Here is Waco from the car window. Courtney liked this city enough to take a picture of it I guess. We live about an hour from here, but with all the random back roads and getting lost we did, it felt like a lot longer. (P.S- If you will remember, it was only a few months ago that my GPS lead me astray into the inner city ghetto of Waco. Maggie is now in the garbage. I now hate Waco. However, we officially welcomed Garr, my new Garmin GPS, into the Hargrave family on this trip. He is awesome, although I still managed to get lost a few times. It wasn't his fault. There is only so much technology can do for somebody like me...)
We arrived at our home late Saturday night on July 30th. It was SO fun to finally get to show my family our house!! My dad and Courtney had visited last year, and my mom sort of saw it when Bennett was born, and Allison saw it when it was still in the drywall stage. But none of my family had seen our home how it is now (post-deployment re-do) and I was super excited to show them all the projects I have been working on for the last few months. They were an excellent audience and ooed and awed at all the right times.
Sunday morning we woke up and everybody got ready for church. We also had few extra visitors stop by that morning...
Bekah and Nathan came up from San Antonio to see my family and go to church with us! For those of you who don't remember, Bekah and Nathan (Matt's sister and her husband) are very close to my family due to the fact that they attended BYU-Idaho in Rexburg, where my family lives. Because of this, they spent a lot of time with my parents eating Sunday dinners and hanging out, and they couldn't pass up an opportunity to have another one with them in Texas. It was great to have them come. But that's not all who showed up...
After church Mary and Wayne came up to say a quick hello, too! Bennett is such a lucky boy to have two such wonderful sets of grandparents. And we are all very lucky to have so many people who love us!
Bennett and Uncle Nathan playing in Bennett's room. Notice how every toy is dumped out onto the floor? That is Bennett's new thing. Bennett is not going to have toys in his room for too much longer unless he can learn to kick this habit...or how to at least pick them back up...
Reunited and it feels so good.
Monday was a relax and unpack day. And my dad volunteered to do my entire yard for me! What a guy! I made good use of my free time by watching the Bachelorette, as Courtney is really into this show. As you can tell by the look on my face, I was not quite as into it as she was. I did, however, root for JP. Because there's nothing like finding true love on national television after cycling through 25 other guys. That's going to last forever.
We also did some shopping. I took them to Goodwill (my favorite hangout) and Lowe's (the store I have spent more time at in the last year than any other human being would care to admit.) Lowe's and I are very close...maybe a little too close...
That night we barbecued shiskabobs in the backyard. Bennett and Grandpa were the masters of the flame. Matt would have been proud.
Tuesday morning I took everybody to my gym with me. The girls did Zumba, my dad used the machines, and Bennett went to childcare and played with his trains. They almost didn't let us in though, because we forgot our ID's. Fortunately, they believed that we were all over the age of 12 and let us in anyway. It was close call for Allison however, who the lady scrutinized especially carefully.
Everybody Zumba!
After the workout. We all made it out alive, but just barely (mom) :)
Outside the gym...apparently Courtney thought we were going to pose...
When we got home, we realized that I had accidentally locked us out of our house with the alarm system set. So I got one more workout figuring that one out.
On Wednesday Matt called and said he was sending us a present in the mail. Matt does this frequently, and I love it. So does Bennett, who has coined the term, "Daddy Mail." Matt's presents are always fun and unexpected, and this one was no different.
A slip n' slide for Bennett and Grandpa! Jace got to play, too, since I still watched him all this week. Bennett loved this thing! Unfortunately, we only took a few pictures because we were too busy taking video. And I really don't want to deal with uploading a million videos right now. So just imagine the cutest little boy laugh you can, and that about sums it up :)
Grandpa was feeling it a little there at the end though. Actually I went down this a lot too, and I think you have to be a child with an underdeveloped nervous system to fully appreciate this kind of water toy. I have bruises. But we will do it again, I guarantee it.
Everyday we have Three-O'clock Ice Cream Time here. The title pretty much says it all. I love three o'clock.
Bennett and Jace in their shades. Jace is at that age right now where he can talk really well, but he doesn't censor his thoughts at all, so everything he says is hilarious. He loved hanging out with my family, and still asks where Grandma and Grandpa went.
Thursday morning we got up, packed a cooler, and headed to a little water park in Killeen that I have always wanted to go to, but just never have--mostly because I wanted to do the big water slides that Bennett can't go on yet, and I didn't have a second person to watch him while I did. But with my family here there were plenty of people to play with Bennett and slide with me, so it was a win win all around.
A little section of the park. This place is pretty awesome, and it's only $7.00 for us to go. We just found our new summer hangout.
Grandma and Bennett and the little purple slide.
"The Sliders." Actually, my mom and Allison went on a few slides with us, too, but only my dad would do the big ones with me. Courtney was a good babysitter :)
Me coming out of the big purple slide.
(Good photography skills, Court.)
My dad coming out of the big purple slide.
"I can't believe I got both my arms ripped out of their sockets for a picture like that!"
Sisters.
Bennett.
My dad doing his thing.
Look at that form! I am so proud of myself.
My mom and Allison watching the divers.
Going home after a great day.
(And just so you know, outside food of any kind is strictly prohibited here. I guess that's why we got so many glares as we blatantly ate our chicken salad pitas in front of everybody.)
When we got home we all took three hour naps. It felt so good. After our naps we got back in the car and went to the Olive Garden for dinner. Can I just say yum? I love Italian.
On our way home we veered off course and headed for Courtney Lane, a little road in Copperas Cove that Courtney saw on our way into town and decided she had to have a picture of it. So it was on this night that we were all finally sick of hearing Courtney telling us all to got that way, and we finally stopped so she could get her picture.
Courtney on Courtney Lane. It was even better than we hoped, with some ghetto shacks and a questionable party going on across the street. Way to live up to your name...
That's how we all felt about it, Bennett.
When we got home we all took three hour naps. It felt so good. After our naps we got back in the car and went to the Olive Garden for dinner. Can I just say yum? I love Italian.
On our way home we veered off course and headed for Courtney Lane, a little road in Copperas Cove that Courtney saw on our way into town and decided she had to have a picture of it. So it was on this night that we were all finally sick of hearing Courtney telling us all to got that way, and we finally stopped so she could get her picture.
Courtney on Courtney Lane. It was even better than we hoped, with some ghetto shacks and a questionable party going on across the street. Way to live up to your name...
That's how we all felt about it, Bennett.
As it turns out, Courtney Lane is right next to our City Park. So we made one more detour on the way home to see where Bennett and I hang out, and to feed the ducks our leftover bread sticks from the Olive Garden. Bennett and I have seen the ducks before, and I knew there were some weird ones here, but nothing like what we saw on this night. Honestly, it was like there was a chemical spill in this pond or something. I have never seen so many misfit animals in all of my life--limp legs, no legs, broken wings, crazy growths, weird hanging things, anorexia, and obesity, to name a few. It was probably one of the most comically tragic thing I have seen. I could not stop laughing.
Courtney made friends with the little white duck. He was literally almost eating out of her hand. (If you look in the background you can see the duck with the weird hanging thing. What happened here?!)
Bennett and Courtney feeding the ducks. I guess Courtney asked Bennett if he could see the duck feathers, and this was Bennett's response (Courtney has feather extensions in her hair.)
Laughing at the poor ducks.
Of course Bennett couldn't be near mud and stay clean very long. I was a little worried about the effects of the pond water on his skin, but as of yet Bennett has no crazy growths or hanging things. *Sigh of relief*
On the way home from the park we detoured through a neighborhood that is known to have deer roaming the streets at night. They are like the people's pets. It's a little weird, but cool at the same time.
Friday was the last full day my family would spend with us, so we decided to get out of the house a little. I took them on base and I gave them what I like to call, "The Citizen's Tour." This is a tour that, opposed to showing military things (tanks, offices, award sites) shows what the average "Hey-I-married-into-the-Army-so-this-is-my-life-now" citizen sees on base. We drove through the neighborhoods, stopped by our big park, and saw my doctor's office. It was very educational. Then I took them to the parade field where our family will be reunited in just a few short weeks. It was exciting to sit in the bleachers and imagine the buses pulling up and Matt getting off one of them. It was also a little hard to imagine, since I haven't really let my mind go there too much.
This is where we will meet Matt very, very soon! I love this field.
Allison and Courtney in their matching outfits. Guess who's older. :)
The little memorial next to the field.
When "The Citizen's Tour" was complete, my dad offered to take us out to dinner. Matt had called before and suggested we go to Five Guys because their fries are made from Idaho potatoes (but mostly, I think, because he is really, really craving normal food) so we honored his wishes and ate delicious hamburgers and fries.
It was fun to see signs of Idaho in Texas.
It was fun to see signs of Idaho in Texas.
Five Guys: "Not as good as Fat Guys, but better than anywhere else"
When we got home it was Bennett's bedtime, but since everybody was leaving at 4:00 the next morning, I let him stay up as long as his little body could hold out for. Grandma read to him, we all played with him, and it was sort of sad when he only lasted until 8:45pm. Bennett needs his sleep like his mom does. So he went to bed after everybody said goodnight and goodbye and we all cried a little.
The next morning everybody woke up at 4:30 and got out the door. From our house my family was heading to the Grand Canyon, and then on to California to attend the extended Hazard Family Reunion with my Grandma and Grandpa. It was sad to see them go, but it was such a fun fun two weeks we got to spend with them, I feel very lucky.
We love you all! Thanks for visiting us!
2 comments:
I started laughing so hard at this post! I don't know why.... It's really early in the am. Love it! I really miss you all!
Looks like a ton of fun! Cant wait to get back to it!
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