pulled over and made hotel reservations. We finally got to our campsite with about 30 minutes of light to pack everything. We got it packed up and thrown in the car. We made it to our hotel late and all of us were happy to be in a comfy bed.

It was a fun vacation. We really loved the scenery. I liked going home and putting an adult perspective on my 5 year old girl memories.

Back to School

The weekend before school started we had a lot of fun! Thursday, we had Meet the Teacher at the girls school. The girls were very excited to find out who their teachers were.
 
Walking to meet their teachers
The Saturday before school started we went to Denton to the North Texas State Fair and Rodeo Parade. It was a fun parade and the girls got a ton of candy and even ice cream.




Finally, it was time for the first day of school. Lizzie and Gracie were so ready for school to start! They couldn't wait to get there!

At the flag pole

Sitting at her desk ready to go!

"Mom, I'm trying to focus on this."
A better picture
 On the fourth day of school, we were walking to school and the girls just grabbed each others hand. It was so sweet.

We are so ready for second grade. The girls really love school. They are in different classes and see each other at lunch and recess. At the end of the day, they are so happy to see each other. It's so fun to watch them and their unique bond.