This year for Thanksgiving we headed to the ranch for a week. Schools were closed which meant Barker was free. It was the first time he'd had off in forever so we were all excited to get away. He's been out there before but I hadn't. Seems I'm always too pregnant to travel more than an hour! ha! But this year I was finally good to go.
It was the first time I'd been to Texas in a year that wasn't for a funeral. This year I unfortunately lost my mother and all 3 of my grandparents. I knew that would make Thanksgiving sad and different so doing something as new as going to the ranch for a week was a good distraction.
We left on Saturday when he finished with soccer and made the first half of the trip. We stayed in Dallas with some of his friends and introduced the kids to an earthquake. We had planned on driving straight to the ranch but the weather was really bad so we made the second half of the trip Sunday morning when the storms had passed.
We didn't waste any time. Barker and Audrey went straight to a deer stand while Dad and I took the little kids grocery shopping.
We also found Huddie some Paw Patrol toys! They can't keep them on the shelves here so we were excited to happen upon a few new things to keep them busy after it was too cold or dark to play outside.
We basically just hung out and relaxed for a solid week. The kids climbed trees and made a fort out of the blind Barker bow hunts out of. And I got to spend a few hours alone with my husband, in a deer stand, twice a day for a week! That's right. I wasn't responsible for anyone else for a couple of hours! It was wonderful. I don't think any of us were ready to leave : (
Highlights:
Arden learned that at the ranch babies bathe in the sink!
Her infamous mean face
She quickly learned to love it!
Hudson was all about the 4 wheeler and huge tractors but was bummed it was too cold for the boat.
This beauty, sheesh, I don't even know what to say.
The kids cherished spending so much time with their Daddy.
They all got some one on one time with him which I'm sure was a nice change of pace. They've been stuck with me a lot lately. I hardly left the house for the 5 weeks I battled pneumonia and I think the cabin fever had set in.
So wide open spaces and unlimited time with Barker was quite an upgrade.
Gingerbread night was a smash.
Audi would make these every day.
A bit bedraggled, I know, but we don't really worry about frivolous things like nice hair or clothes that match when we're hunting.
Huddie was a very serious designer.
Audrey is always this meticulous.
And goofy
And sugar driven
One day we hit up the fantastic City Park. It was very similar to my beloved Frontier Park in Prosper. Barker and my dad had brought Hud Muffin to this park last year but the girls hadn't been yet.
Arden enjoyed the swings.
Hud loved the slides.
These 2 holding hands melts my heart.
We lured a kitty over at the park.
making music
And this trip confirmed my long standing suspicion that Hudson is BY FAR the most photogenic of our entire family.
We also went fishing a few times!
Audrey is way better than I am at casting.
my beautiful boys
fishing with flair
What? Don't you fish in a monogrammed pullover and leopard print sunglasses?
(yes, that's a Barbie tackle box and fishing pole)
the whole gang playing with worms
The kids also played with deer bones I found and an arrow head... redneck games.
You couldn't have asked for better weather. It was simply beautiful. And the Thanksgiving dinner was divine! Why don't we do turkey and dressing once a month?
As for hunting, we saw a ton of turkeys and countless deer but Barker didn't kill anything. Unless we absolutely need the meat he doesn't like to kill anything smaller than his largest kill to date.
Side note: I'm still better at spotting deer than Barker. ; )
We all had the best time and Barker is already planning the next trip!
