Camping, Concerts and the CMA's

November is shaping up to be just as nuts as last month. Which is great...but geeze I'm tired! Before getting to our fun adventures I wanted to fill everyone in on my latest endeavor - training for the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. I hate to run. Man I really hate it. Running has always been one of those things that I've always wanted to be good at. So I decided a few months ago that I'm tired of carrying this mom gut around and that I was going to get over my running disdain. So I started running. I ran my first 3 miles outside with out stopping two weeks ago. I still hate running. I'm getting better at it though, and I really enjoy exploring new neighborhoods and having the hour all to myself.

So we decided to be really brave and take the kiddo's camping. I was not the least bit worried about Lennon as she's constantly attached to me, however the thought of taking Lucie aka The Flash to an outdoor location close to water terrified me. We left really early Saturday morning and made it to Beaver's Bend state park in a few hours. This place is AWESOME! Our friends Blair and Lulu (her name is Lucy, but Lennon freaks when we call her that so she is now Lulu) came up to join us and I'm so grateful that I had some help with the girls. The boys skirted off to go fishing and while Lulu and the girls took a nap I did some exploring on my own. I climbed down into the river and did a few minutes of meditating on a big rock right in the middle of a stream. It was amazing and I was able to get some great shots.






The girls loved playing outside though Lucie wanted to play with our campfire so bad. We did all the normal traditions, s'mores, beers by the fire, chased off raccoons and ate blue markers. Wait...that was just Lucie.




Here's Lulu using the leather man (a two pronged fork) to open the wine bottle. It took about 30 minutes but so worth the wait!

The next morning we went on a hike along the river and drove around the lake. Beautiful! The State Park has this great nature center that is home to all kinds of creepy crawly things like, snakes, squirrels, tarantulas, and even an injured owl and falcon. Lucie was is heaven!








Don't get me wrong, I love "roughing" it but I was so excited that they even had a little country store/restaurant that over looks the river. We took the girls and had yummy strawberry cake.
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Mimi Roxie and I went on an adventure with Blayne, Lennon and Lucie to the movies last weekend. We saw Madagascar 2 at the Studio Movie grill and they loved it! It was the first time for the girls to go to the movies and I couldn't believe that they sat through it. Well...not Lucie. Aunt Bibi and Jeff and his son Alec came up later and we all went to Church at Fellowship then took the kids to Fudruckers. Lennon loved her new balloon butterfly, until we got home and Lucie bit it and it popped. Hmmm...I'm really started to notice a trend in this posting.




Sorry these are so blurry ...if you've seen my camera lately you'll know why these look so bad.

Andy and I were so excited the next night when we were able to get a sitter for the kids and go to a concert at the House of Blues. It was AWESOME! We have seen Atmosphere (an independent old school rap group) every time they are in town or down in Austin for the past few years. This was by far the best show yet. One of my oldest and dearest friends Ron from Navarro met us there. We even got to meet Ant the producer and MC!





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Wednesday I was off to Nashville to go to the CMA awards. I was so excited I couldn't sleep the few days beforehand. It was so much better than I ever thought it could be. The Gaylord took about 40 clients and we really VIP'ed it up! Our seats were amazing right above the level where all the celebrities were. I loved Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood's performances ... yes I cried. After the show we walked down to the Wild Horse Saloon and danced until the wee hours of the morning. Ever since I was a little girl I was always fascinated with any kind of award show on TV. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that one day I would be dressed up sitting watching it live. Too cool! The next night we had a dinner with a married couple - Mark and Tia who are singer/songwriters in Nashville. They wrote and received CMA's and Grammy awards for Kenny Wayne Sheppard's - Blue on Black, Dixie Chick's - There's Your Trouble and LeeAnn Womak's - I hope you Dance. They were amazing and learning about the whole process of how songs are pitched to the artists and the drama that they go through was so enlightening.



I am finally back home and so glad to get to snuggle with my hubby (who is by the way a saint these days going above and beyond to help with the girls) and my rug rats.




Here's Lucie being Lucie.




Love to you all!

P.S. I have heard three different genres of music in the past month in concerts that have all played Bob Marley's -Three Little Birds. Jason Mraz, Atmosphere and Kenny Chesney ... thanks for spreading the word:

Rise up this mornin, Smiled with the risin sun, Three little birds Pitch by my doorstep Singin sweet songs Of melodies pure and true, Sayin, (this is my message to you-ou-ou:) Singin: don't worry bout a thing,cause every little thing gonna be all right. Singin: dont worry (dont worry) bout a thing, cause every little thing gonna be all right!