The Last Days of our El Paso Fun!

Sunday = Father's Day! And no better way to start the day, then by heading to the airport to pick up Dada!! The boys were so excited to go!!

And to see him!! 

Then we headed straight to Grandma's pool to swim... So happy to have Barrett see how crazy Evan is in the water now! He refuses to wear a floaty/ tube/ anything that would help, and he wants to be under water!! It is terrifying! I have barely been able to swim with LJ because I can't take a hand off Evan for a second!

LJ is still obsessed with the water shooter/ gun thing from Aunt Teri! We take it away if he shoots anyone in the face or random strangers at the pool, but he LOVES to see how far he can make it go! 

Happy little fish!

We left the pool and went straight to meet Capi and Gigi for Father's Day Brunch at Great American Steakhouse. The boys were starting to get tired, so by the time I attempted a picture of the group, I couldn't get a good one!

But seeing Yellow Bird in the parking lot and getting to watch Capi and Gigi fly away perked them up (before they passed out!). 

Capi and Gigi always arrive in style! 

Bye Yellow Bird!

And after great naps, we got to take the boys to their first Triple A Baseball game! And guess who would the El Paso Chihuahua's be playing?? None other than our local team, Round Rock Express!

Barrett great friend Josh actually is part owner of the stadium, so he invited us to join him (along with his family and some other great friends of ours) in their suite! It was SO nice! And SO FUN!! 

This stadium is really so impressive- what a great thing for El Paso!! It has changed the whole vibe downtown!

The boys were immediately in awe! LJ spotted the chihuahua mascot right away, and has been obsessed with 'Chico' ever since! He kept wanting to find him on the field and see what he was doing the whole game!

Evan - my reliable little eater! 

All our friends there (Josh and Tita, Ted and Molly, Ryan and Melanie) had 2-3 kids, and all close in age to ours! So the boys were happy to have new friends to play with- and we were happy they had a whole suite to run around in! 

And then we got a surprise visit from none other than Chico himself!!! LJ was screaming and jumping like it was a rock star that was in our room! Evan kept saying "Hi Chico!!" and waving, but he refused to get too close! 

LJ, "LOOK DAD!!! It's CHICO!!" 

And LJ quickly assumed his spot on Chico's lap! Hah! He told me he'd be brave if we got to see Chico up close, and he stuck to it!! 

Group shot- minus the little ones who were not ready to be that close to a huge chihuahua!! 

The kids were so excited to touch Chico's nose, give him high fives, etc! This really made their night! 

And as if they weren't already having too much fun, we then showed them the splash pad! HAPPY!!

Then back to the game! 

Evan- the ladies man! Found a girl friend here too! Katie and him stuck together for a lot of the night, watching the game and playing in the suite!

Barrett was so happy to have both his boys into the game- LJ was even getting the rules down! 

Of course, on 'kids night' the game went 3 extra innings! But we finally WON! What an exciting game! We put the boys in the car after 10 pm to head home... they were so happy though (and Evan in particular was totally delirious!) that they did GREAT! This is probably the latest we've ever kept them out... but it was totally worth it!! 

And then Monday came... our last day in El Paso! We spent the whole day trying to see everyone ONE last time for a good -bye hug at least! 

First stop, Grandma Rachel's house! LJ was on a mission to build a lego tower that was 'so so SO SO SO tall!' 

And Evan worked on his own with Grandma Rachel!

LJ was very excited and proud of his work!

Then we worked on a puzzle... 

Tried for a group shot (but did I mention I kept these boys out LATE last night... they were a little moody!). 

Gave hugs good-bye!

And then went to meet Gigi and Aunt Sandy for a quick lunch. 

They are getting so tired! This is why we have bedtimes! Haha!

After naps we headed to my cousin Tricia's house to say bye to my Aunt Patsy and all my cousins!

Poor boys never get attention with this group :)

Hadn't seen LJ for a while, and this is how I found him! Ha! watching TV with Bri! 

We have enjoyed all our fun evenings with these incredible people so much!! We will miss you all!! Thanks for so many fun times!! 

Evan made sure to give Cal an extra long hug!! My boys really love Cal!! 

LJ- out again in the car after refusing a nap!! Poor guy!

And our last swim with Grandma! 

LJ's 'cheeese' face is a little crazy! Haha!

Good-bye hugs for Grandma! We have had such a wonderful month getting to spend so much time with her! 

And our final good-bye- to our wonderful Gigi! She came to have dinner with us and stayed until bedtime... 

Tuesday morning, we were on the on our way out of El Paso before 5:45 am! Barrett and I have not mastered the early morning transfer, so both boys stayed awake for several hours! LJ said he was excited to go home, but about 45 minutes into the drive, he said, "I am really going to miss El Paso!" I said we all will, but will be back soon! And it will be nice to be home... It's so true!

Evan finally fell asleep for about an hour around 10:30 am, and LJ feel asleep for about an hour and a half after we stopped for lunch. 

And just 8.5 hours after leaving El Paso, we were in our garage in Austin! Thanks again (and again) to everyone who made our trip so wonderful!! We loved spending time with each and every one of you, made memories we will never forget, and we love you all so much!!