Mutton Bustin 2008

The time has finally arrived. Brody will be participating in his first Mutton Bustin this year at the Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo. He will make his grand ride on Friday, October 10th at 7:00 p.m. We are trying to prepare him for his ride but I think that is something he just has to experience for himself. It should be a great show. Bill has been trying to get some practice in on Buck but he just sits there.

On his 4th birthday - Sunday, October 5th, he will be participating in the stick horse grand entry at 4:00 p.m.

Brody would love to see and hear all of his fans in the stands cheering him on. Give us a call if you are going to be there so we can all sit together!

Reflection on our vacation

Now that we are back at home and in to the swing of things at work again I am enjoying looking back and reflecting on what a wonderful first vacation we had. Bill made sure we had a great trip. Brody has said he enjoyed everything but Shamu was his favorite. I believe I enjoyed watching Brody and Bill interacting and having a great time. Just seeing Bill relaxed and the smile on Brody's face was worth it all.

I look back on all the wonderful vacations we had as a family growing up and I hope Brody has memories like I do. Vacations as a parent are completely different. Sometimes I would wonder why we just could not have that toy or that t-shirt, now I now, that stuff gets expensive. Just like the boat ride - $7.50 a person. That is crazy. Vonda and I never wanted for anything on our vacations and I hope Brody always knows that we try to give him a great vacation!!

We are already looking forward to our next vacation - wherever that may take us.

Day 4 & 5

Monday was our last day in San Antonio and we completed it with a walk through the rest of the market. Again, not a great place for Brody. We did not find any bargains so we thought we were going to make it out this time without a purchase - wrong - he saw the swords and just had to have one. They were only $1.50 so it did not break us. I think he had it bent in half before we were out of the city limits.

We spent the next couple of days in Austin just relaxing. We enjoyed swimming at the hotel and dinner over looking the hill country. We had dinner at the County Line and it was really good. (I do have to say I prefer Bills BBQ though). Hope you enjoy the pictures Vonda and Edgar, we were thinking of you. Brody helped take the pictures for you.

What a wonderful vacation!!!

Day 3 - SEA WORLD

Today started with Brody telling us again he wanted the green game. We told him we were on our way to a very fun day and we were sure he would find something just as wonderful as the green game.

We were off to Sea World for a day of fun. We were all very excited and ready to get the day started. Sea World is not exactly how I remembered it. Of course, it has been about 17 years since I was there. Since we went after Labor Day, several of the shows were out of season. I think we walked around like little lost puppies for awhile until we finally found our groove.

Brody wanted to get in the water park so bad so we put his swim trunks on and off he went. However, he did not want to get wet. He finally started getting in the water, turned around to look at us and hit his head on a metal bar. I could not get to him fast enough. The water park was over. We put his shirt and shoes on and kept walking. He kept crying because he did not want his swim trunks on. He did not want to be wet. We found a restroom, took them off and put his shorts back on and off we went.

We finally started getting to the shows at the right time. He enjoyed most of the shows but his favorite was the penguins. Our final show was Shamu and then we surprised him with dining with Shamu. That was a wonderful experience. We had a wonderful dinner and we were able to see the whales up close and personal. They were about 3 feet from us. Brody was a little nervous but he really enjoyed it.

Brody had a great day. We loved seeing the smile on his face and his pure excitement. I was not able to get very many pictures because he told me again that we did not have time for pictures. I am sure he has heard that somewhere. I was able to snap a couple of pictures along the way.

We headed back to our hotel and Brody fell fast asleep. As soon as we pulled into the parking lot, he woke up and informed us we needed to go and get the green game. Off to the market we went again. I told him if he could find it, he could have it. He said "momma, it is in the white building." He went right to the green game. A wrestling ring with the men. He loves it, plays with it all the time. He played with it all the way home.

Vacation - Day 2

After a short night, Brody was wide awake and ready for day 2 of our vacation. Saturday morning we drove to San Antonio for the main event. We checked into our hotel at the market(Brody was still worried that we had sold the house and worried about his toys), unloaded the car and found the trolley stop for our trip to downtown. Brody really enjoyed the trolley ride and we did get to see some interesting sights.

Our first sight to see was the Bunkahorns (the Bunkhorn and Hall of Horns Museum) and the Texas Ranger Museuem. Bill and I had not been to the new museum so it was a first for us also. We all enjoyed looking around and listening to the cowboy that was singing tales of the west. We were in the museum for about 2 hours and he sang the entire time with no breaks. Brody enjoyed looking at everything but did get bored quickly. We were wanting to read about everything but Brody wanted to just look and go. Since this was his vacation, we would look and go.

Our next stop was the Alamo. It has been years since I have been there but it is still the same. Brody was very bored with this stop so, needless to say, we did not stay around too long. He did enjoy looking at the fish and the trees. We tried to get a picture of all three of us but he told us "we don't have time for pictures momma." We did not get any pictures of all three us together at all. Maybe next time.

Then, we were off to the River Walk. The last time we were at the River Walk was during our last trip to Bocktoberfest so seeing it during the day is different. Brody enjoyed the river and the boat. That boat ride is expensive. I was worried the entire time that he was going to fall into the river because he only wanted to walk on the edge so it was a little stressful for me but we enjoyed walking around.

We headed back to our hotel to clean up and get ready for dinner. Over to the market we went for some wonderful mexican food and lots of "shopping". Let's just say that the market is not a place to take Brody for window shopping. He found a little guitar that he just had to have. We could not leave that store until he had it. Needless to say, we bought the guitar. He is the only child and this was his first vacation. So, we kept on walking and looking. He could not wait to get back to the room to play this guitar. We walked across the street to our room and to listen to a wonderful song about not saying bad words.

After the newness of the guitar wore off, he let us know he wanted the green game with the pusher men. (I played stupid because I thought I knew what he wanted but I was hoping he was going to forget about it.) We finally got him to bed for our next big day - SEA WORLD!!!

Vacation - Day 1

We headed out on Friday, September 5th for our FIRST ever family vacation. Yes, that is right, our first vacation as a family. We tend to forget that Brody is growing up so fast and we need to enjoy ever minute. We get so busy working and doing things around the house that we sometimes forget to have fun.

So, we decided to head out to San Antonio for our vacation. I had so much planned I was not for sure if we would be able to fit it all in. But I was sure going to try.

Not only was this our first family vacation, it was the first time Brody had spent the night in a hotel. We tried to explain to him what it would be like but I do not think he really understood. As we were leaving the house and packing all of our bags, he asked if we were moving!! We told him we were just going on vacation. He decided at that moment he did not think he wanted to leave, he was worried about his toys. We told him they would be just fine and waiting for him to come home.

We headed out around 5:30 p.m. not for sure where we would stay the night. We had reservations starting Saturday night. We stayed the night in Austin and Brody had so much fun. Bill found us a room and we were headed to our room when Brody spotted the brochures for everything around Austin and San Antonio. I think he picked up about 10 of them. I remember those as a kid and thinking, whoa, I have something that is just mine. We got into the room and Brody was still a little confused but he soon loosened up and had a blast. We walked around our hotel and went for a swim. He enjoyed swimming in the dark.

I had been talking to him about vacation for about a month, we even had a count down calender, he could not go to sleep. I think it took us about 2 hours to get him calmed down just to go to bed.

Finally, rest and on to day 2...

A First For Momma

This month has been a month of firsts for the Butler household. I will post about them as I get a chance. The first was a first for me.

As everyone knows, Bill is an outdoorsman and so is Brody. Well, September 1 was the first day of dove season and off the two of them went. It was quiet overwhelming for me to see my baby all dressed up in his hunting gear with his Red Ryder BB gun. I always new the day would come, I just did not realize how I would react to the day. Brody was so excited to finally go hunting with his daddy. Daddy was equally as excited. It was a great first day, they were able to nab 7 dove.

Thanks to mom for letting me cry on her shoulder (over the phone of course).