I had not been to Texas since Christmas, so I decided it was definitely time to take some vacation and go for a visit. What better time than the week of the 4th of July?
Thanks to my hard-working brother, I had a LUVly flight on SWA!
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Feeling extra LUVed since I got honey roasted peanuts
AND cookies :) |
I flew into Dallas and pretty quickly hopped in a truck with Candiss and Taylor to head down to the San Marcos area. I was so thankful that my travel plans worked out perfectly to spend the weekend with great college friends. We don't get to see each other often, so it's quite a treat. Ever since I've known Kristyn I've heard about this ranch that her family has. It was exciting to finally see it and experience it for myself. Her parents have created a great place for their family and friends to come and enjoy time together. They call it "The Oasis". What a fitting name!
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| A swimming pool right in the middle of the ranch - an oasis :) |
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A pavilion where her mom fed us super delicious food!
A lot of it fresh from their own garden. Yumm! |
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They built this themselves. Amazing! They pump fresh well
water whenever they want to use it. No chemicals, all natural! |
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| And complete with Aggie spirit! |
This was without a doubt the hottest day during my time in Texas. I think it hit about 108 degrees that day, so we were very thankful for the cold water.
That night we got to go to the Watermelon Thump Festival in Luling, TX. Random festivals like this are right up my alley!!!
The Randy Rogers Band was the headliner that night, so we got there early to hear the openers and grab a good spot to watch - right in front of a gigantic fan. Yay! Little did we know that the openers were going to play for sooooo long. Randy Rogers didn't even come on until 11:45pm. I know I'm probably still suppose to be young and full of energy and able to stay up late, but that's way past my bedtime. I'm much more of a morning/day person. But we pushed through the tiredness and still had a lot of fun. We were even able to stand up on the picnic tables and get a great view!
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| Randy Rogers Band - live at the Watermelon Thump |
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| Love these girls! So glad I got to spend time with them!!! |
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| Being short was no problem this night! |
For such a quick trip, I felt like we got a lot in. And I certainly felt like I was in Texas with being out in the country, listening to country music bands, seeing all the guys in their cowboy boots and hats, making a must-do stop in West, TX at the Kolache shop, and going to the biggest gas station/convenience store I've ever seen...
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| Buc-ee's!!!!! |
Back in Rockwall, the rest of the week was family time. I love my family! We got to do all kinds of things. First we celebrated my birthday; yes about 2 months late, but I didn't mind at all. This was the first chance my mom had to make the cake she knew would be perfect for me.
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S'more Cake!!!
My mom loves me and knows me so well :) |
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| Now it wouldn't truly be a s'more cake unless... |
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| the marshmallow is toasted! |
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Zach didn't want to miss out on the torch fun.
Great job brother! |
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| Happy Birthday to me! |
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| Who needs a match when you have a torch?! A little scary |
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| Make a wish |
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Great job mom! Definitely one of my favorite birthday cakes.
Look at those layers - graham cracker cake, chocolate
ganache center, and a nice layer of toasted marshmallow! |
I got to congratulate Amanda on her recent engagement to Jason! We were able to very easily find dresses and talk all things wedding over lunch. I'm so excited to see them get married in just a few months!
The next day was fun quality time with grandparents, aunts, and uncles. It's really nice that so much of the family lives nearby and I get to see them when I visit. Pizza making and Farkle were definitely some highlights of the day.
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| Grandma & Papa got to experience my homemade pizza! |
The whole week was unusually cool for Texas in July. I could not have been happier about that! It was so nice. We were even able to enjoy a fire pit one night without feeling like we were going to melt.
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| Such a great place to relax and enjoy family time |
Since I recently discovered honey marshmallows, I wanted to test them out on a fire. I needed to know how they would roast. So I made up a batch and we tested them once it got dark. Zach was so excited to try his new method of putting the chocolate inside of the marshmallow to roast, so he went first.
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| This is serious s'more prep |
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| In goes the Andes Mint |
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| So far so good.... |
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| and suddenly it's in the fire :( |
It turns out that honey marshmallows do not roast well over a fire. Apparently they just completely melt right off of the stick. Bummer! I guess I will be resorting back to my other marshmallows for the purposes of roasting over a campfire. Good thing they can still be speed roasted with the kitchen torch! Do you think we enjoy using the torch a little too much?!
Maybe still feeling inspired by the Watermelon festival, I blended up a tasty watermelon drink thanks to Kristyn's recommendation. It's so easy and delicious. All you do is put chunks of watermelon in a blender with the juice from one lime and some ice and blend away!
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| I call it the "Watermelon Refresher" |
This is random, but we also spotted a locust one day that had just come out of its cocoon. His wings were still drying. We had never seen one just coming out and were amazed at the beauty of its wings.
That bring us up to the big flag holiday of the week - 4th of July!!! I always love getting to be home for the 4th. It never fails to be a fun Eastup family event with good sun time in the pool, tasty food, fireworks, and of course great people.
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| Annual family photo in our patriotic attire |
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| And you just thought we were patriotic before :) |
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| Don't you wish you had a pair? |
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| Lookin' so patriotic mom & dad! |
Before we headed off for the fireworks show, I hyped us up on sugar. I have had this idea for a s'more pie for a while and never made it. I knew this would be the perfect opportunity. Since I make my own graham crackers, I thought why couldn't I make that into a crust? And I make my own marshmallow fluff. So all I needed was a chocolate cake filling. Then, voila, I would have a s'more pie!
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I've always found that pressing your lips together is
necessary for any serious work to get done ;) |
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| I'm not sure what I ever did without a kitchen torch |
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S'more pie was a success!!! Very rich, very delicious.
Now I just need to write up the recipe before I forget
and then I can share it. |
Full of hotdogs and s'more pie, it was time for the fireworks!
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We claimed our spot and had time for games and venturing
around. As Tate put it, he would have to count to 60, 60 times
until it would be time for the fireworks to start. So smart! |
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| We couldn't have picked better seats |
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They were right in front of us and
we felt the boom of every single one |
It finished off with probably one of the best finales I've seen. There were so many going off and all the colors and sparkling and sounds were unbelievable.
The next day we also got to celebrate another big event - Tate's 7th birthday! This year was a bowling party.
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| The birthday boy getting right to the fun |
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| Great form! It looks like it's on track to get at least one :) |
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| Father-daughter match up |
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| Happy Birthday Tate!!! |
What a week! I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Texas. It made it hard to come back and adjust to going to work again. I told my boss, "I'm really good at taking vacation." She just laughed. It did help that I came back on World Mango Day and I had a great mango treat as soon as I got home.
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| Mango S'more!!! |
A sweet end to a wonderful vacation!
