TOFW weekend

Last year was the first annual Time Out For Women (TOFW) weekend with my mom and sister in Denver, and this year they came to Texas. Mom flew in on Memorial Day (Monday) to spend extra time with us, and we were all glad that she did. Brooke and I went in to get her while Kevin and Colby waited at the curb.  Those first hugs are always the best...

We enjoyed some boating in the afternoon...

Brooke was bummed that she had to go to school while Nay Nay was here, but she sure enjoyed having someone to read her stories as she ate breakfast every day.

We took Nay Nay to Katherine Rose park, which is one of our favorite places to go.  Colby enjoyed having all the attention, and I had to remind myself to not feel guilty because Brooke had this same opportunity when she was little.

Kimberly, Josh, and Claire arrived on Thursday afternoon, and Brooke was ALL about baby Claire.  She wanted to be involved in all things Claire, and Kimmie and Josh were both super patient with her desire to help with everything.

On Friday, we headed to the Dallas World Aquarium.  Again, I felt guilty doing it without Brooke, but I also didn't think I should take her out of school when she had missed almost a full week with her UTI.

The aquarium definitely exceeded my expectations, despite being a bit pricey. It's located in the West End Historic District of downtown Dallas, and had a lot of unique animals you don't typically see at zoos. Colby was able to feed blueberries to some bird with a gigantic beak, so he felt pretty brave about that :). They also had several endangered monkeys, which I especially enjoyed.

We rushed home from the aquarium so that Nay Nay could attend Grandparent's day at Brooke's school.  This picture melts my heart because you can see the happiness on Brooke's face that her beloved Nay Nay was with her.

After school, Brooke and I were watching Claire so that Kimmie could take a nap. Claire was having the time of her life, until she fell off the slug and hit her head on the tile :/  She calmed down quickly, but as we sat on the couch reading books, a goose egg began forming on her little forehead.  I felt SO bad, but at least I had pictures and videos to show how much fun Claire was having before the fall. 

Friday night was TOFW, and the weather was the worst.  Like, flash flood kind of weather.  It was dumping buckets as we drove to the Arlington Convention Center, and I'm just lucky that we made it there alive.  Once we parked, Mom and I realized that we were wearing our Birkenstocks, so we waded barefoot through the parking lot to save our sandals, haha. We only took one picture, but we had a lot of laughs.

Nathan Pacheco was supposed to perform that night, but due to illness, David Archuleta filled in for him.  The lady in front of us was so excited, and was acting like a teenage groupie, haha.  It was a great evening, filled with wonderful speakers and songs.

Saturday, we headed back for a full day of TOFW goodness.  I really enjoyed all of the speakers, and felt a spiritual boost from the messages shared.  It was also really nice to be kid-free and spending time with my mom and sister.  I hope we keep this tradition alive, or at least do a girl trip every few years. Hopefully next time my sister-in-law Madi can join us as well :)

Everyone left Sunday morning, but we took one last picture after baths on Saturday night.  We loved having everyone visit, and we hope to see everyone again soon.