Fall Fun: Corn Maze

It is that time of the year again, fall! One of my favorites, and this year we have actually had a fall (super rare here in West Texas.)  We have been missing out on all the fall baked goodies - thanks to my broken oven, it is pure torture.

We did make a trip down to the Corn Maze.  We do this every year, on their homeschool day, and it is one of our favorite little traditions now.

This year also actually went with our local homeschool group, in the past all the kids were much much older then my kids, so it made a little weird - but now we have a pretty awesome size of kids all around the same age, and that makes it a ton of fun.

I seriously never in my wildest dreams that homeschooling would so much fun, and so rewarding.

Dallas: Dallas World Aquarium {and a super quick stop over with cousins}

Our last day in Dallas was a chill and rainy one.  We actually lounged around in our hotel suite all morning (we generally don't do this) and we had leftover Thai food from dinner for breakfast - the kids thought it was the coolest thing ever.

We spend the rest if our morning at the Dallas World Aquarium.  It is really nice, but I wouldn't go to Dallas just for this (like I would go to Atlanta just for the aquarium.)

Dallas: Legoland Discovery Center

We celebrated Ian's eighth birthday in Dallas this year.  The whole point of the trip was so go to the Lego Discovery Center.

We visited one in Atlanta earlier this year, and one in Germany a few years back - although this one is probably more like one of the Legoland resorts in the United States, maybe one day we will be able to go to one of those

Ian has basically been obsessed with Lego since after that very Germany Legoland trip, and has never looked back.  Every single birthday, Christmas, or random toy giving day - he always without fail requests a new lego set - it is kind of getting out of hand, but then again he plays with these sets literally ALL day long - so I really can't complain.

We booked our tickets in advance online (since you do safe a little) and thanks to our free subscription of the lego kids magazine, the kids had tickets for free entry - score.

 Nate was able to be there for this one - and he kind of loved it just as much as Ian did ;)

Once you enter in you get a full on tour and explanation of lego blocks are actually created, and everything that goes into that.  I had no idea, and it was super interesting and informative. This lady did a fantastic job explaining everything, and she was super passionate about lego in general.

Ian is EIGHT!

Eight years ago....

Eight years ago on a beautiful fall morning in Germany, I went into labor - knowing that my world is about to change for ever, but not really grasping the magnitude.

Texas: Dallas Zoo

We spent a couple of days in the Dallas area, to celebrate Ian's birthday, and to have one last little get-away before school started.

It is actually quiet the distance from our house - five and a half hours doesn't sound that long - but in reality is - ha!

Since it was just for a few days, it didn't require quiet as much planning, and minimum packing is always a win.

We left earlish in the morning, and made our way there, stopping along the way from so food.

One of the best burgers ever...

Arizona: The Petrified Forest National Park & Heading Home

Our time in Arizona has come to end, and none of us were ready to leave - like ever leave.  We wanted to just stay forever and ever.

Our plan for going home was pretty much the same as heading there, sleep over in Albuquerque, and explore a few things in the way out.

In good old monsoon season fashion, our plans to visit Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument and Walnut Canyon National Monument.  We did make it to each spot through the rain, but it was kind of dangerous to get out and explore (hello lighting)  - so I took a couple of pictures from the car, and we totally missed out on some more awesome hikes.  Reason #101 for moving here....

The black sharp rocks is actual lava flow from then the volcano erupted, and we were kind of bummed that we missed out on hiking the lava trail.

Arizona: Hiking In The Coconino Forest

This day was probably one of my favorite days of the entire trip, the history of the day before (my birthday in fact) was a complete disaster - but it did ended up being redeemed in the most beautiful possible way!

I mean look how beautiful it is....

It all started out with an impromptu change of plans for the day.  We decided to check out a hiking trail before we headed to our actual plans for the day, and then ended up hiking in the most beautiful forest for five hours, and not even going with the original plan.

Hayleigh is SIX!

Six years ago...

 
Six years ago my girl came into this world with a force like no other.  From the moment that we locked eyes for the very first time, I knew that my world was about to become less controllable and more unexpected.

Arizona: Bearizona & Williams & Seligman (more of Route 66)

As while back I saw information about Bearizona from a blog that I love, and thought that is such an awesome place.

I was super intrigued by it, because I will be the first to admit that my general knowledge about American wildlife is pretty embarrassingly limited.  Growing up in South Africa,  I was super exposed to the African wildlife (thanks to my mom - who is a nature junkie - in a good way) so I have always been slightly intrigued.

The other factor - Ian is super into wildlife as well (it took him a while to be ok with bugs in general, but he is still not fond of bees or moths,) anyways every single day he will tell me all about these awesome animals all over the world, that he reads about in books, sees in nature documentaries - and I am always amazed.

So when I saw that this place is literally down the road from the Grand Canyon, I need we had to stop here and check it out.

We made it plan to do it on Hayleigh's birthday, so they would have something to look forward to besides hiking 10km a day ;)

The park is two fold - a drive through wild park section, and then a walk through section, like a zoo - but better.

Arizona: The Grand Canyon

I have always wanted to see the Grand Canyon.  It is just one of those places that has intrigued me to no end.

So a couple of months ago we decided to take a little end of summer (and my 30th birthday) trip - and we also decided to go to Arizona.

It was an unexpected gem - so much so that I am totally cool with moving there ;)

After our initial two day road trip (you can read about here and here,) we decided to head to the Grand Canyon - on our first and second day there.  

I grossly underestimated the magnitude of the natural wonder - and pictures do not do it justice.

After many hours of research and reading about this area, we decided on our game plan, and it's kind of the opposite of what most people do, but it worked out well for our family, and our time table.

We decided to drive the extra forty-five minutes to enter Grand Canyon National Park from the east (instead of the south) - because we wanted to make a pit stop in Cameron to check out the Navajo trading post - and well to eat Navajo tacos (most of my travels revolve around food these days.)

I love how excited Ian gets now to (most of the time) try new foods with me.  It is huge, because he use to be the pickiest eater ever.

Driving Into Arizona

We headed out earlish the next morning to get to our final destination sooner then later.  Of course first on the agenda was breakfast...

By now everyone knows that I love food, all food, local food, new food, hippie food, you just name it.

I stumbled onto this super cute little cafe, that serves whole, local, non-gmo, and some organic food - so naturally I had to check it out... I am so glad we did - it was seriously amazing.

Traveling to Arizona: Adventures in Roswell & Albuquerque

This little trip has been in the works for a couple of months now - it has kept me busy (researching and planning) and super excited.

It is no secret that we love love to travel, and it has not been as often since moving to West Texas.  There is just simply nothing here, and going anywhere for here is a huge mission - it requires lots of planning, time off, and more cash then usual.

I am hopeful that one day we will be able to live in a green forest, and become professional hikers - more on that later!

It has always been a dream of mine to see the Grand Canyon - so we decided that for my 30th birthday we will make it happen - so that is how this trip was born.

We decided on road-tripping to Arizona, and stopping a long the way - and it was fantastic - we had idea of things to do (and if we felt like it we did and if we didn't feel like it, we just didn't do it.)

Hence Roswell.

I have always been fascinated with the whole Roswell set-up, and being shamelessly into the TV show, sure didn't help this little obsession.

I will also go ahead and call out my brother on the fact that we NEVER missed and episode, and that we always use to watch it together - and we thought it was the coolest (no denial here.)

So when we roughly mapped out our route and I realized it was taking us right through Roswell, New Mexico, this plan was set into motion.

The Intentional UFO Museum and Research Center was a must on our adventure.  It is super inexpensive, well presented, informative, clean, and open pretty much all the time.  I would recommend going earlish to avoid some of the crowds.
** The lighting is a little bit of a pain, and makes taking pictures difficult with glares.

Utah!

I have been home for a few days now, after spending most of last week in Utah.

Utah has a super special place in my heart - it is where Nate and I met to begin with.  It has been eleven years since living there - and it is seriously one of the most beautiful places.

I have anticipated this little trip for a while now - and I am so glad that it will worked out perfectly.

Nate had a few days off so he suggested he would stay home with the kids (and have an adventure of their own) and I could go off to Utah to Nick's wedding.

So Nick is one of the brothers that I "nannied" for during my time in Utah, and even after all this time, I have stayed pretty closely connected to this family.  I love them like my own.

I was honored to be invited to this wedding, and was going to make it happen - even if I had to road trip for sixteen hours with the kids in tow.

Luckily for me it worked out beautifully - my first mom-cation under my belt (it only took me like 7 years to work up the courage.)

****

My first time flying without kids was like a dream, not because my kids are difficult to travel with - I am the one who internally stresses about everything and who can't seem to relax when I am with them, constantly making sure they are comfortable and have everything they need.

It was fabulous to stroll through the airport, not having to worry about meals, snacks, bathroom breaks, and you name all the things that comes with kids.

I made it to Utah in the afternoon, and was so thrilled to see everyone.  It just filled me with so much joy, to still be considered as part of their family.  The boys (both of them) have grown-up so much, and I can't believe that eleven years have passed by in a blink.

This trip was also a step for me to learn to just be chill - part of me is a control freak, a planner to the T, and over perfectionist.  There traits aren't necessarily bad, but when they tend to paralyze you when plans shifts, it is probably problematic.

So part of my goal for this trip was to just go relax, besides for the actual wedding, and a scheduled dinner with a friend, everything else just kind of randomly fell into place.

Like a coffee date with an old friend, that lead to an impromptu adventure to Antelope Island.  The cool thing, I didn't have to analyze and internalize the situation, I just said yes and went for it.

I turned out be awesome, and the view was so so beautiful.

NOTE: a lot of the pictures are phone pictures so the quality isn't that great.

It was so awesome to catch up with Marcus and Julie.  During my time in Utah they did a lot of working the youth, and one of my favorite things to do was to volunteer at Jesus Field.  ** We didn't get a picture together ;(

During our time together he asked me if I have seen  my friend Rachel, but the truth is we kind of lost touch over the years - and she wasn't active on social media (it just reminded me how disconnected we have become, if someone isn't of social media, we tend to "forget" them) I didn't even know where to start looking for her - lucky for me he knew... so that afternoon we set up an impromptu little drink date to say hi...

I felt guilty for allowing so much time to pass, but within a few minutes we picked up right where we left off - and it was fabulous.  We pretty much did everything together...

We are determined this time, to not let so much time pass by.  The other awesome part of this story is, that I was really good friends with her older sister as well, but she moved out of Utah a couple of years ago with her husband, well she was in town for a wedding as well.

I have to say that eleven years later, Jenny still gives the most amazing hugs :)

I had the most fanastic little dinner date with my friend Dawn (well she and her husband was friends with Nate first) but I have stayed in touch.  She took me to the most amazing little restaurant that had kombucha on tap - that alone sold me to the place.

 

I loved sharing hearts about current life struggles, triumphs of the past, and they incredible and encouraging cancer journey - all inspiring!

I attended one of the most beautiful weddings - well I have literally only been to four wedding (mine included) but I loved it so so much.

I still can't believe that this dude...

was ten when we first met, and like most ten year old boys he was super immature, and something pretty annoying - ha! Now look at him, all grown-up, adulting, and married.

Isn't Tesia so beautiful?

I love being able to celebrate their love for each other, and being able to help with any and everythin that they needed help with.

I was able to face time his grandpa (who is extremely sick) and couldn't make it to the wedding, so that he could be apart of  the wedding - it was so emotional and yet beautiful.

  and then this little guy - who is not so little anymore - he was so much fun at the wedding ;)

and then just me - hanging out with Cathy's cousin, and the rest of her Florida family!

The wedding night ended with such a gorgeously breathtaking sunset.

I was able to slip away one morning and go the park, that Nate and I use to visit all the time - walking around, and talking.  We had this bench that we use to sit on for hours - overlooking the pond, and just talk - he proposed one evening (it was the most beautiful sunset ever,) and well I wanted to see if it was still there...

It took me a minute to find it, but I did find it, and it made me so grateful for the last eleven years with him - I would do it all over again, in a heartbeat.

  and of course all the scenery was beautiful.

The morning after the wedding, we went for a brunch on top of the mountain.  This place is one of the reason I fell in love with Utah, because it is just breathtaking, the view from the top is so hard to describe.

It was also a welcomed change in scenery from flat and dusty West Texas.

I am so happy I was able to make it, and it was such a fantastic time away - to just refresh and refocus.  I can't wait till the end of this month when this sweet family will only be five hours from me

***
We are busy getting ready for a mini little family vacay to the Grand Canyon and I am so excited.  I have been reading up about it - and I can't wait to get away with my little family.

Happy Monday!