The Ranch

Saturday we took our first family vacation and went down to Blanco to visit our good friends, The Sierras. Sam and Lila spent the first morning getting reaquainted. Right after we got there friday night, Sam started giving Lila lots of sweet kisses. I think his daddy had a talk with him that night, though, because the next morning he played it much cooler!

After a delicious breakfast it was time to begin our fun-filled day.

The little boys played some baseball and soccer...

and then talked the big boys into taking them for a ride around the ranch.

They ended up down at this pond...

where Jackson did a lot more pretend fishing than real! Us girls met them for a picnic lunch on the dock and then the dads went out in the boat to try and catch some fish.

Right as we were driving back to the house Jared caught his first fish! That's his story, anyway. They said they were hollering at us and waving their arms but we didn't see them. I so wish Jackson could have seen Jared holding a big ol' fish.

Back at the ranch we enjoyed lots of other fun things...like this big swing.

Of course, the weekend would not be complete without some good old fashioned cleaning, so Jackson promptly found a mop and went to work.

After he was done with his daily chores, we went on an animal finding escapade. Stephanie printed out two pages of animals for Jackson to look for as we drove around the ranch. He got to mark them off with his blue crayon whenever he found one. This miniature horse was a favorite. He got out to pet it and then held his crayon high in the air and told the horse, "you can't get it!"

Yes, our son taunted a small horse!

Halfway through our scouting expedition we found the ducks. Sam showed Jackson exactly how to feed them. Those ducks sure do love some corn.

The boys hiked down to the river and checked out the fish and then it was time to head on back.

Before dinner Jackson got to go on a little ride in Sam's blue car. Who knew the country had rides, too?

After the ride it was time to feed the deer. The kids put out the feed and then waited on the screen porch to see them come eat it.

There were so many of them!

The next morning we went out to find the two Longhorns that eluded us the day before. Lila enjoyed her ride in the truck, sans carseat.

And alas, we found them! I must admit, I was a little scared to take this picture!

Jackson and Jared weren't though, and walked right up to Bert the Longhorn.

We took a few family pictures. Jackson would smile for a few and then decided it was silly face time:) Thanks again, Sierras for a fabulous time. We had a great weekend!