Saturday, March 19, 2011

Audrey and Mommy's Road Trip!

WE DID IT!! I have been planning to visit one of my oldest and dearest friends for awhile now, but the 6 hour drive alone with a toddler was a *little* intimidating! But for this Spring Break I just decided to go for it and I'm so glad I did. Audrey and I had such a great bonding time and we both had a blast. Audrey's Auntie Moo and Uncle Rick (who she adores) live in San Antonio, so we decided to start off slow with just a 5 hour drive to SA to see them, and then on to Uvalde (another 1 1/2 south) the next morning. Here we are, ready to go!

I packed toys, toys, and more toys for the trip. So even though I was hoping for a nap early on, she was pretty happy to just play for a few hours.
She did pretty well the rest of the way (and I didn't even have to bust out the DVD player! What what!!) But started to get preeeetty cranky when we were almost to San Antonio. Not cool because that was the one time I actually needed to pay attention to the directions to get to Amanda and Rick's house. We were both almost in tears when she thankfully passed out and I was able to spend the next hour navigating through San Antonio and we made it there safely!

Auds was sooo excited to see her Auntie Moo and Uncle Rick, but especially Mimo, her favorite dog in the world. She immediately took charge and told everyone what their coloring duties were. ;)


Playing with Uncle Rick in the backyard.


I think one of her favorite parts of the whole trip was when Rick played his guitar and she got to dance with Amanda. I don't think I've ever seen her smile and laugh this much. She LOVED it! :)




Off to dinner for some amazing Mexican food. So yummy.

Getting some love from her Auntie. She sure does love her!

The next morning we were up and ready to roll onto Uvalde. Audrey was pretty sad to leave Amanda and Rick, and was all "Really mom, weren't we just in this car all day yesterday??!!!" Luckily the drive to Uvalde is all open fields and right next to the train tracks, so she loved looking at the tractors and the trains that kept chugging by.


Finally in Uvalde and ready to play with Nixon and Daren!


Sterling and her husband Chris live on a beautiful farm with lots of land, goats, and even a horse! Nixon and Daren were so sweet to show my little city girl around. It was so funny how Audrey kept getting upset when she got dirty and Nixon just kept telling her this is how it is out here!


Audrey was a little scared of the goats at first. Nixon and Daren just jumped right in there with them, but Audrey held back. But she learned quick and soon got right in there to feed them!





One of my highlights of the trip was RIDING A HORSE! I haven't ridden a horse since my girl scout days back in '88 and was so excited to ride Woody!


Audrey couldn't believe that I was actually on a real, live horse. It was hysterical. We tried to get her on, but she wasn't having it. Next time though!




We had so many new learning experiences on the trip, me riding the horse, Audrey learning to climb a fence . . .


and of course how to pull her weight in the barn. Get to work girlfriend! ;)



By Day 2 she was a pro at feeding the goats and kept saying "more feed goats! more!"


Being silly with her friends . . .

"What are these hurty things Mama?" The cacti (cactuses???) were all over the farm and Auds kept wanting to touch them. Luckily she only got one owie.


Driving around the Big U to see the sights. Audrey and Daren loved singing along to "The Wheels on the Bus". Here they are acting out "the babies on the bus go waa waa waa!"

Uvalde has the BEST restaurants. After eating Mexican food for 4 meals straight, we decided to change it up and eat at the old school Pharmacy/Deli counter. The girls especially loved their ice cream.





Trying to get Auds on the horse . . . she loved petting him, but just wasn't ready to sit on him yet.


And yet another learning experience on the trip . . . .wait for it . . . .I learned to shoot a gun!! Crazy, I know! Chris showed me the basics and taught me how to handle it, but man, shooting a gun is hard work! But I finally hit a beer can! Whoop!


What's more fun than digging in the dirt with friends?



The sunset was so beautiful on their land. We both loved just looking at all of the land and enjoying the fresh air.

Getting ready for bed so we could rest up for our 6 HOUR DRIVE the next day.

And yes, we drove the whole 6 hours home (took us 7 with only two stops, but Austin SXSW traffic was crazy.) I cannot believe we did it! Audrey did great and slept a lot. We stopped in Austin for lunch, and then were back on the road. When were about an hour from home she got pretty cranky though. "Mama, no more car!!!!!!!!" Who could blame her though, my butt was numb at that point too. ;) The closest place to pull over was the tiniest town in the world, Carl's Corner. Which doesn't even have an open gas station. So we just pulled in the parking lot and walked around for a bit. Then I finally gave in (I was super proud of myself for waiting this long!) and turned on the Dora dvd in the backseat. So of course she was happy as could be all the way home.
It was truly one of the best vacations I've ever had. Audrey and I had so much fun together, we got to see family, and I got to hang out and relax with one of my favorite people, Sterling, who made me laugh until my stomache hurt many times, while our girlies played so nicely together. Can't wait to go back!

2 comments:

bloem family said...

Great pictures!! Looks like a lot of fun :)

Gerri said...

What an awesome trip! It looked like you an Audrey had a wonderful time. She sure loves Amanda and Rick!

Audrey (and you) are now country girls!!!