Brenham, Texas

We had a nice little overnight stay in Brenham last weekend. One of my besties, Alison, has a family home there. I met her there a few months ago for a quick girls' night catchup, and we decided then that we'd return soon with our families. Glad we made it happen!

Spencer and Garrett, who had only met once before 2 years ago, hit off from the start. They did lots of grasshopper hunting, remote control car driving, iPod Touch-ing, LEGO-ing, and general crazy-little-boy-runing-around-ing.

Catching grasshoppers.

Electronics break.

Spencer (4.75), Kenzie (almost 12), Garrett (7)

Best of friends since 5th grade. Disclaimer: We were working with major humidity and heat.

Leaving friends is hard and sad sometimes.

I realized after we got home that Alison's daughter, Kenzie, is the age Alison and I were when we met. It's such a neat experience to have lifelong friends and then see your own kids together. Speaking of Kenzie, she demonstrated a cool face swapping app on her phone that produced this image that will be forever burned into your brain...

I look like a combo of Jane Lynch and the Deliverance kid.

Alison, Tom and the kids had to leave mid-morning, so we decided to head into Brenham for a little shopping and an early lunch at Must Be Heaven. While we were in line, Spencer picked up a brochure for Horseshoe Junction - a little amusement park type place with putt-putt, go-karts, etc. He really made a case for going, so we decided why not? (Well one reason to have not gone was the EXTREME HEAT, but we soldiered on.)

First there was putt-putt.

Daddy and Spencer on the bumper boats.

Getting ready to race (yes, Mommy was just a little bit nervous).

Mini bowling - I had never heard of this but it was really fun.

He got a strike! No bumpers either!

Slingshot jumper (not a lot of slinging action...).

Awesome weekend with friends! Can't wait to go back to Brenham this fall.

Peter Pan Mini Golf

Daddy and Spencer went to Peter Pan Mini Golf (on Spencer's suggestion) for the first time last week. I was a little bummed to miss out on that, but no worries! We went back this weekend. I hadn't been there in many, many years. It's had a facelift recently and is looking sharp. We got there right when they opened at 9:00 a.m. and thank goodness we did - it was already getting super hot when we finished. Spencer needed a lemon-lime sno-cone to cool off afterwards.

Unlike his mommy, Spencer is very patient when playing putt-putt. He just keeps whacking away at the ball until is goes in. I played, too, but for most of the holes I was only "allowed" to hit the ball once, then Spencer took over. I didn't mind - he's fun to watch in action.

And by the way, who is that big boy in the last two pictures?? My goodness!