The Buff-a-lents are coming!!!

We took the freakazoids to see some honest to goodness real buffalo this past weekend. It was quite the experience let me tell ya. We drove to the area where the Lewisville Lake dam opens to the Trinity River. Andy's been fly fishing there for the past few weekends and it's actually a really pretty area. They do canoe and kayak riding lessons here also, that will be an adventure we want to tackle this spring.

Anyway, back to the buffalo. We paid our money and then drove down to the meeting point. No one told us this was the meeting point mind you as the lady who took our money just grunted and said drive slow. There were about 30 other people all standing around trying to figure out what to do next. Well, miss personality at the park entrance showed up and opened the gates right under the dam. We all jumped back in our cars and started to follow her. We drove on a dirt road for a few miles then the caravan made an abrupt left turn into a pasture. Now HAD we of known that we would be going on a off road adventure we would all be packed into Andy's Ford F150. But since our guide only spoke caveman we were in my very low to the ground Stratus. There were a couple close calls, but we made it through. We drove another mile or so through the pasture and then came to our destination. Then low and behold another guide showed up and he informed us that we would finally reach the buffalos ... after walking about another 200 meters down the fence line. So off we went in search of the mighty illusive beasts.

He stopped us after a very long walk (maybe it wasn't that long ... we just each had 2o extra pounds we were lugging in the form of small booger faced children so it seemed long). Finally after his numerous attempts at shaking a feed bag and shouting, "Hey Buffalo", I'm not kidding, we saw them! These huge suckers could RUN! A herd of 30 or so buffalo came right up to the fence. The guide told us to not pick up our children and hold them over to pet the animals as they have been known to in his words ... eviscerate children. Nice.

It truly was quite magical staring at these HUGE animals. I just couldn't get over how fast they were and how rough they were with each other fighting over the treats he had for them.

The girls seemed to like it. Lucie kept pointing at them and said that they were "bubba's" which is what she calls dogs. Lennon thought that the baby buff-a-lents were the cutest. I think this is Lennon talk for a buffalo crossed with elephant. Who knows. We were about to leave when Lennon of course needed to use the bathroom. Mind you we are in a open pasture a good five minute walk from the car, in front of 30 other people and of course 30 buffalo. I walked her out into the field behind a mesquite tree as discretely as I could and Miss Lennon got her first experience popping a squat in a field. I was horrified for her but of course she ran up to everyone and yelled "I went pee pee - OUTSIDE". Everyone nervously laughed ... thank God.

It was a fun afternoon and a beautiful day. I am glad that they are slowly but surely building up herds across the US. They estimated that during their prime they were 30 million strong. Mate on buff-a-lents, we sure would like to see you around more.

New Orleans Trip

Andy and I took a mini trip the first weekend in January to New Orleans. I was in town for a meeting and Andy flew in on Saturday to hang out with me for a day. We had such a fun time. After walking around trying to get our bearings we stopped in an awesome patio restaurant and had yummy etouffee and of course some huge beers. We spent the afternoon just walking around and then later that night we took a vampire tour. It was SO creepy! A front was coming in right as it started so the air was all the sudden chilly, there was a full moon and as we were walking up to the meeting point the bells were ringing at the cathedral. The tour was a tad bit cheesy, but fun all the same. We met up with his cousins a little later that night and bar hopped and ended up at the Casino. When we lost $100 bucks in 20 minutes it was time to leave :)

I stayed a few more days there and had a GREAT time. I love love love NOLA. The food, the people, the music, the atmosphere ... all of it. After I got home I did extensive searches on the flood damage caused by Katrina because it blew my mind that you just didn't see any sign of it anywhere. I found out that the main damage was just a few blocks away from where we were. Crazy and extremely sad. Andy and I want to go back and try to donate some of our time to the rebuilding efforts. After visiting I definitely realized why it's so important that this town be restored. We can not lose it's magic!!

I had to laugh at this sign in one of the bars we stopped in. Apparantly to get on the list you had to be super skanky because we saw some hot messes in that bar that didn't make the list.

Here we are taking a carriage ride through the French Quarter. This was really cool! The guide was great and we bribed him into taking us by Brad and Angelin'a house. It's right in the French Quater. Driving by it doesn't look like anything special but I looked it up on line and OMG it's georgeous!

Some Randomness

Wanted to share with you all the strangeness of my children.

Lennon and her "friend" stick. She carried this thing around for a few days and FREAKED out when Dora found it and ate it.

I love this shot. It totally shows all their personalities. Rylie the poser, Lennon the goof and Lucie the giggly baby.

Just threw this in so you could see my new bangs!

Yummy...there is nothing better that clean kids right out the bath in diapers attacking you.

And doing flips.

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Oh and Lucie got her hair cut. And I really mean hair. Like one strand of hair. Poor baby. Her "lady" as Lennon calls hair dressers is Miss Saint Teressa. Second mother to my children, God send beyond all things Holy. Best thing to ever happen to our family, well except their awesome Grandparents.

I love me some Teressa.

One Million Photos to share

I'M SO SORRY it's taken me so long to update our blog. One of my many resolutions is to make sure to stay of top of this this year.

I thought instead of a big long post with all the details of what we've been doing since November I would just give you the photo montage.

Enjoy. There are a ton of pictures. The quality of most of them suck. I need a new camera. If anyone would like to send me a free one I would gladly accept. Seriously.

Andy and I voted for the first time ever. Now Lennon is OBSESSED with Obama. Nice. My great and seriously missed friend Lori came into town and ran the Turkey Trot with me. I finished in 30 minutes and didn't stop once! Best part...seeing Lennon jumping up and down at the finish line screaming "Go Mommy Go"!We had Thanksgiving at Grandma Candy's and the Frey's complete with our long lost cousins Kia and Little David...

and a bonfire...

and Lennon and Lucie playing with a wild hog skull. Crap. Not one of my best mom moments, but they didn't get worms so back off CPS.

And then it was Christmas. Lucie playing with her Elmo.

Santa brought Lennon a Little Mermaid doll. With willy willy willy long red hair.

Cheese balls
And their favorite. A rocking horse that makes a rocking noise and neighs (well not anymore since I took the batteries out). They seriously fight over this thing. Thanks Papa Pez.

fter Christmas a few folks from my office took my boss Bob out to Glen Rose for his 50th Birthday! So much fun and I highly recommend visiting the lodge if you ever get a chance -http://www.roughcreek.com/. I had to share this picture with everyone so you could see my lodge chic outfit ...which I was later told looked more like an Elmer Fudd outfit.

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And then Rylie came for a visit. We had so much FUN with her this year :)

I swear they "made" me get dressed up with them.

Andy very deep in thought playing the egg game, and Rylie posing as always. Damnit she's getting big.

Balloon drop at um midnight...well maybe it was 10pm :)

I swear ... a new blog is coming!