5 Year Update & One Magical Summer

Ever since Brayden turned 5 back in April, I've been in a bit of a denial about Kindergarten. How did it sneak up on us so fast? Knowing I truly wanted to make the most of the time we had this summer, I decided to turn the summer before he started Kindergarten into his most magical summer yet! 

Throughout the summer weekends, we swam, ate snow cones, went on road trips, visited the park, loved on family, swam some more, and by the time it was all said and done, I knew that our mission had been accomplished. 

This will likely be my last official "Brayden update" as he is now 5 years old and although he is still growing and changing, it's not as rapid as it was in previous updates. But, here we go...

Clothing: 5T tops - Shorts are mostly 4T or 5T. 

Pants have to be at least 5T because he's such a tall kid! 

He's in a size 11 shoe.

Weight: 42 pounds (estimated)
Height: 44 inches (estimated)

Watching Brayden grow into his own little personality has been so much fun. He's still silly and loves to make people laugh. He's definitely not the shy kid I was!

He still takes naps everyday and I'm fine with that because they do in kindergarten at his school, too! As far as eating goes - well, his variety hasn't changed much although some choices leave me scratching my head. Apart from his usual chicken nuggets, fries, sweet potato fries, spaghetti, pizza, tacos, yogurt, etc, he now will eat lettuce. Yes, like salad lettuce from a bag. He also loves a green smoothie concoction my mom makes. Kids are so funny!

Earlier in the spring, we took him to our local beach. It was such a nice afternoon and the weather was perfect! We had a great time until Jason hurt his foot (he's fine) but Brayden will tell you all about our day at the beach and how his dad injured his foot if you ask! 

He also played tee-ball this year which was SO interesting and a lot of fun to watch! For a first year kid, he learned a lot and I'm excited to see how next year looks for him! 

In June, we took a road trip to Missouri to visit family at the Lake of the Ozarks. We spent 80% of our time out on the water and Brayden LOVED it!

The whole week was very relaxing and something we all needed. It truly was a great getaway!

While in Missouri, we took him to his very first water park. He loved riding all the rides and sliding down all the slides, but he discovered the green slide pictured here and must have gotten on it about 100 times! He still talks about that water park today!

As the summer drew to a close, we packed our bags and headed to Disney World! I wanted to end Brayden's magical summer with a truly magical experience - at the most magical place on earth!

While there, we visited Blizzard Beach water park which was a first for all of us! It was fun but we were rained out of a good bit of our day (more on that later).

We also rode the Skyliner which y'all know is his absolute favorite!

We also said hello to several characters throughout the week, rode plenty of rides, ate a ton of yummy food, and just enjoyed being together!

I hated to see the summer end, but we returned home from vacation literally the day before Brayden started school. Nothing like making each and every single day count, right? :) 

...and now we have a big kindergartner! 

On his first morning as I was trying to get him dressed, he told me that putting on his uniform was so scary. I reminded him that he already has braveness inside of him because his name Brayden literally means brave! I am proud of how much of a rockstar he has been since that moment! 

At drop off, a sweet first grader was helping kids find their classroom. He asked where Brayden needed to be, we told him, so he took Brayden's hand and walked him to his classroom. Brayden never looked back. It was absolutely precious! 

He rocked his first day and has done amazing since! I am excited to see what this year has to hold! 

Here's to an incredible year 5! Brayden says it's been a pretty awesome one thus far! 

For those of you who have followed these updates for a while now, thank you!! I'll still be back with snippets of fun things in our lives and our crazy adventures so stay tuned! Thanks again for following along! It's been so much fun to share this journey with you!

Mandeville Weekend in Pictures

Hi there and happy Monday! I spent the weekend in Mandeville, Louisiana for a race weekend and had a blast! Here's some pictures and tidbits of our weekend!

Off we go on our latest adventure!

Our first stop was for a potty break along the Atchafalaya Basin (pregnancy bladder). If you're ever in the area, this is the coolest visitors center/rest stop I've ever seen! 

There's even a little movie you can watch, depicting life in Louisiana! 

Free Community coffee, too! 

Of course, the Baton Rouge bridge was full of traffic...and of course, they were playing the Florida Gators this past weekend (as usual). 

As tradition, Heather had to gator chomp everyone. The first time she did this (several years ago), I died. now I think it's hilarious!

Packet pickup was held at Varsity Sports in downtown Mandeville. This is seriously the cutest little town and I love to visit! 

If you couldn't tell from the bridge/gator chomp picture, Heather is NOT an LSU fan.  Sooo, when I saw the official race shirts for this race (they were purple and gold with a tiger on the front), I laughed so hard I almost cried.

In fact, I was laughing so hard, I almost missed seeing Fred!

It was great to catch up and talk to him again! 

He also took our picture with our bibs! I truly meant to put K-Ren on my bib, but I somehow messed up and put my twitter username. Definitely didn't mean that! Haha oh well...whoops!

After packet pickup, we walked over to LaLou (the former Broken Egg Cafe) and enjoyed a yummy breakfast! 

Same owners, new restaurant name, similar menu. I noticed a few things that weren't on the menu anymore, but it all still looked and sounded pretty good! 

We also noticed a downtown festival that looked intriguing, so we walked through to check it all out! We didn't buy anything, but we enjoyed browsing the various booths! 

Our after lunch treat included a stop at PJ's. We tried to find a snowball stand but the one I've been to was closed. PJ's is right next door which is the second best thing, so that's where we went! This sign with the kids cracks me up!! 

Apart from a velvet ice, I also ordered a cake ball to go and a slice of banana nut bread for a post race treat!

Our next stop was the hotel to check in and relax before dinner. I laid out all of my race clothing/items, making sure I had everything I needed!

The above is how I prepare before a race...

...and this is how Heather prepares for a race! We got a good laugh out of that one, too!

For dinner, we decided on Cracker Barrell (partly because I had to have another look at their Christmas collection)! 

I behaved myself and didn't buy anything this time! :)
 

Chicken and dumplins for dinner!

We also shopped around Academy and World Market before calling it a night! We had an early wake up call the next morning!

After the race (more on that tomorrow), we showered and took our time getting ready because we had a late check out...so incredibly nice!

Lunch was at the Times Grill for a yummy cheeseburger!

 We also stopped a friends parent's house to pick up some maternity clothing she's sharing with me! I am so appreciative...thanks, Heather!

On our way out of town, we stopped at Cafe du Monde in Mandeville for a little take-home treat! 

Their iced cafe au lait is incredible. I'm glad we don't have one of these closer to home! I would be in trouble!! 

Jason and I shared the order of beignets at home after dinner! :)

They put the powdered sugar in a separate to-go back so we were able to enjoy them later!

I also couldn't let the weekend go by without a picture of this girl in her purple and gold tigers themed race shirt!! Muahaha!

Overall, we had a ton of fun and really enjoyed ourselves! The weekend was filled with lots of fun times and experiences! Looking forward to the next time!! :)

What's your favorite race-weekend destination? 

Friend Weekend Getaway

This past weekend, Jason and I spent time with our friends in Mandeville, Louisiana! This trip was planned for a few months and we were looking forward to getting away and enjoying time with friends.

We left after work on Friday afternoon and arrived at Heather's parents late, which means I didn't get to meet this sweet little girl until the following morning!

We had so much fun playing together! She's so sweet!! 

Bella loved to play, too! :)

This is what usually happens when I let Jason have the camera! 

One of my favorite parts of the weekend took place on the patio outside where we spent time laughing and enjoying the company. We had a blast!! 

A few of our eats from the weekend included:

Homemade Dole Whip with almond milk (it was so good)!

Sno Balls from Ziggy's

Hamburgers and delicious Mac & Cheese

Birthday cake for Bobby - Doberge cake at that....it was so good!

Breakfast at the Broken Egg Cafe

Sadly, it was time to say goodbye all too soon.

We always have so much fun when we're together! Now there's a new addition to hang out with us, too!

Oh, those boys!

Driving home, we met some CRAZY rain. The drive over the Baton Rouge bridge was incredibly eerie because it didn't start raining until we reached the other side - we were literally driving straight into a storm!

Thankfully we made it home safe and all was well!

I was sad the weekend came and went so fast, but I had so much fun hanging out with our friends! Lots of new memories to add to the list! :) 

How was your weekend? Did you race? Any fun plans?