Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Baylor - UTSA game.

We accidently got to take Reyna to the UTSA - Baylor football game.
Our babysitter (my sister) got stung by a bee and has serious reaction.
We have a cousin and a friend in the UTSA band so we had some guests at the house and we figured this was a good game to try our luck at the toddler football experience.
It was a 7:00 start and the weather was in the low 70s. I figured the conditions were perfect to try.
 
She did well. We took the shuttle and she was excited about riding the bus.
and got to ride on Papa's shoulders.

 
 
We snuck down to the first row and that helped her get excited.
 This is my favorite pic of the night!
Here she is looking for Derek in the Line.
(and eating a hotdog)


Just before halftime, we walked all.the.way.around.the.stadium to see Joel and Little Joe.
By this time it was 9:00. We stayed till just after half time and headed home.

Monday, September 25, 2017

First day of school.

We kept Reyna home all summer and she missed her friends dearly.
She loves school and her teacher.
So when the first day of school was here we did NOT expect THIS...
It was a rough day at the Shanks home. Everything from breakfast to putting on clothes to drop off was hard. and I wasn't there for any of it! I teach an 8am class so Papa was in charge. Thank goodness. I probably would not have been able to leave her.
 
But, we got our girl back after school.
At our traditional ice cream celebration for the first day, she was all smiles!
Its been great ever since!
 
 Also, it was eclipse day so that's exciting!
This is a phone shot. You can see the eclipse shadow in the sky on top.




Thursday, September 21, 2017

Lake Waco Love.

My morning sickness was just starting to dissipate as summer was coming to an end.
I felt guilty for all the things I didn't do with Reyna that summer.
The weekend before school started I snuck her away to the beach just 10 minutes away!
We found Twin Bridges Park at the suggestion of our friends.
We got there early around 8am and we stayed about 2 hours (perfect timing for Texas summer)!
 


sandy bottom, plenty of sand, covered picnic tables, a playground, perfect temperature water!
We will be back again and again. Lucky for us, its warm enough to play 9 months out of the year!

Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Seattle.

We got to spend sometime in Seattle this summer.
We started with an early flight. We were so worried about travelling with a toddler so early in the morning but she was soooo excited to be on an airplane!


 
I'll just say it. Vacationing with a toddler is always hard (to me). But it seemed much harder this time because I was so sick. Up to this point, I had spent most hours in bed but I could. not. waste. this. opportunity.
We hit up lots of kid friendly places and saw all the things.




My favorite places were the outdoor ones! Wish we could have spent more time hiking but little legs can only go so far.
 








It really was beautiful! We still talk about our time there this summer!

Saturday, September 16, 2017

For the love of reading.

This girl loves books!
she has roughly 30 books memorized.
I love finding her all over the house snuggled up with a book!
 



Friday, September 15, 2017

Gull Lake 2017

Its been a Loooooong while.
Long story short - the.worst.morning.(allday).sickness

Here I am trying to catch up and relive summer.

We made up to Gull Lake early for a wedding and stuck around for awhile. Neil had to go back for work really quickly but we stayed to soak up family. I was pretty miserably sick but there's no better place to rest.

We had fun with cousins
 and games

 
 and of course water sports!

 We celebrated Grandma's birthday
 Reyna got to read to Grandma and soon a whole audience!